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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.

Autrement came out as the winner from the auction for the French world rights of Beasts of the Sea.

During the past few weeks, Iida Turpeinen’s “world-class debut” Beasts of the Sea has been the book everyone is talking about. The sea cow hype has manifested in seven pre-emptive deals (world English, MacLehose and Little, Brown jointly; Germany, S. Fischer; Spanish, Seix Barral; the Netherlands, Singel; Sweden, Albert Bonnier; Norway, Gyldendal; Denmark, People’s). Before, the rights have been sold to Estonian Tänapäev and Hungarian Polar.

Today, Autrement (of the publishing group Flammarion) came out as the winner in the auction for the world French rights.

Juliette Lambron, the literary director of Autrement, wrote in her letter to the author:

“From the very first pages of your novel, I have been swept away by Elolliset and its captivating epic novel dimension: reading your novel is like embarking on an adventure, a fascinating journey through time and places. […]  The epic scope is perfectly interwoven with scientific observations and details that nourish the narrative: your novel achieves the feat of combining an adventure dimension with the history of sciences, of discoveries and explorations in a very compulsive way. […] I am very impressed and passionate about your deftly mastered novel and its precise, rhythmic and evocative writing that enlightens our human nature and our relationship to our environment, to nature and to the living beings.”

The deal was done by our splendid co-agent Anna Lindblom from the Nordik Agency.

Autrement’s beautiful publishing list includes authors such as Joseph Conrad, Jens Liljestrand, Julia Phillips or Kjell Westö. It is also well-known for its “Atlases” collection that endeavors to chart territories in new and enlightening ways, so as to broaden our horizons and our knowledge of the world. 

The hottest Finnish title of this year, Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea, has its new English home with the MacLehose Press in the UK and Little, Brown Company in the US.

During the past few weeks and especially at the Frankfurt book fair, Beasts of the Sea has gotten a tremendous amount of attention, which has manifested in seven prior pre-emptive deals (Germany, Fischer; Spanish, Seix Barral; Italy, Neri Pozza; the Netherlands, Singel; Sweden, Albert Bonnier; Norway, Gyldendal; Denmark, People’s). Yesterday, Autrement (Flammarion) came out as the winner in the auction for the world French rights. Before, the rights have been sold to Estonian Tänapäev and Hungarian Polar.

For the world English rights, there was an extraordinary amount of offers pouring in, as the deadline for first offers was approaching. The novel was, however, taken off the table by the strong joint pre-emptive offer by MacLehose Press and Little, Brown Company.

“Iida Turpeinen has produced an impeccably researched voyage of discovery embedded in the natural world, with terrific characters, and an elegiac meditation on human stupidity. It deals with such universal themes, and in such a sustained, vivid, poetic way; you could press it into the hands of any reader”, stated Katharina Bielenberg, the Publisher of MacLehose Press (Quercus).

“Little, Brown is thrilled to be joining our colleagues at MacLehose Press to publish in the English language this gorgeously written, at once intimate and sweeping novel by a hugely talented debut author,” said Asya Muchnik,  VP and Executive Editor at Little, Brown Company.

The author Iida Turpeinen says: “I am absolutely delighted that Beasts of the Sea will soon be made available for the English-speaking readers, too. The book could not have found a better home, and I am thrilled and honoured to be able to collaborate with such prestigeous publishing houses as MacLehose Press and Little, Brown Company.”

MacLehose Press was founded in 2008 by Christopher MacLehose. It has a very strong list of translated quality fiction, including Karin Smirnoff, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Roberto Saviano, Stieg Larsson and Kjell Westö.

Little, Brown and Company was founded in 1837 by by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. It is the publisher of many bestselling authors, including Donna Tartt, Madeline Miller, Kate Atkinson, David Foster Wallace and Malcolm Gladwell.

The second pre-empt at the Frankfurt book fair for the “world-class debut” by Iida Turpeinen comes from Seix Barral, the literary imprint of the biggest publisher in the Spanish-speaking market, Grupo Planeta.

Seix Barral’s pre-empt is the seventh for Beasts of the Sea, which is the biggest literary break-through for a Finnish debut ever. Just two days ago, at the beginning at the Frankfurt book fair, the novel was pre-empted in the Netherlands by Singel Publishers.

The hot title of the fair, there are offers on table for the world English (deadline for offers noon Finnish time on 25th October) and Greek rights, handled by Avgi Daferera from Ersilia Literary Agency. For the world French, there are several offers on the table of Anna Lindblom from Nordik Agency.

The publishers to date are

German, S. Fischer (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Dutch, Singel (pre-empted)
Sweden, Alfred Bonniers (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Hungary, Polar
Estonia, Tänapäev.

The world Spanish deal has been negotiated by our splendid co-agents at Casanovas & Lynch Literary Agency.

You’ll find the news of each deal and praise by the acquiring editors from the links above.

Fantastic news keeps pouring in: the biggest literary phenomenon from Finland this year, Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea, has sealed its 8th foreign deal as its Dutch rights were pre-empted by Singel Uitgevers’ Jacoba Casier (De Geus) and Michel van de Waart (Arbeiderspers). 

A fascinating story that spans over 200 years and revolves around Steller’s sea cow – an extinct sirenian. The novel is a beautiful intersection of natural sciences and literature. 

“Both Jacoba [Jacoba Casier, De Geus] and I were impressed. I read the sample over the weekend and was immediately drawn into this powerful, multilayered story about the human urge to control, study and collect nature, destroying it in the process. It reminded me of books by Judith Schalansky and Daniel Kehlmann’s book on Humboldt. 19th century preciseness combined with deep aesthetic sensitivity and epic narration, with the urgency of the current climate crisis resonating between the lines,”
says Michel de Waart.

The publishing group is known for the translations of for example Olga Tokarczuk, Colm Tóibín, Karl Ove Knausgård and others.

Prior, Beasts of the Sea has traveled to the following areas:

German, S. Fischer (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Sweden, Alfred Bonniers (pre-empted)
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Hungary, Polar
Estonia, Tänapäev

There are offers on the table for the World French (Nordik Agency), World English (Helsinki Literary Agency) and Greek rights (Ersilia Literary Agency), and a pre-emptive offer from a 12th area.

For earlier news and praise by the editors, check the links: Norway, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia.