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HLA is very proud to become a foreign rights representative for the young star of graphic novels, Ulla Donner, and immediately announce three foreign rights deals for her works!

Centrala has now acquired Czech, World English and Polish rights for Donner’s acclaimed graphic novels Crap (2019) and Spleenish (2017).

Donner (b. 1988) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator, cartoonist and a graphic designer. Spleenish was awarded the Stipend of the Swedish-Speaking Finnish Society of Authors, in addition to the The Most Beautiful Book award and a nomination to the Finlandia Prize for the best graphic novel. Her second graphic novel Crap was a critical success and the winner of the Finlandia prize for the best Finnish graphic novel.

Centrala is a publishing house specialising in comics; originally based in Poland, they now also operate in Berlin and London. As the publisher states on its website: “For us, comics means beautifully published, well written, and exceptionally drawn literature – a picture of life in a solid frame.” No better home for Donner’s exceptional work!

Congratulations to the author!

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.

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.

One of the greatest thrills for agents is to witness a book become a literary classic and represent it in the wide world. Therefore, we are always happy to see our backlist classics thriving abroad.

Hungarian rights were sold to Aki Ollikainen’s astonishing debut White Hunger (2012), which received numerous awards in Finland and was also longlisted for The International Booker Prize, Prix Femina and Europese Literatuurprijs, as well as author’s third novel A Pastoral (2018) (pictured). The latter was also acquired by the Armenian house Guitank, making it the third foreign rights deal altogether (previously sold to France); White Hunger has now travelled 13 territories altogether. The publisher in Hungary is Polar.

Also Finnish poetry grand Paavo Haavikko is experiencing a revival: at the end of last year we announced that his poems will be published in Hebrew; now the Estonian publisher EKSA acquired his 1987 fictional memoir An Attempt to Self-Portrait, and a Czech house Dybbuk bought the rights for poetry collectionWinter Palace (1959).Haavikko (1931–2008) is considered to be one of the most significant writers in Finland’s literary cannon, and his poetry has been published in volume format in 12 languages.

On the female authors’ front, Minna Rytisalo’s  bestseller Lempi was sold to Hungary (Polar), making it the 5th foreign rights sale for the title. With 6 editions in Germany, over 30,000 copies sold in Finland, nomination as the favourite book by German-speaking booksellers in Switzerland and also for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, the Runeberg Prize and Lapland Literature Prize, the book is one of definite hits of modern literary classics. Lempi also won the Blogistania Finlandia Prize (the best novel of the year voted by the Finnish bloggers), Thank You for the Book Prize (awarded by the Finnish Booksellers’, Librarians’ and Libraries Associations) and the Botnia Prize.

Hungarian rights (Polar) were also sold for novels The Red Letter of Farewell (2003) and Backlight (2000) written by one of the most prominent Finnish authors Pirkko Saisio. Among other awards, she has been nominated for the most prestigious literary award in the country, Finlandia Prize, six times, and has been compared to the Danish phenomenon Tove Ditlevsen, recently discovered and lauded by The New York Times’ Parul Sehgal. Meanwhile, Märta Tikkanen’s legendary classic The Love Story of the Century (1978), not long ago published in English by Deep Vellum, has now found a home in Greece (rights acquired by Melani).

More January 2021 sales here.

We are very excited to announce that Marisha Rasi-Koskinen was awarded this year’s Runeberg Prize for her original and multilayered novel REC!

The jury stated about the novel:
“REC is an exceptionally courageous work of fiction: a piece of art, weaving together the narrative, form and space, and experimenting with each of them; it reminds us about the dangerous potential of storytelling. The novel contemplates the use of power in relationships between people and on various levels of narration; in the end, the main protagonist might always turn out to be fiction. (…)
REC is intellectually challenging, but at the same time, clear and approachable. Rasi-Koskinen’s masterpiece is a wild, serious game, a mystery and an experience that opens up differently with each reading – and the reader cannot avoid the change either.”

REC 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, where real and fictional characters are present simultaneously, where images and stories begin many times, in various places, and where dark, possessive and manipulating side of humans take over with irrevocable outcomes – unless… nothing is true. As the author herself describes the book, “it is a love letter to fiction”, where the reality is not unambiguous and the understanding of it is rather formed in people’s minds, stories and images.

Marisha Rasi-Koskinen has published six works of fiction. In 2019, her first YA book The Dark Side of the Sun won the most prestigious literary prize of the year, Finlandia Junior, and novel REC was recently awarded The Torch-Bearer Prize.

The Runeberg Prize is a prestigious literary prize named after the Finnish national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg. It is one of the most important literary awards in Finland, second only to Finlandia Prize. The prize, worth 10,000 euros, is given out in two categories: fiction and children’s books. This year, 246 adult fiction titles were submitted, and 8 made it to the shortlist.

Warmest congratulations to the author!

International award news: Selja Ahava’s wildly successful novel Things that Fall from the Sky (2015) is now longlisted for the prestigious Dublin Literary Award! The novel was translated into English by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah and published by Oneworld.

As stated on DLA website: “The DUBLIN Literary Award is presented annually for a novel written in English or translated into English. The Award promotes excellence in world literature and is  solely sponsored by Dublin City Council, and administered by Dublin City Libraries.”

The prize fund is 100,000 euros making it the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English. Nominations include 18 novels in translation with works nominated by libraries from 30 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, the US & Canada, South America and Australia & New Zealand.

Previous winners include such internationally acclaimed authors as Anna Burns, Jim Crace, Michelle Houellebecq, Hertta Müller and others.

The shortlist for the prize will be announced on the 23rd of March. You can read more about on DLA official website.

Things that Fall from the Sky has been one of the most internationally successful Finnish works of fiction, with foreign rights sold to 24 territories. Ahava’s latest novel, The Woman Who Loved Insects, was recently sold to Hungary and optioned in France, and the Danish edition is due to be published in a few weeks time.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!