Month: January 2025

We’ll Just Ride Past by Ellen Strömberg has been shortlisted for the Mare di Libri Prize in Italy, where it is published by Terre di Mezzo.

We’ll Just Ride Past by Ellen Strömberg has been shortlisted for the Mare di Libri Prize in the category Fiction in Italy. The Italian edition of the book is published by Terre di Mezzo in translation by Samanta Milton Knowles.

For the Mare di Libri Prize a jury of experts picks a shortlist, and the winner is selected by readers aged 14-16 across Italy. Mare di Libri (literally “sea of books”) is also a literary festival for young readers, taking place in Rimini every June.

We’ll Just Ride Past follows Manda and Malin, a duo of best friends in ninth grade. They are nicknamed The Bicycles as they cycle everywhere looking for fun and something to do in a small town where nothing ever happens. 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.

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, Polish, and Catalan.

Ellen Strömberg is a Swedish-speaking Finnish author whose production ranges from picture books to novels. We’ll Just Ride Past was a domestic and international success and her latest YA novel No Beginning No End has been received with warm praise. It is the story of Benjamin, a shy teenage boy dealing with his mother’s death, as he grows close with Tristan, a mysterious boy.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher, and fingers crossed!

Radio Popov by Anja Portin continues to establish itself as a wonderful international success. The Slovenian edition of the book by Sodobnost, in Slovenian translation by Julija Potrč Šavli, has been welcomed warmly and put in the spotlight last autumn.

In a tour in Slovenia author Anja Portin discussed the book and its themes with young readers and teachers, toured different literary events, and attended the Ljubljana Book Fair.

Radio Popov is one of the most successful children’s books of the last years: it won the Finlandia Junior upon its release, and has already travelled to 25 language territories. Radio Popov follows Alfred, a nine-year-old boy who lives virtually alone. His mother is not in the picture and his father is constantly busy with work and business trips. During one of these business trips Alfred is left alone for so long he runs out of food, and electricity is cut off. When everything seems lost, Alfred is saved by a mysterious stranger who delivers food and woollen socks in lonely children’s letterboxes. It is the beginning of a wonderful adventure that will lead Alfred to a new family, and to saving more forgotten children. Alfred’s story is moving, and touches on social issues, but also contains joy, friendship, and a happy ending. The story, where children are left to their own devices with their problems in the face of absent or unhelpful adults is reminiscent of literary classics like the works of Astrid Lindgren and Roald Dahl.

Anja Portin is also the author of The Book of Misty Trees, where fantasy, and environmentalism are mixed in a wonderful adventure.

Things That Fall From The Sky by Selja Ahava is travelling to Italy, where it will be published by Barta.

Things That Fall From The Sky by Selja Ahava continues its journey out into the world and is now travelling to Italy, where it will be published by Barta. This is the 28th language territory for this title, already winner of the European Union Prize for Literature in 2015, and longlisted for various prestigious awards, including the Warwick Prize and the DUBLIN Award.

Things That Fall From The Sky tells the story of a combination of extremely unlikely events: it follows a little girl whose mother is killed by a block of ice falling from the sky, her aunt who wins the lottery twice and then falls into a weeks-long sleep, and a man who has been struck by lightning five times. Things That Fall From The Sky is a literary, touching, unconventional fairytale about how life demands to be lived, no matter what absurd events may befall people.

Selja Ahava is an acclaimed Finnish author, dramaturge, and scriptwriter. All her novels have been received with glowing reviews and award nominations and wins. Her works are published in Finland by Gummerus.

Barta is a beautiful Tuscany-based publishing house whose list includes a selection of fiction, non-fiction, children’s books and comics. They pride in publishing the books that they’d like to read themselves, and curate their selections with attention and creativity.

Congratulations to the publisher and the author!