News

Busy, busy, busy: that’s all anyone from the publishing industry can say about the crazy month of October. But, for us at HLA, this always means more Finnish literature abroad. Here are the children’s books deals from the month of Frankfurt.

Eva Frantz’s newest children’s novel, The Mystery of the Helmersbruk Manor, illustrated by Elin Sandström, was immediately picked up by Danish publisher Straarup & Co., who has previously acquired The Night Express by Karin Erlandsson and Peter Bergting. The new novel continues in the genre of the spine-tingling ghost stories that Frantz is known for, gripping, heartfelt, and full of adventures. The story is divided in 24 chapters, making it a perfect read in a run-up to Christmas.

Additionally, World Spanish rights for Frantz’s debut in the genre, the Runeberg Junior Prize winner Raspberry Hill (2018), have been sold to Fondo de Cultura. This is the 4th foreign rights sale for the book, which has previously been acquired in the English world, Bulgaria and Russia.

It was recently announced that Frantz’s books are in the Top 10 of the most borrowed books written in Swedish in Finland’s libraries. Raspberry Hill is #7 on the list, and her crime novels for adults Out of the Game (2020) and The Eighth Maiden (2019) are #1 and #10 respectively.

Two other lovely children’s books from HLA’s list will now be travelling to Romania: picture book Secret Gardeners (2021) by Maija Hurme & Lina Laurent, previously sold to 3 foreign territories, was acquired by Didactica, plus there is an offer now on the table for the Romanian rights of the Finlandia Prize winner Radio Popov by Anja Portin, already sold to 20 territories.

We are so happy to see so many beautiful titles from Finland travelling around the world and winning the hearts of publishers and readers alike! Congratulations to the authors!

One of the biggest highlights on HLA’s catalogue this season, novel Matara by the young rising star Matias Riikonen, has been nominated for the prestigious Torch-Bearer Prize.

The Torch-Bearer Prize is given yearly to a title considered to have the most potential to succeed outside Finland. And indeed, Riikonen’s novel has been among the most requested during the Frankfurt days.

Matara is a story about boys’ games gone an inch too seriously. In the novel, boys of a summer camp spend their days in the realm they have built: the Republic of Matara. It has a law, a societal structure, plotting for power and bonds between citizens, as any real state. 

Under the guidance of his older brother, a young boy trains to be a scout. While spying, the pair come upon an enemy camp: war is at hand.

“Matias Riikonen writes about the boys’ wargames as if they were the most important thing in the world. The result is a magnificent work, among the best contemporary Finnish prose.”
– Suomen Kuvalehti magazine

5 authors altogether are nominated for the Torch-Bearer Prize, and the winner will be announced on the 4th of December.

HLA’s authors have been awarded the prize for the two previous years in a row: Minna Rytisalo received it for her novel Mrs C. in 2019, and last year, the winner was Marisha Rasi-Koskinen’s Lynchian masterpiece REC. In 2015, the prize was given to another HLA author, Finlandia Prize winner Anni Kytömäki for her debut novel Goldheart.

Congratulations to all the nominees and fingers crossed for Riikonen’s success!

Some exciting news to announce in the midst of the hectic Frankfurt days: Halla Helle, a striking debut from the indigenous voice Niillas Holmberg, has been sold to Éditions du Seuil in France!

Le Seuil, as it is often simply called, is a well established publishing house, with a publishing history dating back to 1935. Nowadays, it is dedicated to represent as diverse literature as possible: French and translated fiction and nonfiction, thrillers, books on human sciences and philosophy, children’s and YA literature…

The acquiring editor Bénédicte Lombardo was convinced that “Holmberg’s strong, very literary voice” will be a perfect fit to her list.

Halla Helle is a story about a young man Samu, who leaves Southern Finland behind and moves to Sápmi. Something strange and powerful is taking him to Utsjoki: Elle Hallala, the best-known Sámi person in Finland, known by her artist alias Halla Helle. She, however, abandons her art, withdraws from the world and moves on an arctic mountain to live her life according to her ancestors. Can Samu, a child of mainstream culture, understand the Sámi symbols and eventually, help the artist heal?

Niillas Holmberg’s poetry collections have been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize twice. Halla Helle is the first novel published in decades that is written by a Sámi author dealing with Sámi identity and culture.

Don’t forget about the Literature from Finland podcast episode INDIGENOUS, where Niillas discussed his childhood in the Sámi community, his activism and creative work.

HLA is proud to have not only extraordinary and original authors, but also some spectacular and lauded illustrators on its list. The Rudolf Koivu Prize, given every two years to the best illustrator of children’s or young people’s books, nominated three HLA illustrators this year.

Sanna Pelliccioni received a nomination for her newest work I Remember You With Love (2020), a picture book which offers a new, beautiful way to face the loss of our dear ones. Pelliccioni’s sensitive illustrations enrich the story about little Alma and her family dealing with losing their grandma. Alma’s classmate Diego teaches her about the Mexican Día de los Muertos, letting Alma experience a new way to grieve and remember loved ones. Foreign rights of the book have been sold to Estonia.

Tuomas Kärkkäinen was nominated for The Illustrated Book of Awelings (2021), an enchanting and inventive guide to spot little creatures that live in cities that offer explanations for humming pipes, broken kerbstones, splashes on walls and noisy traffic lights. With tips and tasks, the readers are taught to notice the most fascinating phenomena in an urban environment. Never before has a children’s book presented stony cities in such spellbinding guise!

