News

We couldn’t be more thrilled: Polish rights for Karin Erlandsson’s children’s novels were sold to :DWUKROPEK in a five-book deal! The house acquired the rights to publish this year’s Runeberg Junior winner The Night Express, illustrated by Peter Bergting, and all four books in the magical Song of the Eye Gemstone series, recently also sold to the English world.

:DWUKROPEK is an imprint of MAC / JUKA publishing children’s books for various ages. As stated on the publisher’s website, they are committed to bringing to the readers “engaging, colourful stories, fantasy and crime fiction at its best, as well as beautiful illustrations”. It is an awarded house whose books have received wild acclaim among the critics; however, according to the publisher, the most important reviewer for them is the young reader, to whom Dwukropek strives to provide joy, knowledge and adventures with each new book and each page turned.

In addition to the Runeberg Junior 2021, Erlandsson was nominated twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2018 and 2020 respectively, for the first and the last books in the series The Pearl Fisher and The Victor. The first book was also the winner of the Runeberg Junior Prize in 2018 and the nominee for the Children’s novel prize in Sweden. Here you can find a beautiful video of the author presenting the series and read an interesting short interview about Erlandsson’s inspirations.

The Polish deal was negotiated by our wonderful partner Piotr Wawrzeńczyk from the Book/Lab Agency.

Congratulations to the authors!

Finlandia winner Margarita by Anni Kytömäki continues conquering the world: Lithuanian rights have been acquired by Tyto alba!

This is the third foreign rights sale for the book and it is also optioned in France by Rue de l’échiquier, who just last week acquired World French rights to Kytömäki’s debut Goldheart.

Tyto alba is one of the major publishers in Lithuania, founded in 1993. Since then, it has established its name as a home of quality literature that is also approachable for wide audiences. The publisher’s impressive list includes such bestselling authors as Jette Kaarsbøl, Marina Stepnova, Abir Mukherjee, Orhan Pamuk and others.

In addition to winning the most prestigious literary award in Finland, Finlandia Prize, Margarita was recently also voted as Finland’s bloggers favourite book of the year 2020.

A steady  Bestseller #1 in Finland with so far over 55,000 copies sold in Finland, Margarita is gaining a lot of international attention, and we are expecting more deals soon!

Congratulations to the author!

Rahva Raamat has acquired the Estonian rights of Vuokko Hurme’s three-part middle-grade series: Upside Down, Right-Side Up and About-Turn.

Rahva Raamat is the Estonian publisher of such children’s authors as David Walliams, Jeff Kinney, Erin Hunter and J.K. Rowling.

Rotation series has been praised for its unique idea: what would happen if the world turned upside down – if the gravity would make everything fall into the sky? How could you keep on living in a world where you are all the time facing the danger of falling down? And where does everything fall to – is there something beneath the Sky?

Mind-boggling, smart and heartfelt, Vuokko Hurme’s Rotation series is an adventure, a story of a friendship and a praise to writing: the narrator of the three novels is 8-year-old Lenna, who is writing down the exciting turns of her family and her friend, Jaan.

Read more about the books from the links: Upside Down, Right-Side Up, About-Turn.

Each year, Finnish bloggers and bookgrammers organize their own voting and choose the best book of the year. The clear favourite of 2020 was Anni Kytömäki’s Finlandia winner Margarita!

The participants can only vote for the books that they have written about in their blog or Instagram posts, and each can give points (3, 2 and 1) to three books respectively.

The bloggers shared their impressions:

”Could someone please give Anni Kytömäki the Nobel, the Booker, the Pulitzer Prize or something? I think they should, because Finlandia [Prize] is way too small for Anni. Each of her books is better than the previous one, and that’s why I’m not sure if I should give Margarita the full five stars: what if the next one is even better? I don’t know how it would be possible, but Anni probably knows.”
– Heidin kuvanurkka on Instagram

”Margarita fully deserves winning Finlandia Prize: the end result is well controlled, the language is stunningly beautiful, the storylines are skilfully written, making the book a simply wonderful reading experience.”
– Kirsin Book Club blog

Kytömäki also won the Blogistania Finlandia in 2014, for her debut novel Goldheart, recently sold to Rue de l’échiquier in France. Margarita was recently sold to Estonia and Hungary, and an offer from Lithuania is on the table.

Another HLA title, REC by Marisha Rasi-Koskinen ended up third in this year’s Blogistania Finlandia vote. Recently awarded the second most prestigious literary award in the country, the Runeberg Prize, and also the Torch-Bearer Prize not long ago, REC was described by the bloggers:

”How would I picture REC? Enchanting, different, mysterious, multilayered, deep, surprising – all the words that, in the end, don’t even come close to describing this baffling, but at the same time, easily approachable and interesting novel. My words are not enough to tell you where Marisha Rasi-Koskinen manages to take you with hers – somewhere beyond the visible reality.”
– Kirsin Book Club blog

Rasi-Koskinen’s novel has been recently sold to Jensen & Dalgaard in Denmark.

Congratulations to the authors!

Kari Hotakainen’s #1 bestselling Story has been acquired by Dybbuk in the Czech Republic, Polar in Hungary and Petergailis in Latvia.

The number 1 bestseller with over 30,000 copies sold between mid-August 2020 and January 2021, Kari Hotakainen’s Story has been previously sold to Iperborea in Italy.

Kari Hotakainen has been awarded for his previous works with the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize, Finland’s biggest literary award the Finlandia Prize, the Prix du Courrier International and the Prix Coup du Coeur, amongst others. His first nonfiction book, The Unknown Kimi Räikkönen (2018) is the best-selling Finnish nonfiction work of all times with over 200,000 sold copies in Finland and over 100,000 abroad. 

Story has been described as slyly moving and wildly funny; in it, the countryside has been turned into a Recreation Area, and everyone has been made to live in the City. As there is not enough housing for everyone, a brutal playoff begins. Who can tell the most attractive story and make their lives seem interesting and get an apartment?