News

While we have been enthusiastically following the reviews of Piia Leino’s newest thriller Apogee, published in Finland just weeks ago, some fantastic news has reached us from Italy: author’s EU Prize for Literature winner Heaven has been now acquired by Voland!

Since its establishment in 1994, Voland has published some of the most renowned world’s classics, such as Mihail Bulgakov, Lev Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Along with the grands, Voland is also dedicated to introducing cultures and fascinating worlds through authors that are yet to be explored in Italy, but who write literature of great depth.

As the publisher declares: “In Voland’s catalogue, voices are never predictable.”  Alexandra David-Néel, Julio Cortázar, Georges Perec, Dulce Maria Cardoso, Stephanie Hochet, Edgar Hilsenrath, Javier Argüello have all been a part of Voland’s beautiful list – we are sure that the Finnish Piia Leino will be a wonderful addition to it.

This is the 12th foreign rights sale for Heaven, and with the Frankfurt fair fully in the process, we are certain many more will follow. We thank our wonderful partner Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Literary Agency for the deal!

Though Heaven was an immediate success, published to fantastic reviews in Finland, Leino’s talent to explore how societies work from completely new angles has manifested itself even more poignantly in Overtime, a 2020 novel about a female politician who helps to pass the so called Exitus Law, under which people are virtually exterminated after the age of 75. However, when the politician herself reaches the age, she starts wondering if there are more things in life left to experience – and runs.

“Overtime is an inventive, mad thought experiment. […] The nightmarish picture of the future that Leino creates brings to mind the alternative-history dystopias of Philip K. Dick. Both authors possess an exceptional ability to create tomorrow’s world and make it credible and absolutely horrifying. […] Just as Philip K. Dick, Piia Leino also has a gift for an incredibly fluent narration; the topics of Overtime may be weighty, but the storytelling is light. One doesn’t come across such a combo every day.”
– Keskisuomalainen newspaper on Overtime

Leino’s newest book Apogee is a crime novel set in an era when ecological catastrophe and new technology have reworked reality into an unrecognizable state. When mysterious “accidents” involving various smart devices start happening all around the world, journalist Aaro Kangas of an international media conglomerate is assigned to look into the potential radicalization of an ecological community. He unwittingly ends up at the heart of an ambitious plan for annihilation. The investigation quickly turns incredibly personal – and incredibly dangerous.  

Don’t forget to check out our Literature from Finland podcast episode FUTURE VISIONS, where Leino discussed the future of our society. We also did a nice short interview with her a while ago, so have a look!

A proud torch-bearer of introducing the Finnish literature grands to the wider world, HLA is always thrilled to announce its backlist successes.

This year has been especially successful for the acclaimed Aki Ollikainen, whose books will now also have a home in Poland, as his novels White Hunger (2012) and Pastoral (2019) have been acquired by ArtRage.

ArtRage is a concept publisher, first and foremost dedicated to culture promotion and quality. Its various collections focus on introducing extraordinary fiction and graphic novels to a curious, sophisticated and culturally orientated reader and art-lover.

Ollikainen is a master at creating a tense atmosphere where hovering death is always sensed. His astonishing debut White Hunger, which received numerous awards in Finland and was also longlisted for The International Booker Prize, Prix Femina and Europese Literatuurprijs, is a portrayal of a grim reality where a person has nothing to lose and humanity can get trodden as an unnecessary burden. His later works, A Tale of Darkness (2015) and A Pastoral (2018) continue exploring the fragility and unpredictability of personal destinies, often intertwined with death, with precise expressiveness.

Earlier this year, Ollikainen’s work was also sold to Hungary, Romania, and Armenia; White Hunger has now been sold to 15 territories altogether, and A Pastoral to 4 territories.

For the Polish deal, we thank our fantastic partner, Book Lab Literary Agency!

Congratulations to the author!

The most exciting time in the year in the Finnish literary scene is approaching: the nominees for the most prestigious literary award, Finlandia Prize, will be announced in November.

While placing our bets on the new nominees, we continue to rejoice the success of last year’s winners: Finlandia Prize winner Margarita by Anni Kytömäki and Finlandia Junior, given to the best children’s or YA book of the year, winner Radio Popov by Anja Portin.

Margarita, exploring relationships between nature and people throughout generations, has now sold nearly 70,000 copies in Finland, and foreign rights have been acquired in 3 territories and optioned in France. Set in the post-war Finland, this powerful novel portrays a country rebuilding after the war, its growing industry and the cost that the seemingly bright future demands from nature and a simple individual.

“Margarita is a beautifully written story, that ties together the ideas of pacifism, environmentalism and women’s rights. Kytömäki uses rich language that takes the reader to the narrators’ world – including the underwater, home of the freshwater mussel. Margarita reminds us about the fragility of nature and the importance of protecting it, and gives a voice to those previously unheard.” (The jury of the Tampere City Literature Prize)

Anja Portin’s children’s novel Radio Popov on its part, continues its spectacular journey around the world: the 20th deal was made just a few weeks ahead of the Frankfurt fair, as Locus, the Tel Aviv-based independent publisher of contemporary literature, acquired the Hebrew rights.

As Popov’s French publisher Louison Couzy from Milan publishing house has stated:

“Radio Popov swept our hearts away with its beautiful details, deep themes, endearing characters… Anja Portin created a book that stays with the reader for a long time:  a classic in the making.”

Congratulations to both authors on such wonderful successes in Finland and abroad!

Author Aki Ollikainen is very well known to both Finnish and international audiences: his astonishing debut White Hunger (2012) received numerous awards in Finland and was also longlisted for The International Booker Prize, Prix Femina and Europese Literatuurprijs at the time and sold to 16 territories.

This autumn, Ollikainen surprises the readers with the nonfiction Fuck You, Liivik he co-authored with Siim Liivik: a memoir of the ice hockey player and his journey from a Soviet kolkhoz to the Finnish sports’ elite.

The publication date in Finland is the 9th of September, but, naturally, Estonians are already buzzing: foreign rights were recently sold in an auction to Varrak.

In the memoir, Liivik, born in 1988, tells his incredible story from insecure childhood experiences in collapsing Soviet Union to tough ice rings of an infamous Finnish suburb, winning the Finnish League and becoming one of the top music performers in Finland, releasing several platinum singles.

Congratulations to the authors!

Autumn is here, and so the award season in Finland begins. For HLA, it started with some lovely news: author Selja Ahava was awarded Thank You for the Book Prize 2021 for her newest novel The Woman Who Loved Insects.

The prize is given out yearly since 1966, for a book that is considered to have had the biggest intellectual and/or emotional affect to the readers during the past year. The winner is decided upon jointly by the Booksellers’ Association in Finland, Association Libro ry and Finnish Library Association.

The jury has stated:

“From all the books in [this year’s] competition, the jury has chosen the one which is rather topical. The novel explores the relationship between a human and nature through perspective of a woman, who is trying to break out of her narrow role. Ahava’s language is beautiful and expressive, and, just as a detailed painting, opens up new levels to a reader with every page.”

The Woman Who Loved Insects is the fourth novel of Ahava, whose books have so far been sold to 27 territories altogether. The novel follows Maria, born in the age of witch trials, who is fascinated by insects. With the passage of time from one century to another, she gains voice and authorship, together with the right to ponder the mystery of the origin of life. Just as insects undergo a transformation, so over time Maria changes, going on to live for 370 years.

Ahava was the winner of the EU Prize for Literature in 2015 with her novel Things that Fall from the Sky; it was also longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and nominated for the Warwick Prize.

Congratulations to the author!