News

Penelope and the Curious Clothing Commotion by Saara Kekäläinen and Reetta Niemensivu, Wept Another by Merja Mäki, and Christmas at the Falke Castle by Ann-Christin Antell are running for the Storytel Awards.

Storytel has published its list of nominees for the Storytel Awards, and we love to see several HLA titles making the list:  Wept Another by Merja Mäki, Christmas at the Falke Castle, one of the three novellas in Christmas at the Cotton Mill by Ann-Christin Antell, and Penelope and the Curious Clothing Commotion by Saara Kekäläinen & Reetta Niemensivu have been nominated in the categories of literary fiction, romance, and children’s literature.

Storytel Awards are given to books in the categories of literary fiction, crime and thriller, romance and feel-good, nonfiction and children’s literature on a yearly basis. The winners are chosen among the nominees by the users’ vote and by a professional jury, and will be announced on March 13th at the Storytel Awards Gala.

Wept Another follows Larja, a young woman from Eastern Karelia. It is 1942, and peace has momentarily descended on this bit of territory recently reclaimed from the Soviets by Finnish troops. Larja has been studying at a teacher training camp and upon her return to her home village she has to come to terms with the fact that nothing is as it was. Her grandmother Matja, the village’s most-respected professional lamenter, is deathly ill, and her little sister Pola carries a secret deep within her heart.

Their mother and father, carted off to a gulag years ago, are still missing. As Larja cares for her ailing grandmother, she listens to the messages the trees are sending her on the northern winds and discovers that she too has the gift of wailing. However, it requires great courage to accompany the dead to the other side, and she has been focusing on a career as a teacher. After a Finnish man steps into her life, Larja finds herself again torn between two different worlds. Wept Another is the story of a young woman who has grown up between two cultures on the border of two countries. It is a tale of roots and the ties that bind us, but above all, of the choices that you must make in life.

Christmas at the Cotton Mill is a festive collection of short stories set in the same fictional world as the successful Cotton Mill trilogy, which follows three generations of the Barker family throughout the decades.

Christmas at the Cotton Mill follows each of the three generations giving readers new insight into their family life, Christmas traditions, and backstory. In Christmas at the Falke Castle it is 1939 and Paula Falke (née Barker) is charged with planning Christmas for the whole family and the workers of the factory while her husband is fighting at the front. A happy ending seems impossible, but hope springs everlasting and the Falke family is in for a joyful Christmas after all.

In Penelope and the Curious Clothing Commotion Penelope is learning to get dressed by herself, but she has a sneaking suspicion that the clothes have it in for her. If she does not watch out, the knotted tights will bunch her in as well. Is there a gnome living in their house, one who nibbles a tissue sample off every sock and eats a sock from each pair? What if Penelope gets lost inside her clothes and pops out of a sleeve and into the wrong story? Or accidentally puts on Dad’s shirt and has to shave and go to work every morning?

Congratulations to all nominees, and fingers crossed!

The Mythicals series by Milla Westin and international bestseller Radio Popov by Anja Portin are now travelling to Vietnam, where they will be published by Kim Dong.

Wonderful news for our children’s list: the Vietnamese rights to The Mythicals series by Miila Westin and Radio Popov by Anja Portin have been sold to Kim Dong in a three-book deal.

The Mythicals series is a graphic novel series that beautifully blends together Finnish mythology, adventure, and stunning illustrations. In Endless Winter (Mythicals #1) we follow little Eevi, who is mourning the loss of her grandfather while snow continues to fall, even though it’s June. One day, after receiving a curious necklace from her grandmother, Eevi starts to see forest creatures, like Otso the gnome and the crop elves, whose existence she ignored. They know why winter seems to be endless, and have a plan to save spring that will lead them all the way to the Underworld. It’s their chance to save the spring, but is it also Eevi’s chance to bring Grandpa back?

In A Dangerous Dream (Mythicals #2) Eevi is lonely: after their successful adventure, none of her friends has been in touch, and no one believed her when she explained what happened. Then, one night Otso comes knocking at her window and asking for her help. His sister is sick, and Eevi’s necklace could be the key to saving her, so she goes along. But why does Eevi keep having scary dreams? And are they really just dreams?

Radio Popov by Anja Portin is one of the most successful children’s books of the last years: it won the Finlandia Junior upon its release, and has already travelled to 25 language territories. Radio Popov follows Alfred, a nine-year-old boy who lives virtually alone. His mother is not in the picture and his father is constantly busy with work and business trips. During one of these business trips Alfred is left alone for so long he runs out of food, and electricity is cut off.

When everything seems lost, Alfred is saved by a mysterious stranger who delivers food and woollen socks in lonely children’s letterboxes. It is the beginning of a wonderful adventure that will lead Alfred to a new family, and to saving more forgotten children. Alfred’s story is moving, and touches on social issues, but also contains joy, friendship, and a happy ending. The story, where children are left to their own devices with their problems in the face of absent or unhelpful adults is reminiscent of literary classics like the works of Astrid Lindgren and Roald Dahl.

