News

HBO Max has launched a docuseries titled The First Five, with the titular figures being the five party leaders of the coalition government led by Sanna Marin. You can find the trailer here.

A government led by an all-women set of leaders was hailed by foreign press as groundbreaking, and the series sets out to explore the challenges faced by them in their role and in the unprecedented times of their mandate.

This brings the spotlight on The Women Who Run Finland, our non-fiction title that dives deep into the behind-the-scenes. As the authors Vappu Kaarenoja and Aurora Rämö emphasize, all-female led governments don’t just spring up from nothing.

Finnish women were the first in Europe to gain the right to vote, Finland enjoyed a dozen successful years under a woman president, and women ministers have since been been a relevant part of the political life of the country.

News of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s freshly appointed team made American talk show hosts contemplate if the remote Nordic country was actually the stuff of an alternate Wonder Woman universe and the truth, while not quite as supernatural, is just as thrilling.

Märta Tikkanen, whose work has strongly focused on equality and women’s rights over several decades, has been awarded a prize for her life’s work by the Kvinnosaksförbundet Unionen / Naisasialiitto Unioni, the Finnish branch of the International Alliance of Women.

The news has been published on Hufvudstadsbladet, the leading Swedish-language newspaper in Finland.

Tikkanen is a prolific and wildly successful author: The Love Story of The Century, a novel about the struggles of a woman whose husband falls into alcoholism, became an instant undisputed classic of Finnish literature on its debut in 1978 and has sold over 140.000 copies in Sweden alone.

She had already made waves with Manrape (1975), the story of a woman who decides to take revenge on her rapist. The book, now an established classic, was considered something of a scandal when it first came out, but has since paved the way for writing about gender and sexual violence in fiction.

Fantastic news for our author Niillas Holmberg: he has been awarded the Eino Leino Prize 2023.

The Eino Leino Prize, established in 1956, is a yearly prize awarded to top-notch writers with a specific focus on poetry. The jury has chosen Holmberg as this year’s winner for his merits as multilingual poet and political activist:

“Niillas Holmberg keeps his native language alive and contributes to its growth. He writes about nature and globalization with great insight, describing things that no other language has words for. His multilingualism is for him an advantage and it enriches both of the languages he uses“.

Holmberg’s engagement in political and environmental questions is also praised as an example of art being at the service of activism without being dependent on it: Holmberg’s love for his home landscapes shines through in a way that captures the reader.

Niillas Holmberg is a Sami author, poet, musician, actor, and cultural and environmental activist living in his native Utsjoki, in Lapland. His works have been praised for their multilingualism, originality and their portrayal of Sami culture.

Underfoot, his collection of poems that explores the connection between people and earth, was praised both in Finland and abroad, and has been sold to Estonia and Germany.

Halla Helle, his debut novel, portrays a young man from Southern Finland, Samu, and his fascination with Elle, a Lappish artist, that prompts him to travel to Lapland. The book has been praised for its compelling style and it is also the first novel published in decades that is written by a Sámi author dealing with Sámi identity and culture. The rights have been sold to France, where it will be published by Éditions du Seuil.

Warm congratulations to the author!

Fantastic news for our children’s list: A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large has been sold to Poland, where it will be published by Dwie Siostry, a highly acclaimed Warsaw-based publishing house specialised in high-quality children’s literature.

This is the 14th foreign sale for the title: this stunning story by Amanda & Sofia Chanfreau, where magical realism meets the quest after one’s own origins 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 and is currently nominated for the Nordic Council Children’s and Young People’s Literature Prize.

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.

In Finland, the Chanfreau sisters are also published by Schildts & Söderströms.

Warm congratulations to the authors, and don’t miss out on this wonderful title!

Another accolade for several HLA authors: Me naiset, the leading women’s magazine in Finland, published in early June a list of “New Classics” – books produced in the last 15 years that left a mark in the Finnish literary landscape.

Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki trilogy – Lowest Common Multiple; Backlight; and The Red Book of Farewells – is praised for the “wonderful portrayal of how an individual looks at their own past and at the history of their community”. On Saisio’s style, the article goes on to state that “As a story-teller Saisio is in the same league as Nobelist Annie Ernaux“.

Iida Rauma’s Destruction is featured for its narration of bullying and violence among young people and the scars these events leave on adults. On her style, the article comments that Rauma “doesn’t lecture, but makes readers think”.

Juhani Karila’s Fishing for the Little Pike is also on the list, described as both a “traditional and modern” work of art. 101 Ways to Kill Your Husband, by Laura Lindstedt & Sinikka Vuola is also praised for its modernity, which combines stylistic experimentations with a surprisingly successful mix of tragedy and fun.

Minna Rytisalo’s Lempi, a gorgeous story of love and jealousy set in Northern Finland in times of war also makes the list, and so does Ulla-Leena Lindberg‘s Ice, a touching family saga, praised for its historical portrait of Finland.