Author: Chiara Stanziani

Author Pirkko Saisio has been awarded the Vartio Award for her life’s work and her authorship as a whole.

Pirkko Saisio has been awarded the Vartio Award for her authorship and life’s work. The jury have highlighted that Saisio is being awarded for her innovative production, which has “renewed the literary scene in Finland and continues to reach and speak to new generations”.

The Vartio Award is awarded by the Haavikko Foundation to a Finnish author for their achievements in the field of literature and fiction. Established in 1994, the Vartio Award was awarded until 2008, after which it was on pause for 17 years. This year marks a new beginning for the award, named after Finnish poet Marja-Liisa Vartio (1924-1966).

The jury, consisting of journalist Anna-Liisa Haavikko, author Helena Ruuska, and publisher Urpu Strellman, have stated:

“In Finnish literature Saisio’s works form a unique, exceptionally multifaceted and unparalleled whole. The rhythm and breath in Saisio’s novels often consists of a narrative built on a short paragraph and of a movement between the interior and the exterior, the observed and the experienced. The reader is pulled onto the scene, into the shoes of the speaker and their observations and memories, in constant movement. When the text draws its breath space is made for the reader’s own experience. […]

Saisio’s autofictional trilogy – The Lowest Common Multiple (1998), The Backlight (2000), and The Red Book of Farewells (2003) – set the bar for autofiction already in a time, where no one spoke of autofiction yet. Now, a quarter of a century later, the trilogy is a part of world literature. In her most recent works, Passion (2021) and Suliko (2024) Saisio does something, that she’s done many times before – that is to say, she does something she’s never done before. Passion runs through history and centuries; it is a great European chronicle and a great adventure, whose mystery is man itself. In Suliko the protagonist is for the first time a real historical character. In these books a leitmotif that runs through Saisio’s production is brought to the fore: the investigation of what is the essence of the human life and the soul. Many of Saisio’s works have renewed and challenged the Finnish literary scene at the time of their publishing. Today they are a living whole, that has lasted the test of time and still speaks to new readers and new generations. This is the definition of a classic”.

In Finland, Saisio’s production is published by Siltala.

Warmest congratulations to the author!

Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila is travelling to Slovenia, where it will be published by Pivec. This is the 21st language territory for this title.

Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila continues to enchant international publishers: this title is travelling to Slovenia, where it will be published by Pivec, marking the 21st language territory for this title.

Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila, published in Finland by Siltala, has since its release in 2019 won over readers both domestically and internationally with its quirky atmosphere and fast-paced and multi-faceted plot. In Finland Fishing for the Little Pike (2019) was awarded with Kalevi Jäntti Prize and Tähtifantasia Prize, and nominated for the Jarkko Laine Prize, and the title is currently running for the globally prestigious Dublin Literary Award.

The book follows young Elina as she returns to her hometown in Eastern Lapland on her yearly quest to fish a specific pike out of a specific pond. Her life and an old lover’s depend on it, but this year a detective is on her trail, and the pond has a new inhabitant. These ingredients come together in a successful mix of Lappish atmosphere, a generous sprinkle of magic and mythology, and an equal dose of humor and wisdom.

Pivec is a mid-sized Slovenian publishing house and family business, founded by Milena Pivec and now being run by the second generation of the family, Milena’s daughter Zala Stanonik. The acquiring team at Pivec has stated their enthusiasm for the book with warm words:

“Fishing for the Little Pike was one of the few [titles], that really caught our eyes and hearts upon the very first reading. We found it a heartfelt ode to Eastern Lapland, a piece of land that is dismissed even though its stories and mythological creatures are impressive and rich and incredibly attractive. Our traditions, folk stories, our forests are filled with similar creatures and whisper similar tales as those of Eastern Lapland. Some of us still remember walking under mighty beech trees, spruces and oaks as kids, listening to our parents and grandparents telling stories about tree spirits, water creatures, fairies and other invisible beings that defined our lands as much as its visible elements did. Then the modern times came, and people had less and less time to wander the nature. Within one or two generations we stopped telling the stories too. That is probably the main reason why we were enchanted by the storytelling of Fishing for the Little Pike – it seamlessly intertwines the past and modern times into a breathtakingly beautiful story, reminding us that just because we stopped telling those tales all the magical beings are still here with us, and just as much a part of our lives as they used to be.“

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher!

The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen is travelling to Estonia, where it will be published by Varrak.

