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 (Suliko, Siltala 2024)
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.
PirkkoSaisio 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.
The Finnish Comics Society has awarded author and illustrator Ulla Donner with the Puupäähattu Prize for her works and authorship.
They have motivated their choice as follows:
“Donner has created her own design language, where for instance the typography becomes a part of the image. This obeys the fundamental idea of comics: the interplay of word and image. Into every page there’s more content than what it looks like at a first glance. Moomins and memes have given stylistic influences, but above all it is the author’s own voice that is heard and seen. The humor in the books is insightful, Donner is not being mean but rather creating likeable contemporary satire. Donner’s works show, how serious subjects can be dealt with in a warm and understanding way”.
Ulla Donner (b.1988) is an author and illustrator whose three books – Spleenish, Crap, and The Natural Comedy – have been welcomed with enthusiasm from critics and readers alike.
Spleenish (Spleenish, S&S 2017)
Spleenish (2017) explores the struggle of young people trying to fit in and stand out at the same time, and the frustration that follows.
Crap (Skiten, S&S 2019)
Donner’s second work, Crap, explores the contradictions and dangers of capitalism by following a group of artsy young people working at a trendy advertising agency. The promotion campaign of the latest revolutionary product, a potato-based high-protein sausage, sets in motion a chain of unexpected events with larger consequences than expected. Crap was awarded with the Finlandia Comics Prize upon its release, and is currently out in French with Atrabile.
The Natural Comedy (Den naturliga komedin, S&S 2023)
The Natural Comedy is Ulla Donner’s latest work, and it has been reviewed as her masterpiece. Born as a twist on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, the work follows Birch, a leaf who makes a crash landing on Candy after falling off a tree on the way to the Great Autumn Party. The reluctant duo embark on a roadtrip through the forest, which has been destroyed by mankind, and encounter a string of weird characters along the way. Donner’s pencil stuns readers with vivid illustrations rich in blues, whites and yellows that bring the forest to life and give the main characters rounded, Moomin-like and extremely cute features. The work won the Urhunden Prize in Sweden, and has already been sold to Poland.
All of Ulla Donner’s works have been nominated for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year Award. In Finland, her production is published by Schildts & Söderströms.
Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher!
The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen is now travelling to Bulgaria, where it will be published by Colibri.
The Thick of the Forest (Metsän peitto, Gummerus 2024)
More amazing news: The Thick of the Forest by Linnea Kuuluvainen is travelling to Bulgaria, where it will be published by Colibri. This is the second foreign deal for this title.
The Thick of the Forest is set in a near future where nature has started fighting back against human exploitation, destroying the world as we know it. Mixing elements from Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in the unique setting of a Finnish forest capable of utter destruction, The Thick of the Forest is an entrancing and linguistically captivating first novel about a forest that haunts people and two women, Edla and Ingrid, whose stories intersect.
Author Linnea Kuuluvainen
The result is a rich telling of the relationship between mankind and nature, and of how the lines dividing them become increasingly blurry in the depth of the forest. In Finland, the book is published by Gummerus, and was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for the best debut of the year.
Colibri is a Bulgarian publishing house with a broad list, including classics like Zola and Shakespeare, prominent contemporary authors like Salman Rushdie, Ian Mc Ewan, Joel Dicker, and our very own Selja Ahava.
Warm congratulations to the author and the publisher!
Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, one of the most significant literary awards globally.
Fishing For the Little Pike (Pienen hauen pyydystys, 2019. Pictured here: US English edition by Restless Books)
Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila has been nominated for the globally prestigious Dublin Literary Award. The novel was translated into English by Lola Rogers, and is published by Restless Books in the US and Pushkin Press in the UK and Ireland with the title Summer Fishing in Lapland.
Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila has been a long-standing success: originally published in Finland by Siltala in 2019, this title has since travelled to 20 language territories all over the world, enchanting readers and critics alike with its quirky atmosphere and fast-paced and multi-faceted plot. The book follows young Elina as she returns to her hometown in Eastern Lapland on her yearly quest to fish a specific pike out of a specific pond. Her life and an old lover’s depend on it, but this year a detective is on her trail, and the pond has a new inhabitant.
The Dublin Literary Award is regarded as one of the most significant literary awards globally. The award is aimed at books either produced in English or translated into English globally. A longlist is created on a yearly basis from invited public libraries from all over the world. A panel of judges then picks a shortlist of ten titles, from which a winner is selected and announced during the International Literature Festival in Dublin.
Summer Fishing in Lapland (Pienen hauen pyydystys, 2019. Pictured here: UK English edition by Pushkin Press)
The choice of Karila’s novel, has been commented by the nominating libraried as follows: “Every sentence in Fishing for a Little Pike is a joy to read. It is a charming blend of reality and magic. The activities of believable characters in the beautiful Northeastern Finland are occasionally interrupted, aided, or observed by characters from local folklore. In this book there are both harsh realities and more comical sides of life as well as aspects of being human and something so recognizably Finnish. The translation from Finnish by Lola Rogers is smooth and flowing and conveys this unique story well.“(Tartu Public Library)
“Summer Fishing in Lapland is a quirky, exhilarating and utmostly original novel located in Finnish Lapland (Sápmi). It is a story about young Elina’s both adventurous and magical trip to her home village to taim a mythical spike – otherwise both Elina and her loved one will die. Weird creatures and shenenigans of northern nature fill the trip and the story with absurd pleasure.” (Helsinki City Library / Pasila Library)
Fishing For The Little Pike is Juhani Karila‘s debut novel. Karila, journalist and previously author of short stories and novella, won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Silver Foreword Indies Award and received several nominations for this title.
In a recent Helsingin Sanomat newspaper ranking, Fishing For the Little Pike was ranked #4 in the list of 100 Best Books of the Century from Finland picked by readers, and #14 in the list of 100 Best Books of the Century from Finland in the list picked by critics.
Warm congratulations to the author and the publishers, and fingers crossed!
The national newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has recently published two lists of the 100 Best Books from Finland. One of the lists consists in the Critics’ Selection of 100 Best Books, as picked by critics and literary professionals, while the other included the Readers’ Selection of 100 Best Books as picked by readers.
The international bestseller Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen is topping the Readers’ Selection list, and is ranked #16 in the Critics’ Selection list. Readers have chosen it as their #1 and called it a “crazily stunning story and at the same time a so touchingly serious reminder of what mankind does to the rest of the natural world without thinking of the consequences at all.”
Ice (Is, S&S, 2012)
Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg is another top favourite for both readers and critics: the book is ranked #2 in the Readers’ Selection, and #6 in the Critics’ Selection. It comes as no surprise, as Ice was already chosen as readers’ all-time favourite Finlandia winner last year. Ice is the story of a young pastor and his family in a remote community, and it has been described as touching, quietly epic, and entertaining.
Fishing For the Little Pike (Pienen hauen pyydystys, Siltala 2019)
Coming in strong at #4 in the Readers’ Selection and #14 in the Critics’ is Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila. Publisher Nora Varjama, who reviewed for the Critics’ Selection, has stated that the book is “a little Finnish folly. You can only find it in literature. An insane gem, and even more insane is the fact that Finns have taken this on as their own.” A crowd favourite, the book is also an international hit, and has already travelled to 20 language territories.
Author Anni Kytömäki
In the Reader’s Selection’s top 10 we also find Margarita by Anni Kytömäki (#7), another bestselling Finlandia-winning title, ranked at #75 in the Critics’ list. Kytömäki’s production in its entirety is shown a lot of love: Goldheart is in the top 20 of the Readers’ Selection, Mirabilis in the top 50, and Stone Weaver is ranked at #81. Critics too, include several of Kytömäki’s books in the list: they rank Goldheart even higher than Margarita, at #55.
Destruction (Hävitys, Siltala 2020)
Destruction by Iida Rauma is high up on both lists: readers place in their top 20 at #15, and critics in their top 10 at #7. Destruction, a story of school violence and historical, personal and natural destruction, was a literary sensation and won the Finlandia in 2020. It has already travelled to four language territories and the Swedish edition, out with Ramus, took Sweden by storm.
Pirkko Saisio is featured with two titles in both lists. On top of her The Red Book of Farewells, both lists rank Passion among their favourites. Passion is ranked at #5 in the Readers’ Selection, and #21 in the Critics’ Selection.
Trench Road by Kari Hotakainen is also featured in both lists: readers place it at #30, and critics at #58. The novel tells a story of one Matti Virtanen, whose life is changed by a single strike, after which his wife and daughter leave him. Losing his family breaks the spine of Matti’s existence. He feels he needs to gain his family back, and starts fulfilling his wife’s dream of a house. His obsession drives him to excesses, and soon there is no turning back. Trench Road was awarded the most prestigious literary award in the country, Finlandia Prize, as well as the Nordic Council Literature Prize.
The other HLA titles on the Readers’ Selection of 100 Best Books are:
