News

Free, the latest illustrated children’s book by Eppu Nuotio and Sanna Pelliccioni (ill.) is the protagonist of an exhibition in Haapsalu, organised by the Finnish Institute in Estonia.

In Free, it is a warm summer day, and a very special one. A human chain is formed to peacefully manifest for peace, and it is also the day a little girl has lost a key, and sets out to find it. Over the course of the day, as everyone joins the chain, she also learns that any lock will open if you find the right key and that there’s power in joining forces to change the world.

Human chains are a peaceful form of demonstration with examples all over the world. For the Baltics, the most notable example is the human chain formed on August 23, 1989: on that day over 2 million people joined a Baltic-wide human chain demonstrating for peace and independence.

To celebrate 35 years from the event, an exhibition with Free as its protagonist is being hosted at the REaD bookshop in Tallinn.

Free is part of an illustrated children’s books trilogy by Eppu Nuotio and Sanna Pelliccioni with a focus on history and historical events seen through the eyes of children. The first instalment of the series, Sent Across The Sea, won Sanna Pelliccioni the Plaque Award by the Biennal of Illustrations Bratislava for her illustrations, marking the first Finnish win in decades.

Don’t miss out on this title!

We’ll Just Ride Past by Ellen Strömberg is travelling to Poland, where it will be published by Dwie Siostry.

We’ll Just Ride Past continues its journey out into the world as the Polish rights to the work have been acquired by Dwie Siostry.

We’ll Just Ride Past won the August Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in Sweden, in 2022 and its rights has already been sold for Italian, Korean, Slovenian and Catalan. In We’ll Just Ride Past we follow Manda and Malin, two best friends in a small town where nothing ever happens. The girls are known as the Bicycles, because they’re always riding around looking for excitement, be it people to hang out with, a party, a little love – anything goes. One day Malin develops a crush on a guy working at the local pizzeria, and a series on events – both fun and not so fun – begins to unfold. We’ll Just Ride Past is an accurate portrayal of a moment in life where it’s perfectly normal to change style and music taste every week and the world awaits.

 Dwie Siostry is a highly acclaimed Warsaw-based publishing house specialised in high-quality children’s and YA literature. It is the Polish home of, among others, A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila is now travelling to Spain, where it will be published by Deleste.

Fishing for the Little Pike by Juhani Karila continues its journey into the world, and is now travelling to Spain, where it will be published by Deleste.

Fishing For the Little Pike is Juhani Karila’s debut novel and it follows Elina Ylijaako, a young woman who is under the spell of a curse that forces her to travel back to her home village in the Finnish Lapland to fish a specific pike from a specific pond every year, or she and her first love will die. This year, however, the supernatural gets in the way in the form of a mythological creature haunting the pond, all while a detective is on her trail as she is suspected of murder. Funny, surprisingly wise and proudly weird, Fishing For the Little Pike was an instant hit upon its release, and it has so far travelled to 17 language territories. In Finland, it is published by Siltala. The book has received great critical acclaim, and was recently awarded the Silver Foreword Indies Award.

Deleste is a newly founded publishing house with great literary ambitions: its catalogue includes Dino Pesut, Dinçer Güçyeter, the winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2023, and Semezdin Mehmedinović, among others.

We are delighted to give Karila a spot in such great company!

Merja Mäki and Harry Salmenniemi will be featured as author highlights at the upcoming Helsinki Book Fair this autumn.

Merja Mäki, author of award-winning Before the Birds and Wept Another, will be discussing her books and talking to readers on October 24th , 18.00-19.00 while Harry Salmenniemi, author of several well-loved short stories collection and of Heartmist, will be featured on October 25th, 15.30-16.30.

Author highlights are an established and appreciated way to bring readers and authors together, and are considered one of the high points of the Helsinki Fair.

Wept Another, Merja Mäki’s latest book, follows Larja, a young Karelian teacher who comes back home after a training camp. It is 1942, and peace has descended momentarily on this borderland contended between Finland and the Soviet Union, and nothing is at it was: Larja soon learns that her buabo Matja, the village’s most-respected professional lamenter, is deathly ill, and her little sister Pola carries a secret deep within her heart. As Larja cares for her ailing grandmother, she listens to the messages the trees are sending her on the northern winds and discovers that she too has the gift of wailing. However, it requires great courage to accompany the dead to the other side. After a Finnish man steps into her life, Larja finds herself again torn between two different worlds. Still, love knows no borders and the winds blow as they see fit. Can Larja answer the wind’s call and weep another day?

In Heartmist, a week before the writer’s second baby is due to be born, his firstborn gets seriously ill and is taken to the intensive care unit. The father keeps vigil by his son’s bed in the hospital and at home, observing everything around them. Things must be done without thinking. You must go on, days on end, each day filled to the brim with tasks. When his son starts to get better, the writer is grateful and surprised, and understands that he doesn’t under – stand life at all. At home, the everyday goes on with its nappies, cooking and washing. Deep feelings are impractical in the day-to-day living. They have too many dimensions. Everyday holds destruction and chaos, both of which need to be in order. Touching, poetic and warm, Heartmist is a novel of ordinary and extraordinary life, and an ode to its beauty.

Looking forward to seeing our authors on stage!

Beasts of the Sea, the record-breaking Finnish debut of 2023, has been sold to Korea, where it will be published by Open Books.

Steller’s sea cow continues to swim out into the world: Beasts of the Sea, the hot book of 2023 by Iida Turpeinen, is travelling to Korea, where it will be published by Open Books.

Beasts of the Sea is a literary achievement and a breathtaking adventure through three centuries. Approaching natural diversity through individual destinies, it’s a story of grand human ambitions and the urge to resurrect what humankind in its ignorance has destroyed. The novel is the winner of The Thank You for the Book Award, Finland’s booksellers’ prize, the best debut award, the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and a nominee for Finland’s biggest literary award, the Finlandia Prize, as well as for the Torch-bearer Prize. Its international breakthrough has been acknowledged for example by the Bookseller. In Finland, the book is published by Kustantamo S&S, a part of the Schildts & Söderströms publishing group.

Open Books is a prominent literary Korean publishing house that publishes highly-esteemed authors like Umberto Eco, Paul Auster, Sigmund Freud, Fjodor Dostoyevsky and more. Founded in 1986, Open Books have established themselves as a key actor in the Korean publishing scene and specialise in international literature.

Warm congratulations to the author and the publisher!