Author: Urpu Strellman

The hottest Finnish title of this year, Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea, has its new English home with the MacLehose Press in the UK and Little, Brown Company in the US.

During the past few weeks and especially at the Frankfurt book fair, Beasts of the Sea has gotten a tremendous amount of attention, which has manifested in seven prior pre-emptive deals (Germany, Fischer; Spanish, Seix Barral; Italy, Neri Pozza; the Netherlands, Singel; Sweden, Albert Bonnier; Norway, Gyldendal; Denmark, People’s). Yesterday, Autrement (Flammarion) came out as the winner in the auction for the world French rights. Before, the rights have been sold to Estonian Tänapäev and Hungarian Polar.

For the world English rights, there was an extraordinary amount of offers pouring in, as the deadline for first offers was approaching. The novel was, however, taken off the table by the strong joint pre-emptive offer by MacLehose Press and Little, Brown Company.

“Iida Turpeinen has produced an impeccably researched voyage of discovery embedded in the natural world, with terrific characters, and an elegiac meditation on human stupidity. It deals with such universal themes, and in such a sustained, vivid, poetic way; you could press it into the hands of any reader”, stated Katharina Bielenberg, the Publisher of MacLehose Press (Quercus).

“Little, Brown is thrilled to be joining our colleagues at MacLehose Press to publish in the English language this gorgeously written, at once intimate and sweeping novel by a hugely talented debut author,” said Asya Muchnik,  VP and Executive Editor at Little, Brown Company.

The author Iida Turpeinen says: “I am absolutely delighted that Beasts of the Sea will soon be made available for the English-speaking readers, too. The book could not have found a better home, and I am thrilled and honoured to be able to collaborate with such prestigeous publishing houses as MacLehose Press and Little, Brown Company.”

MacLehose Press was founded in 2008 by Christopher MacLehose. It has a very strong list of translated quality fiction, including Karin Smirnoff, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Roberto Saviano, Stieg Larsson and Kjell Westö.

Little, Brown and Company was founded in 1837 by by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. It is the publisher of many bestselling authors, including Donna Tartt, Madeline Miller, Kate Atkinson, David Foster Wallace and Malcolm Gladwell.

The second pre-empt at the Frankfurt book fair for the “world-class debut” by Iida Turpeinen comes from Seix Barral, the literary imprint of the biggest publisher in the Spanish-speaking market, Grupo Planeta.

Seix Barral’s pre-empt is the seventh for Beasts of the Sea, which is the biggest literary break-through for a Finnish debut ever. Just two days ago, at the beginning at the Frankfurt book fair, the novel was pre-empted in the Netherlands by Singel Publishers.

The hot title of the fair, there are offers on table for the world English (deadline for offers noon Finnish time on 25th October) and Greek rights, handled by Avgi Daferera from Ersilia Literary Agency. For the world French, there are several offers on the table of Anna Lindblom from Nordik Agency.

The publishers to date are

German, S. Fischer (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Dutch, Singel (pre-empted)
Sweden, Alfred Bonniers (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Hungary, Polar
Estonia, Tänapäev.

The world Spanish deal has been negotiated by our splendid co-agents at Casanovas & Lynch Literary Agency.

You’ll find the news of each deal and praise by the acquiring editors from the links above.

Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea
is pre-empted in 5 areas, sold to 2 more;
best offers deadline set for World French;
offers on the table for the World English and Greek rights;
new pre-emptive offer on the table.

“The biggest literary break-through in Finland for years,” “poetic, precise and beautiful”, “poetic, raw, and timely”, “world-class debut” Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen is a hot title at the Frankfurt book fair.

There are offers on the table for the World French (Nordik Agency), World English (Helsinki Literary Agency) and Greek rights (Ersilia Literary Agency). Also, there is a new pre-emptive offer on the table from an 11th area.

Prior to these, the sea cows have traveled to these areas:

German, S. Fischer (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Sweden, Alfred Bonniers (pre-empted) 
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Hungary, Polar
Estonia, Tänapäev.

For earlier news and praise by the editors, follow these links:
Norway, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia.

Late Friday night, Iida Turpeinen’s debut was pre-empted by Norway’s leading publishing house, Gyldendal. With a row of pre-empts and offers for the world French and English rights on the table, Beasts of the Sea is “the biggest literary break-through in Finland for years.”

Beasts of the Sea, so far out in Finland for a month and in its third print-run, has been sold to the following areas:

German, Fischer (pre-empted)
Italy, Neri Pozza (pre-empted)
Denmark, People’s (pre-empted)
Sweden, Alfred Bonniers (pre-empted) 
Norway, Gyldendal (pre-empted)
Hungary, Polar
Estonia, Tänapäev.

There are offers on the table for the world French and English rights. The French rights are handled by Anna Lindblom at the Nordik Agency. For the English rights, the deadline is on Wednesday 25th.

The acquiring editor at Gyldendal, Lene Sandvold Evensen, said:

“Iida Turpeinen elegantly and entertainingly brings life to the diverse characters of this book (…). The descriptions of the expedition to Alaska is shockingly captivating: (…) This part of the book so well captures the transition of the 18^th century, when science and knowledge took over from superstition, omens and beliefs.”

“What captured me the most is the book’s wonderful ability to entertainingly and so smartly say something about the history of science, of enlightenment. The costs of this, for animals, people and nature. And also the enormous forces of nature (weather, climate, dangerous species etc.) that can destroy man in only a second. And yet this need for domestication, for control, for understanding seems untamable in humans. There are so many fascinating aspects of this novel – and the idea of putting the sea cow at the center of it all is not only interesting and smart, it is fun!”

“But ultimately what makes this book so fulfilled is Turpeinen’s brilliant writing. There are sentences here that are perfect: poetic, precise and beautiful (“he runs his memory through the most madcap shelves of curiosity cabinets”).  The metaphors (“hunger returns like a faithful dog”!), the shifts in style, the composition – you can immediately tell that this book is written by a hugely talented writer.”

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag is Norway’s leading publishing house with a prestigious list of foreign fiction, including 62 Nobel Prize winners and numerous bestsellers.

For the statements by other publishers, follow these links to the news: Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia.

The row of pre-empts of the “world-class debut” by Iida Turpeinen continues to Sweden and to Albert Bonniers förlag. There are offers also on the table for the French and English rights.

The biggest literary phenomenon from Finland this year, Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea has just been pre-empted in Sweden by Albert Bonniers förlag. Previously, it has been pre-empted in Germany by Fischer, in Italy by Neri Pozza, just yesterday in Denmark by People’s. There are offers on the table for the French rights (handled by Nordik Agency, with a deadline for first offers on Monday 16th), and also an offer for the English rights (with a deadline on Wednesday 25th, handled by us). In Hungary, the publisher is Polar, and in Estonia, Tänapäev.

The acquiring editor of Alfred Bonniers, Johanna Haegerström, characterized the novel as follows:

“Beasts of the Sea is an incredibly fascinating, beautiful and, in fact, also very sad – as it discusses extinction – historical novel. It describes the hunger for science and the miracles of nature in a way that made me immediately amazed and curious. Writing in crystal clear and factual literary style, Turpeinen manages in very few and quick draws make her characters so deep that you get close to them. […] I suspect this is the biggest literary break-through in Finland in years.”

Albert Bonniers förlag is a part of Sweden’s largest publishing group. Other authors published include Olga Tokarczuk, Jon Fosse, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jenny Erpenbeck, Daniel Kehlmann, Zadie Smith, and, from Finland, Sofi Oksanen and Katja Kettu.