The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen is on a roll: this title is now travelling to Estonia, where it will be published by Varrak. This is the third foreign deal for this title, already nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for the best debut of the year.

The Thick of the Forest is set in a near future where nature has started fighting back against human exploitation, destroying the world as we know it. Mixing elements from Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in the unique setting of a Finnish forest capable of utter destruction, The Thick of the Forest is an entrancing and linguistically captivating first novel about a forest that haunts people and two women, Edla and Ingrid, whose stories intersect.

The result is a rich telling of the relationship between mankind and nature, and of how the lines dividing them become increasingly blurry in the depth of the forest. In Finland, the book is published by Gummerus.

Linnea Kuuluvainen (b. 1996) is a Turku-based author with a background in literature and creative writing studies. Her prose is distinguishable for its magical realism and lyrical depth.

Varrak is an Estonian publishing house founded in 1991, and nowadays one of Estonia’s largest publishing houses. Its list ranges from intellectual non-fiction to a broad range of fiction, and children’s literature. Varrak is the Estonian home of celebrated authors like Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Salman Rushdie, James Joyce, Margaret Atwood, and many more.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Liv! by Helmi Kekkonen and Rainbow Swallowtail by Ilja Karsikas are running for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award.

The nominations keep rolling in for our beautiful list: Rainbow Swallowtail by Ilja Karsikas and Finlandia-nominated Liv! by Helmi Kekkonen are running for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award.

Each year, the Finnish Book Art Committee selects the most beautiful books published in Finland during the previous year. One title is awarded as the Year’s Most Beautiful Book, and others, organised according to their categories, receive honorary mentions.

Rainbow Swallowtail by Ilja Karsikas is running in the category Most Beautiful Children’s Book for its design and illustrations, all by Ilja Karsias. Rainbow Swallowtail is a colourful feel-good story about the meaning of friendship and how important it is to know how to ask for help and forgive. It follows Rina and Marla, two friends who get into a fight in the middle of a game. Both are sad and struggle to apologize. Thankfully a colorful adventure brings them together again, and their friendship is stronger for it. In Finland Rainbow Swallowtail is published by S&S.

In Liv! we follow 22-year-old Liv, who is on holiday on an island in the Finnish archipelago with her family. One day she is approached by a man while she is sunbathing on the cliffs, and he is a little too friendly, sits a little too close. Nevertheless, Liv is intrigued, and agrees to meet him again without telling her family. What awaits Liv at their meeting seems obvious to the reader, even though it shouldn’t be. Slowly, Liv opens up about being assaulted, and all the women in her family enter a collision course: they all want what’s best for Liv, but each of them has a different opinion as to what that is. Liv! is a choral reflection around a harsh, but necessary question: what would you do if it happened to you? Liv! is running for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award in the category Most Beautiful Cover for its stunning cover designed by Elina Warsta. In Finland, Liv! is published by Siltala.

Congratulations to all nominees, authors, publishers, and graphic designers – and fingers crossed!

Then Die Contentedly (Anna Glad #5) by Eva Frantz is travelling to Germany, where it will be published by Aufbau, who is publishing the rest of the series.

Thrilling news for German readers: Then Die Contentedly (Anna Glad #5) is travelling to Germany, where it will be published by Aufbau, who is publishing the rest of the series.

In Then Die Contentedly four women gather to spend an autumn evening together: Krisse, Hannele, Sylvia, and Britt got to know each other at the end of the 1990’s when they sang in the same student choir, and started the tradition of having a girls’ night every summer, with crayfish and snaps on the menu. It is a fancy crayfish party with all needed drinks, and the night is festive. But when day dawns, only two women wake up at the old house: one, Krisse, is dead and another, Sylvia, is missing. Anna Glad is supposed to stay off the case, but her instinct and her curiosity have the best of her, and she’s soon entangled in a complex case held together by a web of lies and blackmailing. Touching on subjects like domestic violence and alcoholism, Then Die Contentedly is a fast-paced detective story with plenty of twists and turns.

The Anna Glad series is a five-volume series following detective Anna Glad, a refreshingly relatable 30-something police detective whose private life and crime investigations have hooked readers in five countries, and sold over 100.000 copies in Finland.

Eva Frantz is an established Swedish-speaking author, whose production ranges from children’s novels to crime for adult readers. Her books have travelled to over 10 countries overall. In Finland, her works are published by Schildts & Söderströms.

Aufbau is a large German publishing whose list ranges from Nobel-winning authors like Han Kang to classics of international literature, to trending crime and romantasy titles.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!