Jensen & Dalgaard in Denmark have acquired the rights of Marisha Rasi-Koskinen’s novel REC, awarded a week ago on Friday with Runeberg Prize.
Marisha Rasi-Koskinen. (Photo: Miikka Pirinen)
REC, praised by readers and critics alike, is an atmospheric, post-modern dive into the fragmented reality we are living today. When teenager Lucas meets a peculiar boy named Cole, it is a start of a decades-long on-and-off friendship. In the story, real and fictional characters are present simultaneously, images and stories begin many times and in many places, and dark, possessive and manipulating side of people take over with irrevocable outcome – unless… nothing is true.
Jensen & Dalgaard is a Danish publisher with a strong list of quality fiction. From Finland, they are the publisher of Selja Ahava, Anu Kaaja, Juhani Karila, Leena Krohn, and several others.
Anni Kytömäki’s Finlandia Prize winning novel Margarita is gaining a lot of attention abroad. The rights have been sold to Estonia and Hungary, optioned in France, and an offer from Lithuania is on the table.
Anni Kytömäki’s bestselling debut novel Goldheart (2014) has been sold to France to Rue de l’échiquier, who has also optioned Kytömäki’s second novel Stone Weaver (2017) and the recent Margarita (2020).
At the moment, there is also an Lithuanian offer for Margarita on the table.
The novel, set in 50s Finland, is a page-turning, stunningly topical story in which the fates of people intertwine in an era when the relationship between people and nature start to change. With similarities to such recent successes as Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdads Sing and Richard Powers’ Overstory, Margarita writes the people as inseparable parts of the nature surrounding us.
The author’s debut novel Goldheart (2015) was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and it was awarded Gummerus’ Kaarle Prize. Goldheart, a bestseller in Finland, also received the Torch-Bearer Prize, and it won the bloggers’ best book of the year award, Blogistanian Finlandia. In 2017, Kytömäki published the critically acclaimed Stone Weaver, which went straight to #3 on the bestseller list when it came out.
Karin Erlandsson’s and Peter Bergting’s masterful, adventurous pre-Christmas novel in 24 chapters Night Express, that has been compared to Maja Lunde’s international success The Snow Sister, has been sold to Sinisukk in Estonia and Alma littera in Lithuania.
Night Express (2020)
The title was awarded the Runeberg Prize on Thursday last week, and the interest towards this children’s novel has kept growing since.
Sinisukk is the Estonian publisher of Karin Erlandsson’s four-novel adventure series Song of the Eye Gemstone, recently also sold to UK. Sinisukk has a wide list of children’s literature, and they are the publisher of, among others, Astrid Lindgren in Estonia.
Alma littera is the biggest publishing house in Lithuania, with a large and impressive list, including such children’s authors as J. K. Rowling and Roald Dahl.
Anni Kytömäki’s Finlandia Prize winning third novel Margarita is holding strong at the top of the Finnish bestseller list. The rights have so far been sold to Hungary and Estonia, and an offer from France is on the table.
Margarita, the winner of Finland’s biggest literary award Finlandia in 2020, is has sold so far over 55,000 copies in Finland since it came out in August.
Margarita (2020)
There is a French offer for the novel on the table, and as there is a huge amount of interest in other areas as well, we hope to be able to share more news soon. The rights were latest sold to Hungarian publishing house Polar, a renowned publisher of Nordic literature.
The novel, also longlisted for the prestigious Runeberg Prizeand named among the most interesting Finnish books published this year, tells a story set post-war Finland. The country is rebuilding after the war, industry is growing and the future seems bright, even if the war’s shadow is still close. Everyone is expected to join in – hard work and devotion to the common cause are seen as more important than individual situations and hardships.
The increase of the economical welfare has, however, its downsides: old forests are being cut down, and one species central for the plot of the novel, freshwater pearl mussel, is getting endangered. And even as the world is moving ahead, there are still the same old obstacles present which humankind has always had to deal with: polio is taking its toll on the rising nation.
In this setting, the fates of different people intertwine. Young Senni gives massages to summer tourists at a spa like her father used to, and is planning to travel to the North. For Mikko, the war has never ended, and never will. Antti needs to raze forests for a living, even if he would prefer just researching them.
A masterful storyteller, Kytömäki weaves the lives of her characters together with the life of nature.
With similarities to such recent successes as Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdads Sing and Richard Powers’ Overstory, Margarita writes the people as inseparable parts of the nature surrounding us.
The author’s bestselling debut novel Goldheart (2015) was nominated for the Finlandia Prize and Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and it was awarded Gummerus’ Kaarle Prize. Goldheart also received the Torch-Bearer Prize, given to the Finnish title with the most potential to succeed abroad, and it won the bloggers’ best book of the year award, Blogistanian Finlandia. In 2017, Kytömäki published the critically acclaimed Stone Weaver, which went straight to #3 on the bestseller list when it came out.
Anja Portin’s Finlandia Junior Prize awarded Radio Popov has been acquired by one of the oldest and best known children’s book publishers in Italy, Salani. In Russia, Radio Popov will be published by Samokat, also an awarded children’s book publisher.
Anja Portin’s Radio Popov has so far traveled to eight areas: Bulgaria: Perseus Denmark: Staarup & co. Estonia: Ühinenud ajakirjad Italy: Salani Latvia: Janis Roze Lithuania: Alma Littera Netherlands: Ploegsma Russia: Samokat
Salani is the Italian publisher of such authors as Roald Dahl, Astrid Lindgren, J.K. Rowling,Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett and Tove Jansson. Samokat publishes, among others, Roald Dahl, Tomi Ungerer,Ulf Stark, Maria Parr, and from Finland for example Tove Jansson and Siri Kolu.