Ulla Donner was nominated for her 2019 Graphic Novel Crap, a story about capitalism, potatoes and the will to flush yourself down the toilet. As the Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper has noted, “Donner’s graphic novels have the elements that form the bedrock of the new boom for Swedish-speaking graphic novels: inner angst and social criticism.” Crap was awarded the Finlandia prize for the best Finnish graphic novel in 2019, and has been sold to 4 foreign language territories so far.

The nominees were selected from 133 books, and the winner will be announced on the 20th of October.

Congratulations to the nominated illustrators, and fingers crossed!

Our little Pike is sweeping the hearts away across continents! After the immense success on the home front, the extraordinary Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila is now conquering the world one country at the time.

In October, the Turkish and Arab language deals were made. Pike’s new home in Turkey is İthaki, a publisher of Madeline Miller, Neil Gaiman, Pat Barker, T.J. Klune, Antti Tuomainen and Johanna Sinisalo, among others.

The Arab language publisher is Egypt-based Al Arabi, a home of a wide range of international authors, from Frantz Kafka, Peter Handke and Herman Koch to Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, Jon Gnarr, Sofi Oksanen and many others.

Additionally, a new offer just reached us from Russia, which will mark a 10th foreign rights deal for the book.

In the meantime, the French edition, superbly translated by Claire Saint-Germain and published by La Peuplade just a month ago, has been received with the enthusiasm that makes one wonder whether there’s a French reader left in the world that hasn’t fallen madly in love with the book.

The novel has been called a “bomb”, “a formidable punk fairytale”, “a magnetic and powerful odyssey”; Shakespeare, Paasilinna, Rabelais and Don Quixote have been mentioned – and these are only the previews. The novel is now nominated for Prix Micheline, a booksellers’ prize for the best literary debut.

Enjoy some of the reviews from the French world, and don’t forget to tune in Literature from Finland podcast episode MYTH, where Karila discussed myths from and about Finland.

“Otherworldly, inimitable: Finnish literature at its best. (…)
A phenomenal, hilarious, as well as poetic novel, combining the north, the Finnish folklore, and the eco-fable, Fishing for the Little Pike reinvents the delicious folly that made Finnish literature a success.”
– Sortiz (an online magazine on literature and cultural events)

BOOKSELLERS ACROSS THE FRENCH WORLD SAY…

“Houston, we have a HUGE problem!!! It’s not even September yet, and we already have a darling here, a pretty much unbeatable literary debut! Sure, you never know: in the event of some improbable combination of circumstances, we might eventually stumble upon a novel with which we will be even more enamored. In the meantime, well done La Peuplade for bringing up this inventive, hilarious and inspired Finnish author, and thank you, Juhani Karila, for this story that we won’t soon forget!!! (…) It has humor, it has love (conflicted), it has magic, it has mythical creatures and superstitions (not so unfounded), it has drama, and it has a strange curse, circling at the bottom of the pond. We recommend this gem with all our hearts!!!”
– LETTRE ET MERVEILLES bookshop

“I gobbled it up, swallowed in frenzy and a sort of bulimic euphoria! It’s mordant, ironic, refreshing, breathtaking, delightful and astonishing. It is a pure pleasure to wander off, following these strange creatures that you could have never imagined yourself. [The story] takes you to all kinds of places, without ever letting go of your hand. (…) Honestly, a real treat!”
– Anne, LA GÉOSPHÈRE bookshop, Montpellier

“This novel by the Finnish Juhani Karila is a real BOMB!
The presentation of the book invites us to be prepared for a Rabelaisian carnival, with characters worthy of Don Quixote. I, personally, rather got the feeling of a great Shakespearean remix, tragedies and comedies passed through a mill of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, all drizzled with a Finno-Ugrian sauce, utterly euphoric and damn wacky. (…) This novel is an extraordinary epiphany which not only makes you laugh, but also touches your heart and soul as only the great texts can.”
– Fred Hrsct, LIBRAIRIE LÉON DURANCE bookshop, Nantes

“A magical, delightful read!
One of those rare moments, when enthusiasm, joy and the fear of having to close the book intersect. (…) A kind of literature which reminds you that reading sometimes means becoming a kid again, with stars shining all over the place.
This Little Pike is FORMIDABLE! Inventiveness, comedy, imagination, ideas: it has everything, and everything is great! The reading that leaves me with a sentiment of jubilation, which stays even after having said goodbye to the [protagonist] Elina and others. A sort of bonfire, infinitely fueled.”
– Fabien Bernier, director at LIBRAIRIE DECITRE GRENOBLE bookshop

“Magnetic and powerful in its originality.”
– Fanny Nowak, webmagazine Aires Libres

“This debut is a truly beautiful surprise; a colorful story, wild and sensitive at the same time, that carries the reader far away. A strong recommendation for everyone to discover.”
– Virginie Schmitt, LE FORUM DU LIVRE bookshop, Rennes

“Deploying a bestiary, terrifying and magnificent at the same time, which allows the author to explore the furious complexity of Lapland’s mythology (and make fun of some civilizational quirks in the process), Juhani Karila builds a formidable punk fairytale, where curses induce mad quests and some absurdly original interactions.”
– Olivier Boisvert, LIBRAIRIE GALLIMARD bookshop, Montréal

“Fishing for the Little Pike features a handful of characters who play a fools game among themselves: living in the world that we pretend to understand when, in fact, we ignore everything. This is a beautiful book; it provokes bursts of laughter, it examines – through a metaphor – our place in the world. (…) Karila’s writing is as free as it is striking.”
– Eric Pessan, Author

“In Juhani Karila’s novel Fishing for the Little Pike, the everyday and the supernatural mix to perfection; as [one of the characters], inspector Janatuinen, was advised: simply be up for everything.”
– Tatiana Moroni, LES VILLES INVISIBLES bookshop, Clisson