News

More amazing news for our children’s list: The Princess Who Did a Runner by Saara Kekäläinen and illustrated by Netta Lehtola, is travelling to Latvia, where it will be published by Latvijas Mediji. This marks the 5th deal for this witty, adorable title.

The book follows Leona, a young princess who does a runner when she learns of the fate that awaits her: she must marry a prince in order to save her kingdom. 

Leona jumps from one princess fairytale to the next in order to save herself from the age-old burdens of princesses that lurk around every corner – marriage and household chores. Along the way she meets many characters including a melancholic mirror, the species-changing Swanhilda, and princes with a penchant for glass shoes, menacing pouts, and rescue mission obsessions – not to mention seven adult men who are short of stature and don’t want to learn to clean and cook for themselves. The kind-hearted Leona helps everyone, but on her own terms. This princess refuses to be gentle, humble, and kind, just because that’s what’s expected of a fairytale princess! 

The Princess Who Did A Runner is a picture book full of sharp humour that will even offer big children and adults plenty of food for thought. It was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award 2023.

Warm congratulations to the authors!

Exciting news for our children’s list: The Mystery of Raspberry Hill by Eva Frantz is travelling to Norway, where it will be published by Mangschou.

This is the 8th deal for this spooky title, which has also been adapted to the screen.

The book follows Stina, a young girl who is sent to the sanatorium of Raspberry Hill to cure her illness. Raspberry Hill is in the middle of the healing countryside, where city dwellers with lung diseases end up. Many of the child patients treated there are from poor families – like Stina. The sanatorium feels like a castle to Stina. It is vast and full of long corridors and echoes. It is also a very lonely place, until one day Stina meets Ruben. The boy starts turning up when they should be sleeping, taking her on nightly expeditions to forbidden parts of the building – like the eastern wing, which has recently burned down.

Little by little Stina starts to realize that everything is not quite right in the sanatorium. Why isn’t her mother writing back to her? Why do the nurses seem so afraid? What really happened in the fire? And what is Ruben trying to warn her about?

Raspberry Hill is crime author Eva Frantz’s first children’s book – a suspenseful horror story for middle grade readers. It starts a series of stand-alone horror novels set in early 20th century that take their young readers on a journey back in time. The book was awarded Runeberg Junior Prize in 2019.

Warm congratulations to the author!

Fantastic news for our author Marja Kyllönen: she has been awarded the Distinguished Artist Award by the Kalevala Society Foundation. The jury have motivated their choice as follows:

“Marja Kyllönen’s (b. 1975) third novel, The Undeparted (Teos 2022), is a kind of generational novel about the transgenerational effects of individual actions and emotions. The most significant and distinctive element of Kyllönen’s narrative is the language she has developed. She combines images, words and parables from folklore, magic, dialects, Kalevala and Kanteletar into her language. When existing words are not enough, she develops new ones that fit naturally into the narrative. Kyllönen builds a language that has never been seen before in fiction. The Undeparted is a valuable addition to the union of Finnish folklore and fiction. Themes familiar from folklore are implanted in the world of contemporary readers, mainly in a style that can be described as magical-lyrical. It is a feat that is unlikely to be matched by anyone else.”

Warm congratulations to the author!

Anni Kytömäki’s Margarita came third among the most loved winners of the prize.

Readers have voted Ulla-Lena Lundberg’s Ice (2012) to their favourite of all Finlandia Prize winners. There were all together 22,000 votes casted. The vote is the first of its kind: this year marks the 40th anniversary of the prize.

Ice is a story about a priest and his family who arrive to a small island community in Åland right after the war, in 1946. The novel paints a picture of the local people, their relationships and the surrounding nature with the strikes of a master storyteller, and it has been described one that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

The novel is also the most bestselling Finlandia Prize winner with its well over 100,000 sold copies. The original Swedish edition is published by Schildts & Söderströms, and the Finnish translation by Teos.

Ulla-Lena Lundberg commented on the choice of the readers by saying,

“I am extremely happy for this recognition. At the same time I feel that all the Finlandia Prize winners would have been worthy of it: there are a lot of great books published in Finland, and putting them in order is difficult. I am very touched that the Finnish readers have taken a Finland Swedish novel to their hearts.”

The rights have been sold to the following areas:
Bulgaria, Izida
Croatia, Hena com
Denmark, Gyldendal
English, Sort of Books
Estonia, Eesti Raamat
Finland, Teos
Germany, Mare
Hungary, Széphalon Könyvmuhely
Norway, Heinesen
Poland, Marpress
Sweden, Albert Bonnier

Lundberg’s latest novel Light and Flame (2022) has been received with rave reviews.

The second of the readers’ favourites was Sofi Oksanen’s Purge (2008), and Anni Kytömäki’s Margarita (2020) took the third place.

The internationally most successful Finnish debut ever, Iida Turpeinen’s Beasts of the Sea, has been nominated for the prestigious Helsingin Sanomat Literary Prize.

The ten nominees for Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize were announced today, the last day of the Helsinki book fair. Among the candidates, there are six novels, three books of poetry and a collection of essays.

Antti Majander, a literary critic at the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper and a member of the jury, writes:

“Turpeinen whittles a base of clearly vast background information into precision strikes depicting her characters’ most telling moments. In addition to information, Beasts of the Sea offers the art of leaving out, which by and large informs the debut author’s voice.”

Beasts of the Sea has written Finnish literary history already now on the international arena, as its rights have been quickly sold to 12 areas, with aggressive pre-empts and in heated auctions. Currently, the rights have been sold to these areas:

World English, MacLehose and Little, Brown (pre-empted)
German, Fischer (pre-empted)
World French, Autrement (auction)
World Spanish, Seix Barral (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Dutch, Singel (pre-empted)
Sweden, Albert Bonnier (pre-empted)
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Estonia, Tänapäev
Greece, Ikaros 
Hungary, Polar.

The novel is a science-fueled story of extinctions with a huge marine mammal, Steller’s sea cow, as its protagonist. With her short, concise sentence and the skills of a great storyteller, Turpeinen has created a page-turning literary work is that is hugely topical despite the fact that the events of the novel take place in 18th, 19th and 20th century.

Iida Turpeinen (b. 1987) is a Helsinki-based literary scholar currently writing a dissertation on the intersection of the natural sciences and literature.

Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize has been given to the best Finnish debut yearly since 1995. Before, between 1964 and 1994, the best debut award was named after J. H. Erkko, a 19th century Finnish poet and the brother to the founder and editor in chief of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, the biggest daily in Finland.

The best Finnish debut of 2023 will be announced on the 16th of November.