Author: Anastasia

J.P. Laitinen and his debut novel Fictional is nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize! It will be competing with 7 other nominees, and the winner will be announced in the end of October.

The jury stated about the book:

“With his debut novel, Laitinen brings a fresh and international breeze into Finnish literature. (…) Its strength lies in the way a solid philosophical thought can be turned into a moving, beautifully written fictional work, as well as in the manner the text gets the reader involved in interaction with it.”

Botnia Prize is a literary award given to the best book of the year written by an author from, or currently living in North Ostrobothnia. It is one of the biggest Finnish literary awards (10,000 euros), and it recognises no genre nor language limitations.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

The Pearl Fisher, the first book in Karin Erlandsson’s magical series The Song of the Eye Gemstone is nominated for the Children’s Novel Prize in Karlstad, Sweden!

Five novels are competing for the prize that was founded in 2013, by the Karlstad City Library’s Children’s and YA department. The idea was inspired by the Swedish national radio programme Children’s Novel Prize (Barnens Romanpris).

The five nominees are chosen by the city library’s and municipality libraries’ staff. The books will be presented to the school children in various library workshops during the autumn semester, and the reading will continue till December, when each participating class will be organising a vote.

Erlandsson’s series gained a huge popularity among the Finland’s readers, and is often likened to such children literary classics as Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren. The Pearl Fisher was the winner of the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in 2018, and the books of the series are so far sold to Bulgaria, Estonia, Faroe Islands and Sweden.

Have a look at the wonderful video with the author presenting her book in a beautiful landscape of Åland! Here you can also find a short interview with her in English.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

Juhani Karila’s hilarious novel Fishing for the Little Pike is nominated for the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize!

The novel, that was unequivocally dubbed by the critics as the best Finnish novel of 2019 and raised an overwhelming interest among the foreign publishers, is competing with 5 other nominees.

Finnish major newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has stated about the book:

“The novel, peppered with small side stories, delights with the avalanche of mythical creatures, but even better is the gently ironic description of local people. The dialectal language of the colourful characters and their balmy reactions to what happens paint a picture of a worldview where even the most fanciful things are taken as they are.”

Jarkko Laine Literature Prize is given every second year to the most extraordinary and challenging fiction work published in the last three calendar years. The prize is 10,000 euros, and the winner will be announced on the 26th of September.

Karila’s novel has been so far sold to Canada (World French), Denmark, Hungary and Poland, and running the third print in Finland. It also won The Kalevi Jäntti’s Literature Prize and Tähtifantasia Literature Prize earlier this year.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Marcus Rosenlund, a weather fanatic and author of the phenomenal nonfiction The Weather that Changed the World, reveals fascinating stories behind the history of climate, its impact to us, humans, and encourages climate hope for the future. Full interview here.

Antti Rönkä’s debut novel Off the Ground was awarded Thank You for the Book Prize 2020!

The prize is given out yearly since 1966, for a book that is considered to have caused the biggest intellectual and/or emotional stimulus to the readers during the past year. The winner is decided upon jointly by The Booksellers’ Association in Finland, Association Libro ry and Finnish Library Association.

As the jury stated:

“Antti Rönkä’s confident debut demonstrates thought patterns of a bullied person that may seem absurd to the outsider, but to the one experiencing them, it is the reality. The unspeakable burden of traumatic experiences are heavy on the reader’s mind. Precise sentences expose things laying underneath the surface in a strong voice, without exaggeration.

(…) The author skilfully portrays various feelings and processes of the mind. The book won’t leave a person unmoved.”

Off the Ground is a powerful debut novel, long-listed for the Runeberg Prize. It describes the experiences of a grown up man starting a new life in a new city, but haunted by memories and traumas of bullying suffered in the past. Earlier this year, World French rights were sold to Payot & Rivages.

Congratulations, Antti Rönkä, and thank you for your extraordinary book!