Author: Chiara Stanziani

The Helsinki Art Hall is hosting the Kollektivet exhibition, a collection of illustrations from Finnish children’s books penned by dozens of the most prominent and most-loved Finnish illustrators, and illustrations by several HLA illustrators have made the list.

The works of Maija Hurme, Sanna Pelliccioni, and Maria Sann are on display in a stunning selection of illustrations in enlarged and life-sized formats.

Maija Hurme is participating in the exhibition with illustrations from her latest work. Previously, her book Shadowed (2018) was nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize. Her Secret Gardeners, co-authored with Lina Laurent was recently published in English by Canadian Pajama Press.

Maria Sann’s illustrations on display are taken from The Skeleton, the book she co-authored with Malin Klingenberg, about a child who is afraid of skeletons and is horrified to find out we all have one. The Skeleton has enjoyed a warm success both domestically and internationally: it was nominated for the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize in 2024, and has already travelled to four foreign language territories.

Sanna Pelliccioni is in the spotlight with Free, the book she co-authored with Eppu Nuotio, about peaceful protests, civic activism, and non-violent resistance from a child’s world perspective, with history as its background. Sanna Pelliccioni is an established illustrator in Finland, and her Forest Field Notes, which she co-authored with Johanna Venho, is about the hit the shelves in New Zealand.

Linda Bondestam, an established award-winning illustrator, who is on HLA’s list with her illustrations for The Fantastickle Friend, penned by Alexandra Salmela, is also part of the exhibition with the illustrations for her latest work.

The exhibition has been a hit with adults and children alike, and has made headlines on Finnish media: Yle national broadcast dedicated the exhibition a feature, highlighting the huge mural paintings the illustrators are jointly working on and the special focus dedicated to the creative process of the illustrator and the tools in their use, ranging from pencils to brushes to graphic design tools.

The Helsingin Sanomat national newspaper dedicated the exhibition an article where a notoriously picky critic – a four-year-old boy– joins the journalists and gives his unfiltered and enthusiastic opinion, resulting in a glowing review of the exhibition, which has been designed to be enjoyed by art lovers of all ages.

Warmest congratulations to the illustrators, and don’t miss out on this exhibition!

What a summer – Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki trilogy is on a roll. Vocebianca, Fraktura, and Kitos Knygos have secured the Estonian, Croatian, and Lithuanian rights, marking 13 foreign language areas. The Helsinki trilogy made Saisio the first living Finnish author to be included in the Penguin Modern Classics.

Pirkko Saisio’s iconic Helsinki Trilogy continues its journey into the world: Voce bianca and Fraktura have secured the Estonian and Croatian rights respectively, and Kitos knygos has acquired the Lithuanian rights to the third volume of the trilogy, The Red Book of Farewells. This marks 13 foreign language territories for the trilogy so far.

Pirkko Saisio is the grand dame of the Finnish literary and dramatic scene and her Helsinki Trilogy consists of The Lowest Common Multiple, The Backlight, and The Red Book of Farewells. The Helsinki Trilogy is an autofictional trilogy that carries the reader through the childhood, adolescence and adulthood of a girl who wanted to be a boy and started calling herself “her” when she was eight years of age.

The trilogy starts with The Lowest Common Multiple (1998). In the beginning of the novel, the main character, “she”, is already a middle-aged mother. When her father dies, things get shoved o their place. Her memories take her back to her childhood in the 1950s – to a story, which is also about to change. The following novels, The Backlight (2000) and The Red Book of Farewells (2003) deal with the author’s adolescence and coming-of-age, personally and artistically.

The strong themes of the trilogy – the relationship between an individual and the society, sexuality and being queer, and finding your voice – are told in a fragmentary, lyrical style, descriptive of Saisio. As the background, there is Helsinki, changing as the decades go by.

The trilogy made history in January 2024 when Penguin acquired it in a three-book deal which has made Saisio the first living Finnish author to be included in the Penguin Modern Classics. The trilogy is also out in German with Klett-Cotta, in French with Robert Laffont and will be a top title on its release with Host in Czech and De Geus in Dutch.

Vocebianca is a new independent publishing house based in Tartu, a UNESCO City of Literature and an ancient university city. The publisher aims at focusing on novels, essays, and poetry with “good spirit and spark”. The ambition and originality shows equally in all levels of a book’s production. For instance, in 2024, Vocebianca published a Lithuanian classic Vilnius Poker, by Ričardas Gavelis, with 52 different cover designs – as many as there are cards in a poker game.

Fraktura is an established Croatian publishing house whose list boasts a selection of international literary voices including Olga Tokarczuk, Sofi Oksanen, Leïla Slimani, Douglas Stuart, Antonio Scurati and Paolo Cognetti.

Kitos knygos is an esteemed independent Lithuanian publishing house known for its bold and thought-provoking contributions to literature, poetry, culture, and political discourse. They are the Lithuanian home of, among others, Charles Bukowski, Kurt Vonnegut, and Naomi Klein.

Congratulations to the author and the publishers!

The wait is over: the English Penguin Modern Classic edition of Lowest Common Denominator by Pirkko Saisio is out now, and we’re delighted!

