Author: Chiara Stanziani

Today is the day: Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen is out now in the beautiful US edition by Little, Brown.

Beasts of the Sea has been making waves on the other side of the Atlantic ever since the publication was announced: Turpeinen was the cover author on Publishers Weekly, where the book received a starred review as a “fantastic debut [that] interweaves the fate of an extinct aquatic species with the stories of the people who discovered and destroyed it. […] Turpeinen matches the heights of Andrea Barrett with her detailed descriptions of the natural world and intimate character portraits, offering a vast sweep of evolutionary history shot through with impressionistic scenes, whether of Steller watching a sea cow play like a boisterous child or Olson mourning her tubercular father. This tour de force of science and storytelling is not to be missed.“

Beasts of the Sea went on to receive extensive features, including being listed in Goodreads’ selection of New Books to Read in November, and the Top 50 Most Popular Books Published in November, on The Millions’ Great Fall 2025 Book Preview and The Globe and Mail’s 61 books to lose yourself in this fall. 

Library Journal also gave the book a starred review, stating: “Turpeinen’s sweeping novel condenses time, highlighting the brevity of human lifespans while also underscoring their equally destructive impact within those brief years. The evocative and elegiac story highlights how humanity is complicit in species extinction.”

Chicago Review of Books included the novel on their 12 Must-Read Books of November, writing “This mythic masterpiece is sure to stick with you.”

Beasts of the Sea is a literary achievement and a breathtaking adventure through three centuries that approaches natural diversity through individual destinies. Steller’s sea cow, a sirenian lost to extinction centuries ago, is revived on the pages and is the red thread that ties together the individual fates of a group of people throughout the centuries. The novel won multiple awards, and was nominated for the Finlandia Prize domestically, and ran as the Best Foreign Book of the Year in France in 2024, and for the Premio Strega in Italy earlier this year. In Finland Beasts of the Sea is published by Kustantamo S&S.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publishers!

101 Ways To Kill Your Husband by Laura Lindstedt & Sinikka Vuola is travelling to Türkiye , where it will be published by Ayabakan.

101 Ways To Kill Your Husband by Laura Lindstedt & Sinikka Vuola continues its journey out into the world as Ayabakan has secured the Turkish rights.

101 Ways To Kill Your Husband is an experimentally literary title in the tradition of Oulipo that draws its plot from a real-life court case from the 80s in which Anja, a Finnish woman, shot to death her abusive husband. What follows is a historical sentence: the trial that followed the murder resulted in a historical sentence when the jury found the husband posthumously guilty of both the abuse he inflicted on his wife and of his own murder.

 101 Ways To Kill Your Husband flips on its head a common trope of crime and mystery literature, in which the story opens with the discovery of the body of a beautiful young woman, by telling a story where it is instead an abusive man who gets murdered, 101 times and in different literary styles.

Ayabakan is a boutique publishing house founded in 2024 with a carefully curated list focusing on themes like grief and sorrow, ranging rediscovered modern classics to metamodern titles and authors.

Warm congratulations to the authors and the publisher!

Author Timo R. Stewart has received the Union of Research Professionals’ Academic of the Year 2025 Award for fostering research-based knowledge in the public discourse about the Middle East.

Author and PhD Timo R. Stewart has been awarded the Union of Research Professionals’ Academic of the Year 2025 Award. Stewart is a Doctor in Political Science, and a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, specialized in the Middle East. His latest work, the non-fiction book also Palestine and Israel. A History in Maps focuses on the ongoing conflict and the history of the area.

The Research Professionals’ Union has stated: “Stewart has strengthened the role of science in public discourse and promoted the use of research-based knowledge in societal decision-making. He has brought his expertise forward in a consistent and understandable manner, dissecting the current state of the Israel-Palestine conflict, its historical background and potential solutions. Stewart’s statements have offered the Finnish audience research-based viewpoints in a situation where finding common ground has been challenging even for the Finnish Government.”

You can read the whole feature, including statements from the president of the Union, in English here.

In Palestine and Israel. A History in Maps two-times Finlandia nominee and PhD Timo Stewart uses a simple yet efficient structure to tackle a complex issue: over the course of the book, he analyzes 25 maps of the geographical area that encompasses Palestine and Israel, encouraging a critical approach to maps and historiography. Who drew these maps, and with what purpose? Maps are a tool to understand the world, but also a tool of political power and history-making: our ideas of the world and national borders are far from being eternal and set in stone, and exploring their changes and development results in an unusual yet engaging way to approach history with more than skin-deep knowledge. The takeaway is an increased critical eye that can be turned to the different ways conflicts and politics shape the world we live in, in the Middle East and everywhere. In Finland, the book is published by Gummerus.

Warm congratulations to the author, and don’t miss out on this title!

Radio Popov by Anja Portin has been nominated for the Slovenian IBBY Honour List in its translation by Julija Potrč Šavli.

The accolades keep rolling in for bestseller Radio Popov by Anja Portin: the Slovenian edition of the book, out with KUD Sodobnost in translation by Julija Potrč Šavli, has been nominated for the Slovenian IBBY Honour List 2026.

IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People, is a non-profit organization that brings together high-quality books from all over the world. Every two years IBBY organizes a World Congress in which the national IBBY branches present a Honour List with some of the best-rated titles for young readers published in their countries. The next IBBY World Congress will take place in Otawa in 2026.

Radio Popov is one of the most successful children’s books of the last decade: it won the Finlandia Prize upon its release, and has already travelled to 27 language territories. It follows Alfred, a nine-year-old boy who lives practically 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.

Anja Portin has quickly become a favourite among children’s authors with her middle grade novel Radio Popov. She writes about children who take matters into their own hands when grownups do not want to take responsibility or are not there to do it. Her latest novel is The Book of Misty Trees, also for a middle-grade audience. In Finland, her works are published by S&S.

Warm congratulations to the author, the translator, and the publisher!

Stop the Thief!, Ulla Donner’s debut picture book, is running for the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize.

We’re very happy to announce that Stop the Thief! by Ulla Donner has been nominated for the prestigious Runeberg Prize. The jury committee have motivated their choice stating:

“This book about a dog being a thief is a festive and fast-paced repetition story in rhyme about catching the thief, with skillful and clever humorous illustrations and comical details. It mainly targets children between the ages of 3 and 6, but it can be read by all age groups.”

The Runeberg Junior Prize is given yearly in two categories – adult fiction and children’s literature – and is often considered to be the most important literary award after Finlandia. The winners are traditionally announced on February 5th, the National Runeberg’s Day.

Stop the Thief! is a funny wild chase after a dog who has been stealing other dogs’ most prized possession. The story advances in rhyme – with a generous dose of humor – and the thief is eventually caught, but the journey along the way is filled with warm and funny illustrations, and representation for as many dog breeds as possible.

Ulla Donner is one of the most prominent illustrators in the Nordics. She was awarded the Puupäähattu Prize and the Urhunden Prize for her Natural Comedy, among other. Stop the Thief! is her debut in the picture book genre. All her works are published in Finland by Schildts & Söderströms.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher, and fingers crossed!