News

HLA is thrilled to share that the winner of this year’s EU Prize for Literature, Piia Leino’s dystopian novel Heaven, has been recently sold to A7 in Turkey.

Though established only in 2017, A7 has already managed to create a strong list of fiction, nonfiction and children’s titles, keeping a good balance between literary and mainstream books. About a third of them have copyrights from Wooden Books, which is a respected international organisation in the publishing world for its quality and popular titles.

A7 has a beautiful mission to “contribute to a community consisting of people who are spiritually, intellectually and socially strong, cheerful, happy and hopeful individuals turning the reading into a feast and internalising it as a joyful way of life”. The publisher also emphasises the importance of books that help people create liberating relationships “based on love and solidarity, not on power”, as well as enhancing reading culture – a vital part of a free and democratic society.

We couldn’t be more happy that Heaven found its Turkish home at A7! It was sold with the help of our partners, Kalem Agency.

Leino’s Heaven has previously been sold to Bulgaria (Perseus), Hungary (Scolar), North Macedonia (Artkonekt), Serbia (Kontrast), Ukraine (Astrolabe).

We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Here’s one with Minna Rytisalo, the author of the bestsellers Mrs C. and Lempi. Learn about the inner contradictions of protagonists in Minna’s books and why happy stories are not as simple as they might seem. And of course, the entertaining questionnaire!

(Photo: Marek Sabogal)

We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Read here a touching interview with Minna Eväsoja, the author of Wabi and Sabi. Meditation journal, revealing how a girl from a small Finnish factory town ended up presenting Finnish healthcare system to the Crown Prince of Japan. And of course, the entertaining questionnaire!

(Photo: Marek Sabogal)

Sanna Pelliccioni’s wordless children’s book We Had to Leave has been a subject of research within the international community.

The book has been chosen to “DIALLS: DIalogue and Argumentation for Cultural Literacy Learning in Schools” research project, led by the University of Cambridge and ongoing in several European countries, to research how children engage in discussions where they may have differing viewpoints and how wordless books can help to grow awareness of their own cultural identities.

The book was also recently presented in the five-day conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature in Stockholm. The conference gathered over 500 participants from ca. 50 different countries. One of the participants has commented that Pelliccioni’s book has received a spontaneous “Wow!” among the usually rather critical audience.

University of Helsinki researcher and teacher Jaana Pesonen, who held the presentation about the book (‘We Had to Leave‘– Voicing the refugee experience in a wordless picturebook), was glad to see that it received so much interest from the academics, among others, from Evelyn Arizpe who was named the new president for the IRSCL board. Arizpe mentioned Pelliccioni’s book in her own presentation.

We are very proud that Finnish children’s titles are considered to be the etalon of quality and have a notable role in the education research and practice around the world. Congratulations to Sanna Pelliccioni!

(Photo: Loviisa Kangas)

We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Read one with Karin Erlandsson, the author of the magical Song of the Eye Gemstone series. Find out here, what is the secret of the series popularity among young readers and at what profession Karin would do really terrible. And of course, the entertaining questionnaire!

Photo: Matilda Saul