Amazing news for our authors: four HLA titles have been nominated for the Adlibris Awards 2024. The winners will be announced on February 5th 2025.
Anni Kytömäki‘s Mirabilis, Merja Mäki‘s Wept Another, Pirkko Saisio‘s Suliko are among the nominees for Adlibris Awards in the category of the best novel of the year. Axel Åhman & Ola Skogäng‘s The Smuggler’s Treasure is running as best children’s book of the year. The winner for each category is voted by readers on Adlibris.
Adlibris is a large and popular online bookshop founded in Stockholm and active in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The Adlibris Award ails from the company’s native Sweden, where it was established in 2019, and it is being awarded in Finland for the second year in a row.
Mirabilis, the newest title by Finlandia-winning author Anni Kytömäki has rapidly become a readers’ favourite upon its release: the book sold 5000 copies in two weeks, and over 9.000 so far. Following two generations of outsider women, Mirabilis tells a story of the ties that bind humanity to nature, of great adventure, and of the devastation humanity has inflicted on nature. The protagonist, Ella, is an acrobat who feels death is constantly at her heels, and becomes fascinated with a bird that has recently gone extinct, prompting her to dive into the scientific discourse around extinction, and eventually to reveal a secret from her family’s past. The book was pre-empted by Norstedts and People’s in Sweden and Denmark respectively this autumn. In Finland, Mirabilis is published by Gummerus.
Wept Another by Torch-Bearer winning-author Merja Mäki follows Larja, a young woman from Eastern Karelia. It is 1942, and peace has momentarily descended on this bit of territory recently reclaimed from the Soviets by Finnish troops. Larja has been studying at a teacher training camp and upon her return to her home village she has to come to terms with the fact that nothing is as it was. As a Finnish man enters her life, things complicate even more, and Larja will have difficult choices to make. In Finland, Wept Another is published by Gummerus, and the book has already travelled to Sweden, where it is out with Historiska Media.
Suliko is the latest novel by Pirkko Saisio, the great dame of Finnish literature, and it follows a dictator in the twilight of his life. He thinks back on his life, his choices, and what led him to becoming the man he is. Raw, poetic, and unapologetic, Suliko is a deep dive into the mind of a dictator, but also a reach into the world of myths, and questions of ethos and purpose. Suliko is published by Siltala.
The Smuggler’s Treasure by Axel Åhman & Ola Skogäng follows 12-year-old Oliver, who is spending Advent at his Grandma’s place, on an island in the middle of nowhere. Oliver is extremely bored, until the legend of a local smuggler’s treasure puts him on the tracks of his ancestor Verner Strand. Christmas, adventure, and family secrets make this book the perfect, exciting chapter book for young readers. In Finland, The Smuggler’s Treasure is published by S&S.
Warmest congratulations to the nominees and the publishers, and fingers crossed!