News

The best Finnish debut of 2023 – that is, the winner of Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize – Beasts of the Sea, has reached 20 language areas with its most recents sales to the Czech Paseka, Lithuanian Alma Littera and Albanian Muza, and an offer on the table for the Arabic rights.

The latest publishers for Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea are well-known publishers from Czech Republic, Lithuania and Albania.

In Czech, the beast of the sea has swam to Paseka, the publisher of authors such as Alice Munro, Douglas Stuart, Vladimir Nabokov, Édouard Louis, and Lyudmila Ulitskaya. Paseka, known for its quality translations and emphasis on the graphic design and typesetting of its titles, has published from Finland before quite a few authors, including Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen – a co-nominee for Finlandia Prize with Iida Turpeinen – and Antti Leikas.

In Lithuania, the country’s biggest publishing house Alma Littera will be taking care of Beasts of the Sea. Their publishing house includes a high number of literary names, including Nobel Prize winners Abdulrazak Gurnah, Peter Handke, and Louise Glück. From Finland, Alma Littera has published, among others, novels by Minna Rytisalo and Tommi Kinnunen.

Albanian Muza is a publishing house founded in 2019, with already an interesting list of both fiction, children’s titles and nonfiction. From Finland, Muza has already published a good number of titles, including Mia Kankimäki.

Beasts of the Sea, published in Finland by publishing house S&S, has written Finnish literary history on the international arena, as its rights were quickly sold to a dozen areas with aggressive pre-empts and in heated auctions. The international publishers at the moment are (with an Arabic offer on the table):

Albania, Muza
Catalan, Cossetània
Czech Republic, Paseka
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Dutch, Singel (pre-empted)
English, MacLehose (UK) and Little, Brown (US) (pre-empted)
Estonia, Tänapäev
World French, Autrement (auction)
German, Fischer (pre-empted)
Greece, Ikaros 
Hungary, Polar
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Lithuania, Alma Littera 
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Poland, Poznanskie (pre-empted)
Portuguese (in Portugal), Porto Editora
Slovenia, Mladinska
Spanish, Seix Barral (pre-empted)
Sweden, Albert Bonnier (pre-empted)

In addition to this remarkable success abroad, the novel has already gained three nominations for literary awards, and just a bit over a week ago it took one of them and won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, given to the best debut of the year.

The novel also is a nominee for Finland’s biggest literary award, the Finlandia Prize, as well as for the Torch-bearer Prize, given to the most internationally potential Finnish novel.

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.

Merja Mäki’s novel Before the Birds about Karelian refugees in 1940 became horribly topical with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Now the novel has gotten its first foreign edition in Sweden – and it is on stage for the first time in Finland.

Before the Birds by Merja Mäki was published in Swedish translation in mid-October (as Innan fåglarna vänder åter, translated by Mattias Huss) by Historiska Media, a beautiful Lund-based publishing house specialising in history and novel set in historical periods.

Vi Läser (‘We Read’), a literary magazine only focusing on books and literary world, reviewed Mäki’s debut with high praise. Literary critic Yukiko Duke stated that “a couple of years ago this book was all my Finnish friends spoke about, men and women, young and old. It is now easy to understand their enthusiasm. […] It is an incredibly well narrated story of the brutality of the war and the pain of being in exile.”

Also BTJ library magazine praised the novel:

“Mäki’s novel is a great reading experience. The story is extremely well drafted, exciting – what will happen? – and is driven by a language which is as clear as spring water. In an absolutely brilliant way Before the Birds paints a picture of peoples’ fight for life in bad times.”

Out also in audio, the novel (read by actress Stina Ekblad), has been collecting glowing reviews, achieving a 4.5/5 rating.

In Finland, Before the Birds has been recently adapted into a play, currently on the scene at the Seinäjoki city theatre, with shows all throughout the winter. The play has been received with critical acclaim, praising both the acting and the fresh choreography of the play.

The title has been sold in addition to Sweden so far also to Ukraine and France. In Finland it has been a bestseller, and it is the winner of the Torch-bearer Prize in 2022. A new book by Mäki, a stand-alone novel set in the same historical setting, will come out in early 2024.

A Wooden Prayer by Antti Hurskainen has received its third award nomination: after being nominated for the Finlandia Prize and the Torch Bearer prize, the title is now a nominee for the Savonia Award.

Thrilling news for our fiction’s list: A Wooden Prayer by Antti Hurskainen has been nominated for the Savonia Award.

A Wooden Prayer by Antti Hurskainen has been reviewed as “a catechism of our time”: in it, Turtola, a verger in a small community spends his days working wood, talking with the pastor and being a single father to Monika, his five-year-old daughter.

When catastrophe strikes, Turtola is faced with questions larger than life, and tries to follow his personal ethics and choose mercy. The consequences are merciless.

For the Savonia Award six nominees, all remarkable works of literature published over the last 12 months, have been selected from 95 works read by the award committee.

The nomination comes at a great time for A Wooden Prayer: the book is already a Finlandia Prize nominee, and has been sold to Hungary.

The winner of the Savonia Award will be announced on December 12th.

Congratulations to all nominees, and fingers crossed!

Delightful news for our children’s list: A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large has been nominated for the IBBY Honor List 2024.

IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) publishes every other year a list over remarkable children’s and YA literature. The IBBY Honour List gathers book from all over the world, since IBBY is active in 78 countries.

IBBY Finland has nominated 5 works, among which is A Giraffe’s Heart Is Unbelievably Large, running in the category of translation into Finnish, since the work is originally written in Swedish. The translator into Finnish is Outi Menna.

A Giraffe’s Heart is Unbelievably Large by Sofia & Amanda Chanfreau is a multi-awarded international best-seller for children: it won the Finlandia Prize in 2022, and was nominated for the Runeberg Prize the same year. After great success with both the Finnish and Swedish audience here in Finland, it has so far been acquired in 14 countries.

Warm congratulations to the authors (and the translator!) and don’t miss out on this title!

Exciting news for our children’s list: Ilja Karsikas and Sanna Mander have both received an honorary mention for the Rudolf Koivu Prize 2023.

Ilja Karsikas was nominated for his book The Unicorn, a stunning narration of family life touching on the topic of alcoholism. The jury have motivated their choice as follows: “Despite the heavy subject matter, the book’s illustrations breathe and bring gentle comfort to the reader. The character of the unicorn is an impressive and memorable illustration.”

Sanna Mander was nominated for her book My Teeny-Tiny Witch, an amusing and visually bubbly work that offers a more forgiving view on difficult feelings we all experience, like anger and disappointment. The jury have motivated their choice as follows: “An apt portrayal of today’s family life after divorce. The character of the mother is wonderfully contemporary in her visual aesthetics.”

Warm congratulations to the authors, and don’t miss out on these titles!