News

The “world-class” novel – bound together by the story of the extinct sea cows – was pre-empted in Germany by Fischer on the eve of the Gothenburg fair. Now, the novel has landed in Italy with Neri Pozza. In Hungary, there is an offer on the table.

Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea, described by the biggest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat as “world-class novel”, has been sold in Italy to Neri Pozza. Neri Pozza has become known as the publisher of such authors as Peter Ackroyd, Tracy Chevalier, Patrick deWitt, Herman Koch, Julian Fellows, Ben Lerner, and Edward St. Aubyn.

The rave reviews and the success of the novel, sold out in during its first week in Finland, has attracted a lot of attention in all areas. Just a bit over a week ago, the novel was pre-empted in Germany by Fischer. For a Finnish debut, these very nice pre-emptive offers from big market areas mark a rare occasion.

“Science-fueled Beasts of the Sea makes the ecological ruptures and freefall of the entire world a palpable experience. (…) Turpeinen paints this contradiction [species becoming extinct while people are blissfully ignorant it is their doing] through characters based primarily on real-life figures and a few imagined ones, reaching the level of the best suspense stories and bitterest tragedies. This is a work that will move you and have you holding your breath.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper

In Estonia, the novel will be published by Tänapäev. For Hungary and other areas, more news to follow soon!

Sanna Pelliccioni has been awarded the Plaque Award by Biennal of Illustrations Bratislava for her illustrations in children’s picture book Sent Across The Sea.

The international jury has chosen Sanna Pelliccioni’s illustrations to Sent Across the Sea as the winner of the Plaque Award. The jury emphasizes the tender, nuanced illustrations that transmit the feeling to the reader. “Pelliccioni’s delicate, mostly rosy and light blue colouring makes the book an artistic whole with its own aesthetics.”

Pelliccioni’s award is the first one granted to a Finnish illustrator by The Biennal of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) in 35 years. The Bratislava Biennal is the largest exhibition and competition of illustrations in the whole of Europe, and it is organized by IBBY, the International Board of Books for Young People.

The book, written by author Eppu Nuotio, follows Heidi, who must leave home and travel far across the sea to be safe from the war. In the new country Heidi is separated from her brother and ends up living with a grumpy couple. Heidi can’t understand the language of her new aunt and uncle, but she does understand they’d want her to act differently.

Luckily, Heidi gets to spend a day with her brother and his family, and the brother immediately understands that Heidi needs to find a nicer auntie.

Based on real memories, Sent across the Sea is a story of an often-forgotten period in Finnish history: Around 80,000 children were evacuated from Finland during the Second World War, mainly to Sweden. Most of them returned home, but more than 15‚000 did not. In a Europe at war, their story resonates again.

Several HLA authors are currently invited at the Bratislava Biennale Of Illustrations, an event for illustrations from all over the world in the Slovakian capital. You can read more about the event here.

Our authors and illustrators Maija Hurme, Sanna Pelliccioni, Hannamari Ruohonen, Ilja Karsikas, Anne Vasko and Maria Sann are participating and we wish them the very best of luck!

Thrilling news for our crime readers: the Anna Glad series by Eva Frantz will be continuing in Germany, as Aufbau has recently acquired even the 4th book in the series, You Will Not Take My Child.

In the 4th instalment of the series Anna Glad is juggling her roles as a parent of a toddler and a senior detective, with varying degrees of success. There are several suspicious deaths happening around the city, a school secretary is missing and something is at odds at the closed school building, soon to be demolished. Anna’s partner Tomas, stay-at-home dad, is like a rock to lean on, but is he a little too interested in the life of his new friend playground parent friend Mimmi Sandberg? Mimmi is 4-year-old Veera’s foster mother, and now Veera’s biological mother wants her custody back. Is Mimmi’s home as safe as she herself wants to believe?

Congratulations to the author!

Fantastic news from the Turku Book Fair: Matara by Matias Riikonen has been awarded the Jarkko Laine prize.

The jury has motivated their choice as follows:

“In Matara by Matias Riikonen boys under the age of 15 spend long summer days in a present-day forest in Finland, where they have built the republic of Matara. The state, which strongly reminds of Ancient Rome, is built on rules, hierarchies and systems which are portrayed with startling intensity. In this violent world rules are followed even when it comes to fighting and on the side of struggles for power loyalty, friendship, fun and games emerge. The detailed description of the boys’ world, the precision of their observations, the flow of the story and the emotional thrill are successfully realized in Riikonen’s striking prose”.

Matara has already been acquired in Denmark and Hungary, and for World French and German, and it has been previously awarded the Torch-Bearer prize.

In Finland the book is published by Teos.

Warmest congratulations to the author!