Juhani Karila’s hilarious novel Fishing for the Little Pike is nominated for the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize!
The novel, that was unequivocally dubbed by the critics as the best Finnish novel of 2019 and raised an overwhelming interest among the foreign publishers, is competing with 5 other nominees.
Finnish major newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has stated about the book:
“The novel, peppered with small side stories, delights with the avalanche of mythical creatures, but even better is the gently ironic description of local people. The dialectal language of the colourful characters and their balmy reactions to what happens paint a picture of a worldview where even the most fanciful things are taken as they are.”
Jarkko Laine Literature Prize is given every second year to the most extraordinary and challenging fiction work published in the last three calendar years. The prize is 10,000 euros, and the winner will be announced on the 26th of September.
Karila’s novel has been so far sold to Canada (World French), Denmark, Hungary and Poland, and running the third print in Finland. It also won The Kalevi Jäntti’s Literature Prize and Tähtifantasia Literature Prize earlier this year.
Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!