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Finlandia winner Radio Popov by Anja Portin continues its international success: it is currently on exhibition at the Finnish Embassy & National Library for Children and Young Adults in Seoul, where it will stay until August 31. The Korean edition had been received favourably, and Radio Popov continues to do well in the country.

Radio Popov 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.

Anja Portin has quickly become a favourite among children’s authors with her middle grade novel Radio Popov. She writes about children who take matters into their own hands when grownups do not want to take responsibility or are not there to do it. 

An excerpt from Shadowmind by Harry Salmenniemi has been featured on The Point Magazine in English translation by Henri Antikainen.

Author Harry Salmenniemi debuted as novelist in 2023 with Shadowmind (Varjotajunta, Siltala 2023) with several collection of award-winning and warmly praised novella collections on his back.

In Shadowmind, Salmenniemi is about to embark on a train journey home. The shopping mall where he stops for coffee, the station, the platform and all the little, mundane details that come with the journey all shine with new light as the author focuses on them and reflects on the ordinary and the extraordinary things in his life. Combining style experimentations, autofiction, and reflections on contemporary life and society, Salmenniemi takes readers on a journey where modern culture is looked into, and smiled upon, with warmth. The novel was nominated for the Runeberg Prize, the second most prestigious award in the country.

The Point magazine is a thrice-yearly published literary magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. The magazine publishes essays, reviews, and articles on literature, culture, and the arts. The excerpt of Shadowmind published on The Point is translated by Henri Antikainen is titled Deep Breath. In it, the author and narrator is waiting for the train and grabs a coffee at a mall in Helsinki, and sinks deep into thoughts about both mundane and essential things.

You can find the whole excerpt here, and you can read more about Salmenniemi’s authorship here.

A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large by Sofia & Amanda Chanfreau has been awarded the Adomas Druktenis Prize for best translated book for the youth of the year by IBBY Lithuania.

The Lithuanian edition of A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large is out with Alma Littera, in translation by Mantas Karvelis. A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large is a stunning story by Sofia & Amanda Chanfreau, where magical realism meets the quest after one’s own origins.The book has been enchanting publishers all over the world since its release and, on top of having sold over 10.000 copies in Finland, it has also won the most important literary award in the country, the Finlandia Junior Prize, in 2022. This illustrated novel for middle grade readers is a tale of longing to be part of a family, to find one’s place in the world, and to be loved as one is. 

Whenever ten-year-old Vega, who has always lived with her father, tries to ask about her mother, the only answer she gets is mysteries. Once a not-so-nice girlfriend starts dating her father, and Vega gets an unexpected pen pal, she decides to set out on an adventure to find out more about her mother. The book is a superb read for a child alone or for parents and children together.

Congratulations to the authors and the publisher!

Danish Straarup & Co has acquired in auction the Danish rights to The Sisters of the Desert (Chronicles of Gibat #1) by Malin Klingenberg.

Malin Klingenberg‘s new series The Chronicles of Gibat has started its journey out into the world: The Sisters of the Desert (Chronicles of Gibat #1) is now travelling to Denmark, where it will be published by Straarup & co, who have acquired the rights in auction.

The Sisters of the Desert is the first instalment in Malin Klingenberg‘s new fantasy trilogy The Chronicles of Gibat, and won the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in early 2025. The Sisters of the Desert follows Sarina and Saba, two sisters whose father is the leader of a wandering desert tribe where one day children start disappearing. Afraid they may be next, and suspecting their father may be involved, the two girls try to sneak away and meet another tribe, whose leader claims to have known their mother. The members of the other tribe believe in magic and claim that their mother, too, had magical powers. Could it be that their father has been hiding from them even more than they thought? And can the sisters stand up for what’s right and reveal the secrets from their past?

The Sisters of the Desert is a beautiful story of adventure, magic, friendship, and sisterly love in a world where some adults are ruthless and children are left to fend for themselves. The book is beautifully illustrated by Eeva Nikunen. The Chronicles of Gibat series will continue this May with the release of My Brother Brother, the second instalment in the series.

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. The Sisters of the Desert marks her fantasy debut, proving she can successfully add one more genre to her impressively polyhedric production. Her works are published in Finland by Schildts & Söderströms.

Straarup & Co. is a Danish publishing house whose list includes quality literature for young readers and a broad selection of fantasy titles. They are the Danish publisher of other internationally successful fantasy titles like Aisling Fowler’s Fireborn, Håkon Marcus’ Feral series, and Katja Brandis’ Woodwalkers series. They are the also the Danish home of our very own Night Express and Juno Lights The Moon by Karin Erlandsson, The Mythicals series by Miila Westin, Radio Popov and The Book of Misty Trees by Anja Portin, and more.

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

Beasts of the Sea has been nominated for the Premio Strega Europeo in Italy, the most prestigious literary award in the country.

Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen continues to enchant the international literary scene: the Italian edition, in translation by Nicola Rainò and out with Neri Pozza, is now nominated for the Premio Strega Europeo in Italy.

The Strega Prize, established in 1947, is the most prominent literary award in Italy, and is awarded on a yearly basis by the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation. The Premio Strega Europeo (lit. “European Strega Prize”) established in 2014, is the international equivalent of the Strega Prize and is awarded on a yearly basis to a foreign work translated into Italian.

The winner is picked from a selection of five nominees, and will be announced at the Salone del Libro Book Fair in Turin this May. This year’s other nominees are: The Discovery of Holland by Jan Brokken, Muna, or Half a Life by Terézia Mora, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, and Theodoros by Mircea Cărtărescu.

Previous nominees and winners include Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, International Booker Prize laureates David Diop and Georgi Gospodinov, and more. Iida Turpeinen is the first Finnish author to receive a nomination since Rosa Liksom with her Compartment Number 6.

Beasts of the Sea is a literary achievement and a breathtaking adventure through three centuries. Approaching natural diversity through individual destinies, it’s a story of grand human ambitions and the urge to resurrect what humankind in its ignorance has destroyed. Steller’s sea cow, a sirenian lost to extinction centuries ago, is revived on the pages and is the red thread that ties together the individual fates of a group of people throughout the centuries. The novel is the winner of the Book Beat Newcomer Award, The Thank You for the Book Award, Finland’s booksellers’ prize, the best debut award, the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, the Storytel award. Beasts of the Sea was also a nominee for Finland’s biggest literary award, the Finlandia Prize, as well as for the Torch-bearer Prize. Its international breakthrough has been acknowledged by the Bookseller.

In Finland, Beasts of the Sea is published by Kustantamo S&S, part of Schildts & Söderströms and it has already sold over 50.000 copies in Finland alone. Loved by readers and critics alike, Beasts of the Sea has also been crowned the Best Book of the Century in a Readers’ Selection list published by the largest Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat. The foreign rights have been sold for 28 language areas so far.

Iida Turpeinen (b. 1987) is a Helsinki-based literary scholar currently writing a dissertation on the intersection of the natural sciences and literature. As an author, she is intrigued by the literary potentials of scientific research and by the offbeat anecdotes and meanderings from the history of science.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publishers, and fingers crossed!