Author: Chiara Stanziani

Author Niillas Holmberg has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for the Sami language area.

Author Niillas Holmberg is running for the Nordic Council Literature Prize with his novel Goatnelle, representing the Sami language area. The Nordic Council Literature Prize is a prestigious yearly award founded in 1962 and aiming at fostering interest in the literature and the language of Nordic countries. This is the third nomination for Holmberg.

The novel follows the figure of Halla Helle, a Sami artist who is also at the centre of Holmberg’s novel Halla Helle (Gummerus 2021).

Niillas Holmberg (b. 1990) is a Sámi poet, musician, actor, and cultural and environmental activist living in his native Utsjoki in Lapland. He combines spoken word with singing and joik, traditional chanting, and performs his work with various bands. His poetry collection Lest the Weird Become Weirder (Amas amas amasmuvvat, 2014) was awarded the Saami Council’s Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Also his latest collection Underfoot (Juolgevuod¯d¯u, 2019) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize and has travelled to Estonia and Germany.

Congratulations to the author!

The Day The Whale Swam Through London by Selja Ahava is travelling to Poland, where it will be published by

Selja Ahava‘s debut The Day The Whale Swam Through London is continuing its journey out into the world and is now travelling to Poland, where it will be published by Relacja.

The Day The Whale Swam Through London tells the story of Anna, and of her memory disorders, using magical realism, fantasy and even gentle comedy. To Anna, however, losing her memories is a daily tragedy. Bravely and with determination she still tries to reach her own essence and humanity, the ability to live with others. Anna looks with wonder at the countless pieces of which her life consists, taking them in one at a time.

Selja Ahava has established herself as a prominent literary voice in the Finnish scene: her Things That Fall From The Sky won the EU Literature Prize and was sold to 17 territories, and her production is read with enthusiasm in Finland, where her work are published by Gummerus.

Relacja is an established Polish publisher whose list includes Joan Didion, Marta Dzido, Sabina Jakubowska, and Jessica McDiarmid.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

The Finnish Cultural Foundation has awarded Pirkko Saisio for her artistic career. The Foundation presents three awards on a yearly basis in the fields of science, research, art and culture.

This year’s winners are soprano Iris Candelaria, professor Petri Toiviainen, and author Pirkko Saisio. Each of the awards is worth 40 000 euros. The Foundation have motivated their choice as follows:
“Author and director Pirkko Saisio (b. 1949) is a favourite among readers and critics of many generations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Saisio’s debut novel, Elämänmeno (English translation Lowest Common Denominator published in 2024). […] perhaps the most fundamental part of Saisio’s art is the theme that runs through her work, describing a person’s endless loneliness and feeling of being different in their family, their country, their culture and in the history of the world as a whole.  As well as being a writer, Pirkko Saisio is an active spokesperson for cultural issues. She was an LGBTQ activist long before homosexuality was talked about in the public sphere, or even depicted in art to any significant degree.“

Pirkko Saisio (b.1949) is an author in a league of her own on the Finnish literary scene: with a production ranging from plays to novellas, to historical novels, and autofiction. Saisio has now reached a stage in her career where she has established herself as a modern classic in a way that is unique in the Finnish literary scene: her early works are enjoying global success, and her more recent works continue to speak to several generations, making her production timeless. Saisio’s Helsinki Trilogy is now a part of world literature and made Saisio the first contemporary Finnish author whose production will be included in the Penguin Modern Classics. In Finland, her works are published by Siltala.

Warmest congratulations to Saisio!

Translator Sébastien Cagnoli has been awarded the Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators for his translations of quality Finnish literature into French. The Ministry of Education and Culture awards the Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators annually on the proposal of the Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI). The prize has been awarded since 1975 and is considered the highest recognition awarded to translators in Finland.

Minister of Science and Culture Mari-Leena Talvitie, who presented the award, has stated: “The Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators is a unique way to highlight translators who make Finnish literature known in different countries. I am particularly delighted that Sébastien Cagnoli has also translated a lot of Finnish poetry into French. Translating poetry is a skill in itself, and I greatly appreciate the fact that Finnish poetry is gaining more readers around the world.”

Cagnoli has translated into French, among other titles, Ann-Christin Antell‘s Cotton Mill Trilogy, Niillas Holmberg‘s Halla Helle, Antti Rönkä‘s Off The Ground, Pirkko Saisio‘s Helsinki Trilogy, and Iida Turpeinen‘s Beasts of the Sea.

Warmest congratulations!

The Ribbon Bow by Anu Kaaja has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2025.

The Ribbon Bow by Anu Kaaja has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. This is fantastic news for this title, already nominated for the Runeberg Prize, the Adlibris Award and the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award. The Nordic Council Literature Prize is a prestigious yearly award founded in 1962 and aiming at fostering interest in the literature and the language of Nordic countries.

The jury have commented on this title: “The story employs three different styles: auto-fictional material, magical realism, and art essayistics. It merges lightness and seriousness, pleasure and suffering, thought and play. In the novel, surreal conversations take place with objects, and life’s porous nature is explored through reflections on friendship and relationships. The reading experience is an aesthetic delight, and the ever-present bow – bow row rococo – serves as a symbol whose beauty, devoid of meaning, illustrates the exercise of power in society. Human relationships with objects are contemplated in an exuberantly sensual way, and the stories reify people while humanising things.”

The Ribbon Bow follows a heartbroken writer who sets out on a European trip in the style of the Grand Tour, visiting museums and enjoying art. The writer’s wanderings bring a fresh, at times irreverent perspective on some of the world’s most famous works of art and is a razor-sharp criticism of capitalism and the objectification of humans at the expense of the humanisation of objects. Everyday objects, like a bow, a coffee cup and a napkin, come to life and engage in conversation, while the human characters are difficult to reach and even harder to let go of. In Finland, The Ribbon Bow is published by Kustantamo S&S.

Anu Kaaja (b. 1984) is an author and scriptwriter who studied creative writing in Helsinki and got her MA from the University of Salford. Her debut Metamorphoslip (2015), a surrealist collection of short stories, came second in the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize competition. In 2017 it was awarded the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize. Leda (2017) was her first novel. It was nominated for the Runeberg Prize and awarded with Toisinkoinen Literature Prize. Kaaja’s novel Katie-Kate (2020) was greeted a brilliant and disturbing story about royals, cindarellas and our times.  

Congratulations to the author, and fingers crossed!