News

Finnish literature export shows no signs of slowing down. For Helsinki Literary Agency, 2025 was a record year in revenues, as HLA opened even more doors for authors from Finland to set a strong footing in the international market.

Major breakthroughs last year included Anu Ojala’s The Silk Road North thriller series, as well as Anni Blomqvist’s Maja from Stormskär series, both sold against significant advances in several language regions. Among the successes of previous years, Iida Turpeinen’s The Beasts of the Sea and Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki Trilogy were published in the English-speaking world to great acclaim.

As part of the agency’s new strategic development phase, current owners Gummerus and Siltala have sold their shares to Schildts & Söderströms, which will become the sole owner of the agency. The change will enable the agency to develop its operations even more ambitiously as an independent agency serving Finnish authors on a broad scale.

“During its 9 years of operation, Helsinki Literary Agency has established itself as a reliable and competent partner in the industry. The agency has successfully introduced Finnish authors to Europe, the United States, and Asia, and has managed to arouse interest in fiction, children’s literature and genre literature. This fits well with Schildts & Söderströms’ strategy: we want to be involved in building bridges between languages ​​and creating new markets for Finnish literature; the acquisition of HLA also fits well with our expansion into the Swedish market. We look forward to being able to offer even better opportunities to bring authors and books from Finland abroad,” says Nils Saramo, CEO of Schildts & Söderströms.

“It has been rewarding to build the growth of Finnish literary exports with capable owners these past years. We share a common vision with Schildts & Söderströms for the future of the agency, and it is important to us that we continue our operations as an independent agency, broadly representing Finnish authors,” says Viivi Arela, CEO of HLA.

“When we founded HLA with colleagues from S&S and Teos 9 ago, the situation of Finnish literary exports was quite different from today. Now the role of agencies has been strengthened, and the common understanding of what kind of books can cross language borders has improved even more. I believe that the cooperation between HLA and Gummerus authors will continue to be close in the future, and I wish the agency all the best as it enters a new phase,” says Anna Baijars, CEO of Gummerus and one of the founders of HLA.

“HLA has been an important partner for the authors and publishers of Siltala and Teos. We expect the good cooperation and the success of the agency to continue in the future,” says Aleksi Siltala, publisher and founder of Siltala.

Helsinki Literary Agency was founded in 2017, as a joint venture of Gummerus, Schildts & Söderströms, and Teos publishers. The agency represents a wide selection of fiction, non-fiction, and children’s and YA authors from Finland.

Bogoo is continuing with the Senior Squad series in Denmark, having secured the rights to more instalments in the series in a three-book deal.

The Senior Squad by Malin Klingeberg continues to entertain and steal laughter in Denmark: Bogoo is continuing with the series, having secured the Danish rights to more instalments in a three-book deal.

The Senior Squad series follows a squad of crime-fighting pensioners who form a secret task force of elderly but sharp and inventive seniors that stand between the criminals and their evil plans. Often, the pensioners wouldn’t be stop the crimes without the help of a young boy called Patrik, who is happy to take part in all the adventures. 

The series has been a success in Finland, both in its Swedish-language and its Finnish-language edition. Hilarious and full of action, the Senior Squad series consists of six volumes, each focusing on a different character. Bogoo previously acquired Patrik and the Senior Squad and Irene and the Moneyhoover (volumes #1-2) and now secured the rights to The Fake Bernice (#3), The Fantastic Alfredo (#4), and Rakel’s Miracle (#5). The fourth Senior Squad book, The Fantastic Alfredo, received the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in 2017.

Malin Klingenberg is one of Finland’s most prominent Swedish-speaking authors. Her extensive production, ranging from picture books all the way to YA, has been loved, read, and translated into many languages all over the world. Her works are published in Finland by Schildts & Söderströms.

Bogoo is a Danish publishing house with a focus on practical non-fiction and children’s and YA books. They are the Danish home of our very own The Smuggler’s Treasure by Axel Åhman & Ola Skogäng, among others.

Congratulations to the author and the publishers!

Likeness by Leena Krohn is travelling to Hungary, where it will be published by Polar.

Happy news from our list: Likeness by Leena Krohn is travelling to Hungary, where it will be published by Polar.

In her newest novel Likeness, legendary author Leena Krohn ponders what gaze is and what does it actually mean to see someone. 

A quiet, unassuming, and not very talented painter who goes by the name of Horkka works in a small art studio, mentored by a much more famous artist, Lysander. The latter is constantly busy or away, so Horkka gets tasked with taking over some of his less-important jobs: portraits commissioned by various people. Followed by Horkka’s sensitive gaze, a colourful array of characters settle down to pose. Horkka patiently listens to each of them until the portrait is done or – more often than not – the session gets interrupted. Will the portraits please their owners? Will they reflect the likeness?

Leena Krohn’s (b. 1947) writing forms an impressive body of work. She has developed her ideas from the visible and the invisible, from consciousness and self, death and life, reality and illusion, good and evil. Her sly humor and lucid language speak of our existence in very strange realms with courage and intelligence. One of the greatest visionaries in Finnish literature, Krohn’s works have been translated to over 20 languages.

Polar is a Hungarian publisher house whose list boasts a broad selection of Finnish literature. They are the Hungarian home of, among others, Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen, Suliko by Pirkko Saisio, and He Who Saw The Deep by Selja Ahava.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Audioteka has secured the Lithuanian rights to the Cotton Mill series by Ann-Christin Antell in a three-book deal.

Exciting news from our fiction list: Audioteka has secured the Lithuanian rights to the Cotton Mill series by Ann-Christin Antell in a three-book deal. This is the sixth foreign rights deal for this series,  with rights previously sold to France, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

The Cotton Mill Trilogy, a historical romance series about three generations of strong women and the family business of the cotton mill, takes readers on a journey through time, starting in the late 19th century and landing in the Roaring 20s. It consists of three novels, The Shadow of the Cotton Mill (#1), Heir to the Cotton Mill (#2), Rival to the Cotton Mill (#3) and a collection of short stories, Christmas at the Cotton Mill. The series sold 200.000 copies in Finland alone.

Ann-Christin Antell (b. 1973) studied history and archaeology and worked as a librarian before embarking on her career as an author.

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

Before the Birds by Merja Mäki is running for the Charleston Prize in France, with the winners being announced in late June.

The French edition of Before the Birds by Merja Mäki, in translation by Fantine Brunel, is running for the Charleston Prize in France.

The Charleston Prize – Prix Charleston – was established by the publishing house Charleston in 2018. The winners are selected among 8 novels (4 French and 4 translated) from which readers can vote for two novels in each category. Booksellers then choose the winners, one per category, out of the novels selected by readers. Mäki is in very good company, with other nominees being Kim Michele Richardson, Corina Bomann, and Tan Twan Eng for translated fiction and Camille Anseaume, Sandra Martineau, Gabrielle Blanchout and Charlie Wat for French fiction.

Before the Birds tells the story of Alli, a young girl from Karelia forced to flee her home when the region she lives in is ceded to the Soviet Union in 1940. The novel was awarded the Torch-bearer Prize and was a finalist for the Des Racines et des Mots Prize in France. After Before the Birds Mäki published Wept Another, which is also set in Karelia in wartime and is set in the same fictional universe. Both titles have received great praise for their ability to portray the emotional lives of people in wartime and for the warmth and sense of hope they convey, despite the difficult subject. Before the Birds and Wept Another have sold about 50.000 copies altogether, and a third novel is due next year.

Warmest congratulations to the author, and fingers crossed!