Pirkko Saisio is the grand dame of the Finnish literary and dramatic scene and her Helsinki Trilogy consists of Lowest Common Denominator, Backlight, and The Red Book of Farewells. The Helsinki Trilogy is an autofictional trilogy that carries the reader through the childhood, adolescence and adulthood of a girl who wanted to be a boy and started calling herself “her” when she was eight years of age​, becoming both the narrator and the protagonist of her own story, object and subject of her storytelling.

The trilogy starts with Lowest Common Denominator (1998). In the beginning of the novel, the main character, “she”, is already a middle-aged mother. When her father dies, things get shoved o​ut of their place​. Her memories take her back to her childhood in the 1950s – to a story, which is also about to change. The following novels, The Backlight (2000) and The Red Book of Farewells (2003) deal with the author’s adolescence and coming-of-age, personally and artistically.

The strong themes of the trilogy – the relationship between an individual and the society, sexuality and being queer, and finding your voice – are told in a fragmentary, lyrical style, descriptive of Saisio. As the background, there is Helsinki, changing as the decades go by. The series is an established classic in Finland, and the Helsinki Trilogy has been acclaimed as a readers’ and critics’ favourite, with The Red Book of Farewells being crowned as the best Finnish work of the century. The trilogy has been translated into English by Mia Spangenberg.

​Saisio is currently the only living Finnish author whose works are included in the Penguin Modern Classics list. The trilogy is also out in German with Klett-Cotta, in French with Robert Laffont​, in Czech​ with Host, in D​utch with De Geu​s, and has already travelled to 11 foreign language territories.

The next instalment in the trilogy, Backlight, will be out with Penguin in March 2026.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publisher – don’t miss out on this title!

Droemer Knaur has pre-empted the German rights to the Silk Road North series by Anu Ojala in a significant three-book deal.

Show-stopping news from Germany: Droemer Knaur has pre-empted the German rights to the Silk Road North series by Anu Ojala, in a significant three-book deal, marking the second foreign language territory for the series. The series has been previously sold to De Fontein in the Netherlands.

Droemer Knaur needs no introductions in the publishing world, but let’s simply rejoice the fact: Ojala’s series will be published by one of the leading German publishing houses, with a list boasting an impressive variety of fiction and non-fiction. Ojala’s name will enjoy the company of such authors as Camilla Läckberg, Anders de la Motte, Ingar Johnsrud, Claire Mackintosh, Kimberly McCreight, S. K. Tremayne, M. W. Craven, Douglas Preston & Lyncoln Child, among others.

The Silk Road North is set in Tornio-Haparanda, on the Swedish-Finnish border; the twin city has been plagued by a crime wave which keeps claiming new victims. Sergeant Ronja Jentzch investigates murders that lead to the trail of a dangerous synthetic drug. While police are fighting a helpless battle, unexpected connections to higher instances begin to come to daylight.  As the frozen sea brings deadly substances over to seemingly calm and safe communities, cases of inhumane cruelty, despair-driven crimes, and international meddling become a daily challenge for Jentzsch and her team. Revered by readers, the series brings to light the long-silenced truth about the rise of international drug crime in northern Finland.

Anu Ojala (b. 1972) is an author and lawyer living in Rovaniemi in the Finnish Lapland who knows the background of the Arctic drug war well. She has worked in a law firm and at the University of Lapland, and has previously written novels for young readers. Her Silk Road North series consists of three volumes so far: The Silk Road North, Death Knell, and The Skynet.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publishers, and don’t miss out on this series!

Wonderful news for Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen: this world-class debut, that has already travelled to 28 foreign language territories, has been crowned as The Bookseller’s Fiction Book of the Month in a feature penned by Lauren Brown.

The feature states that Beasts of the Sea is a “literary phenomenon in its home country of Finland, with the first print run selling out within a week of publication”.

Beasts of the Sea is a literary achievement and a breathtaking adventure through three centuries. Approaching natural diversity through individual destinies, it’s a story of grand human ambitions and the urge to resurrect what humankind in its ignorance has destroyed. 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 is the winner of the Book Beat Newcomer Award, The Thank You for the Book Award, Finland’s booksellers’ prize, the best debut award, the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, the Storytel award. Beasts of the Sea was also a nominee for Finland’s biggest literary award, the Finlandia Prize, as well as for the Torch-bearer Prize.

In Finland, Beasts of the Sea is published by Kustantamo S&S, part of Schildts & Söderströms. Loved by readers and critics alike, Beasts of the Sea has also been crowned the Best Book of the Century in a Readers’ Selection list published by the largest Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat. The foreign editions are out with prominent international publishers, including Fischer in Germany, Flammarion in France, Neri Pozza in Italy, and De Geus in the Netherlands. The English edition will be out with Little, Brown in the US and with MacLehose Press in the UK after the summer.

Iida Turpeinen (b. 1987) is a Helsinki-based literary scholar currently writing a dissertation on the intersection of the natural sciences and literature. As an author, she is intrigued by the literary potentials of scientific research and by the offbeat anecdotes and meanderings from the history of science.

Warmest congratulations to the author and the publishers!