Author: Chiara

The hot Finnish book of the autumn, Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen, has been awarded as the best debut of the year.

Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen has become the literary phenomenon of the autumn not only internationally with sales to 16 areas and offers on the table for 4 more, but also on its home turf, with nominations for Finland’s biggest literary award, the Finlandia Prize, and also the Torch-bearer Prize. The novel, published in September, has sold in Finland so far 10,000 copies in all formats.

Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize is an award worth 15,000 euros given to best debut of the year in all fiction genres. The jury motivated the choice as follows:

“The Steller’s sea cow, which became extinct in 1768, soon after its discovery, […] binds together [in the novel] a group of people from three different centuries. Turpeinen whittles a base of vast background information from the history of science into precision strikes depicting her characters’ most telling moments. At the same time, the novel brings the ecological ruptures and freefall of the entire world to the reader’s skin. The result will move you and have you holding your breath.

As the title states [the Finnish title translates as ‘living creatures’], mankind needs to be seen as a part of Animalia, no better than other species. We know more than other living creatures, but still don’t often act according to that knowledge. From the perspective of natural history, no more than the blink of an eye has passed from the era of the sea cows, and now we ourselves are sowing destruction which in the next blink of an eye may put us next to the vanished species preserved in a museum.

Beasts of the Sea, which so beautifully portrays the vulnerability of its characters, does not leave us without hope. We see that life goes on, always slightly different. The past cannot be brought back, but museums and books will keep it alive. And at its best, a book sweeps its readers to live the past themselves, Turpeinen’s world-class novel does.”

Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize is given out by Finland’s largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The jury consists of literary critics, journalists and the previous winner of the award: this year, Susanna Hast, who brought home the award in 2022 with her autotheoretical novel Body of Evidence.

The most recent foreign rights news of Beasts of the Sea are here.

Antti Hurskainen’s A Wooden Prayer will be travelling to Hungary, where it will be published by Polar.

A Wooden Prayer is the third novel by Antti Hurskainen, published this autumn to rave reviews. Just last week, it was nominated is for the Finlandia Prize, the largest and most prestigious literary award in Finland, and it is also a nominee for the Torch-bearer Prize, given to a work with most international potential.

The Hungarian publishing house Polar has become known for its quality list of Nordic fiction. From Finland, it has acquired several awarded works, including Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki trilogy, Mikko Rimminen’s Red Nose Day and If It Looks Like It, Anni Kytömäki’s Margarita, Selja Ahava‘s The Woman Who Loved Insects, Kari Hotakainen’s Story and Lifeline, Minna Rytisalo’s Lempi and Iida Turpeinen’s Beasts of the Sea, and has thus become the stronghold of Finnish literary fiction in Hungary.

A Wooden Prayer is a story of faith, love and the consequences of your actions. Helsingin Sanomat newspaper has reviewed it as “a harsh novel that has little regard for curling into an armchair.”

A Wooden Prayer is Antti Hurskainen’s third novel. Hurskainen’s works often deal with the intersection between literature, popular culture, and religion.

Warm congratulations to the author, and don’t miss out on this title!

More amazing news for our children’s list: The Princess Who Did a Runner by Saara Kekäläinen and illustrated by Netta Lehtola, is travelling to Latvia, where it will be published by Latvijas Mediji. This marks the 5th deal for this witty, adorable title.

The book follows Leona, a young princess who does a runner when she learns of the fate that awaits her: she must marry a prince in order to save her kingdom. 

Leona jumps from one princess fairytale to the next in order to save herself from the age-old burdens of princesses that lurk around every corner – marriage and household chores. Along the way she meets many characters including a melancholic mirror, the species-changing Swanhilda, and princes with a penchant for glass shoes, menacing pouts, and rescue mission obsessions – not to mention seven adult men who are short of stature and don’t want to learn to clean and cook for themselves. The kind-hearted Leona helps everyone, but on her own terms. This princess refuses to be gentle, humble, and kind, just because that’s what’s expected of a fairytale princess! 

The Princess Who Did A Runner is a picture book full of sharp humour that will even offer big children and adults plenty of food for thought. It was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award 2023.

Warm congratulations to the authors!

Exciting news for our children’s list: The Mystery of Raspberry Hill by Eva Frantz is travelling to Norway, where it will be published by Mangschou.

This is the 8th deal for this spooky title, which has also been adapted to the screen.

The book follows Stina, a young girl who is sent to the sanatorium of Raspberry Hill to cure her illness. Raspberry Hill is in the middle of the healing countryside, where city dwellers with lung diseases end up. Many of the child patients treated there are from poor families – like Stina. The sanatorium feels like a castle to Stina. It is vast and full of long corridors and echoes. It is also a very lonely place, until one day Stina meets Ruben. The boy starts turning up when they should be sleeping, taking her on nightly expeditions to forbidden parts of the building – like the eastern wing, which has recently burned down.

Little by little Stina starts to realize that everything is not quite right in the sanatorium. Why isn’t her mother writing back to her? Why do the nurses seem so afraid? What really happened in the fire? And what is Ruben trying to warn her about?

Raspberry Hill is crime author Eva Frantz’s first children’s book – a suspenseful horror story for middle grade readers. It starts a series of stand-alone horror novels set in early 20th century that take their young readers on a journey back in time. The book was awarded Runeberg Junior Prize in 2019.

Warm congratulations to the author!

Fantastic news for our author Marja Kyllönen: she has been awarded the Distinguished Artist Award by the Kalevala Society Foundation. The jury have motivated their choice as follows:

“Marja Kyllönen’s (b. 1975) third novel, The Undeparted (Teos 2022), is a kind of generational novel about the transgenerational effects of individual actions and emotions. The most significant and distinctive element of Kyllönen’s narrative is the language she has developed. She combines images, words and parables from folklore, magic, dialects, Kalevala and Kanteletar into her language. When existing words are not enough, she develops new ones that fit naturally into the narrative. Kyllönen builds a language that has never been seen before in fiction. The Undeparted is a valuable addition to the union of Finnish folklore and fiction. Themes familiar from folklore are implanted in the world of contemporary readers, mainly in a style that can be described as magical-lyrical. It is a feat that is unlikely to be matched by anyone else.”

Warm congratulations to the author!