Kim Dong is the leading publishing house in Vietnam and the largest publishing house for children’s literature, boasting over 1000 titles per year. The publisher provides a wide range of collections and genres, and has been co-operating internationally with, among others, HarperCollins UK, Simon and SchusterUK, Shogakukan Inc., and Seoul Publishing House.

Warm congratulations to the authors and the publisher!

Gustaf Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland: A Life in Geopolitics by Henrik Meinander is travelling to Armenia, where it will be published by Newmag.

Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland: A Life In Geopolitics, by Henrik Meinander, one of top Finnish historians today, is the best biography so far of Gustaf Mannerheim, known maybe most often as the War Marshal of Finland during the years of the Second World War. 

Mannerheim had a life with turns and twists like no other Finnish statesman, spanning from his days as an officer in the Russian army. Meinander weaves it together with the events of the old and new Europe and Russia that were in rapid change in the very years Mannerheim lived and worked. The reader gets a vivid picture of the international politics of the time and gets to also see Finland in a larger European context. The World English rights were acquired by Hurst, and the English edition has been praised by The Times and The Financial Times.

 

Henrik Meinander is professor of history at the University of Helsinki and the author of many acclaimed books on Finnish and Nordic history. He was formerly curator of the Mannerheim Museum in Helsinki and head of the Finnish Institute in Stockholm.

Newmag is an Armenian publisher whose list specializes in bringing bestsellers and high-quality non-fiction literature, both Armenian and from all over the world.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

The Lit-Quest Europe project continues for the second year, and a new call for literary professionals and the Residence Program of 2025 is open.

The Literary Professionals Residence Program is a part of the Lit-Quest Europe project, which is a cooperative initiative involving Publishing House Goga (Slo), Sandorf (Cro), and Helsinki Literary Agency (Fi). The Lit-Quest Europe project receives support from the EU Creative Europe program.

The Literary Professionals Residence Program for 2025 is open to welcome literary agents, editors and other literary professionals involved in promotion of authors and foreign rights from all eligible countries within the EACEA program:

EU Countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Non-EU Countries: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

The program particularly emphasizes literary professionals who possess extensive experience in their field, are accustomed to delivering lectures, and are proficient in the English language. We aim to enable the participation of literary professionals of all ages and genders, with a common criterion: their knowledge will have a meaningful impact on the countries of their residence.

For the year 2025, the call for applications is open for 9 literary professionals. Each residency will have a duration of 5 days, scheduled between June 1st and November 30th, 2025.

Number of Residencies:
– Goga Publishing (Slovenia – Novo mesto): 3 residencies

– Sandorf (Croatia – Zagreb): 3 residencies

– Helsinki Literary Agency (Finland – Helsinki): 3 residencies

The fellowship for literary professionals will include:

-A 5-night stay in an apartment

– Travel costs (up to 500 EUR)

-Accommodation costs (up to 150 EUR per night)

-Subsistence costs (50 EUR per person)

-Selected literary professionals will be required to complete a questionnaire
provided by literary agents who are also part of this project.

-Lectures will be recorded and disseminated on the project page.

-All literary professionals will have the opportunity to meet local literary
professionals of the host country and other individuals from the
publishing field.

All application materials should be submitted in English. The
application deadline is February 15th, 2025. The selection will be
conducted by the Board of the Lit-Quest Europe Project.

For additional questions regarding the call, please contact us via email: lit-quest@goga.si.

Applicants will be notified of the jury’s decision via email by Friday, March
7th, 2025.

You can find the application on following link: https://tinyurl.com/2mpd793z

Suliko by Pirkko Saisio is travelling to Hungary and Denmark, where it will be published by Polar and Jensen & Dalgaard respectively.

Suliko by Pirkko Saisio is starting its journey out into the world: this title is travelling to Hungary and Denmark. In Hungary Suliko will be published by Polar and in Denmark it will be published by Jensen & Dalgaard.

Suliko is a lyrical and intense novel where a disillusioned dictator reflects on his life on a cold New Year’s Eve. The only thing that seems to bring him comfort is Suliko, a song from his youth that has become a leitmotif throughout his entire life. The novel slips into flashbacks, describing how his idealism turned into something completely different, and the events flash him by until he can hardly recognize himself. 

Pirkko Saisio is the author of  the globally successful Helsinki Trilogy, and the great dame of Finnish literature, with a production ranging from novels to plays. Her The Red Book of Farewells (Helsinki Trilogy #3) and Passion have recently been included in the Readers’ and Critics’ Selections of the 100 Best Books from Finland.

Polar is a Hungarian publishing house specialising in Nordic literature. It is the Hungarian home of, among others, Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen, A Wooden Prayer by Antti Hurskainen, and many others.

Jensen & Dalgaard is a Danish publishing house with a carefully curated selection of international literature. They are the Danish home of The Pelican’s New Clothes by Leena Krohn, Matara by Matias Riikonen, Destruction by Iida Rauma, and 101 Ways To Kill Your Husband by Lindstedt & Vuola, among others.

In Finland, Suliko is published by Siltala.

Congratulations to the author and the publishers!