Author: Urte

Finnish literature export shows no signs of slowing down. For Helsinki Literary Agency, 2025 was a record year in revenues, as HLA opened even more doors for authors from Finland to set a strong footing in the international market.

Major breakthroughs last year included Anu Ojala’s The Silk Road North thriller series, as well as Anni Blomqvist’s Maja from Stormskär series, both sold against significant advances in several language regions. Among the successes of previous years, Iida Turpeinen’s The Beasts of the Sea and Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki Trilogy were published in the English-speaking world to great acclaim.

As part of the agency’s new strategic development phase, current owners Gummerus and Siltala have sold their shares to Schildts & Söderströms, which will become the sole owner of the agency. The change will enable the agency to develop its operations even more ambitiously as an independent agency serving Finnish authors on a broad scale.

“During its 9 years of operation, Helsinki Literary Agency has established itself as a reliable and competent partner in the industry. The agency has successfully introduced Finnish authors to Europe, the United States, and Asia, and has managed to arouse interest in fiction, children’s literature and genre literature. This fits well with Schildts & Söderströms’ strategy: we want to be involved in building bridges between languages ​​and creating new markets for Finnish literature; the acquisition of HLA also fits well with our expansion into the Swedish market. We look forward to being able to offer even better opportunities to bring authors and books from Finland abroad,” says Nils Saramo, CEO of Schildts & Söderströms.

“It has been rewarding to build the growth of Finnish literary exports with capable owners these past years. We share a common vision with Schildts & Söderströms for the future of the agency, and it is important to us that we continue our operations as an independent agency, broadly representing Finnish authors,” says Viivi Arela, CEO of HLA.

“When we founded HLA with colleagues from S&S and Teos 9 ago, the situation of Finnish literary exports was quite different from today. Now the role of agencies has been strengthened, and the common understanding of what kind of books can cross language borders has improved even more. I believe that the cooperation between HLA and Gummerus authors will continue to be close in the future, and I wish the agency all the best as it enters a new phase,” says Anna Baijars, CEO of Gummerus and one of the founders of HLA.

“HLA has been an important partner for the authors and publishers of Siltala and Teos. We expect the good cooperation and the success of the agency to continue in the future,” says Aleksi Siltala, publisher and founder of Siltala.

Helsinki Literary Agency was founded in 2017, as a joint venture of Gummerus, Schildts & Söderströms, and Teos publishers. The agency represents a wide selection of fiction, non-fiction, and children’s and YA authors from Finland.

Fantastic news for our children’s list: the nominations for the Rudolf Koivu Prize are out, and two of our titles are among them, namely Ilja Karsikas‘ The Unicorn and Sanna Mander‘s My Teeny-Tiny Witch. The Rudolf Koivu Prize is awarded biennially to the best illustrators of books for both children and young adults.

Ilja Karsikas’ The Unicorn ( 2022) is warm-hearted picture book about complicated conditions at home, family life and love. It is based on the author’s own memories and childhood experiences in a caring, ordinary family.

The Unicorn touches on the difficult topic of alcoholism in a delicate way, and with stunning, colourful illustrations that will enchant any reader. The book has been sold to Korea, and an offer from Sweden is on the table.

Sanna Mander’s My Teeny-Tiny Witch (2021) is a beautiful picture book about a little witch that lives in every child and perhaps even every adult.

Harri, the protagonist, is a wonderfully well-behaved child. Except his best friend, the little witch Axe Rexona, is very much of a troublemaker, and it’s hard to tell them apart, since no-one can see Axe.

We all have a teeny tiny witch: the one that makes us cranky and naughty, makes us do silly things and act up. Mander’s illustrations are flurry and full of energy, and visually gorgeous. The book has been sold to Estonia.

The winner of this year’s Rudolf Koivu’s prize will be announced on Thursday November 16th.

Warm congratulations to both authors, and fingers crossed!

Fantastic news keeps pouring in: the biggest literary phenomenon from Finland this year, Iida Turpeinen’s debut Beasts of the Sea, has sealed its 8th foreign deal as its Dutch rights were pre-empted by Singel Uitgevers’ Jacoba Casier (De Geus) and Michel van de Waart (Arbeiderspers). 

A fascinating story that spans over 200 years and revolves around Steller’s sea cow – an extinct sirenian. The novel is a beautiful intersection of natural sciences and literature. 

“Both Jacoba [Jacoba Casier, De Geus] and I were impressed. I read the sample over the weekend and was immediately drawn into this powerful, multilayered story about the human urge to control, study and collect nature, destroying it in the process. It reminded me of books by Judith Schalansky and Daniel Kehlmann’s book on Humboldt. 19th century preciseness combined with deep aesthetic sensitivity and epic narration, with the urgency of the current climate crisis resonating between the lines,”
says Michel de Waart.

The publishing group is known for the translations of for example Olga Tokarczuk, Colm Tóibín, Karl Ove Knausgård and others.

Prior, Beasts of the Sea has traveled to the following 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

There are offers on the table for the World French (Nordik Agency), World English (Helsinki Literary Agency) and Greek rights (Ersilia Literary Agency), and a pre-emptive offer from a 12th area.

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

Another accolade for several HLA authors: Me naiset, the leading women’s magazine in Finland, published in early June a list of “New Classics” – books produced in the last 15 years that left a mark in the Finnish literary landscape.

Pirkko Saisio’s Helsinki trilogy – Lowest Common Multiple; Backlight; and The Red Book of Farewells – is praised for the “wonderful portrayal of how an individual looks at their own past and at the history of their community”. On Saisio’s style, the article goes on to state that “As a story-teller Saisio is in the same league as Nobelist Annie Ernaux“.

Iida Rauma’s Destruction is featured for its narration of bullying and violence among young people and the scars these events leave on adults. On her style, the article comments that Rauma “doesn’t lecture, but makes readers think”.

Juhani Karila’s Fishing for the Little Pike is also on the list, described as both a “traditional and modern” work of art. 101 Ways to Kill Your Husband, by Laura Lindstedt & Sinikka Vuola is also praised for its modernity, which combines stylistic experimentations with a surprisingly successful mix of tragedy and fun.

Minna Rytisalo’s Lempi, a gorgeous story of love and jealousy set in Northern Finland in times of war also makes the list, and so does Ulla-Leena Lindberg‘s Ice, a touching family saga, praised for its historical portrait of Finland.

Fantastic news for our authors: Ann-Christin Antell’s Cotton Mill Trilogy, Susanna Hast’s Body of Evidence and Marja Kyllönen’s The Undeparted are at the top of FILI’s Book Picks 2023 for adult fiction! Many other HLA authors, including Merja Mäki’s and her novel Before the Birds, also made the list.

For children’s titles, our beloved A Giraffe’s Heart is Unbelievably Large by Amanda & Sofia Chanfreau tops the list, tightly followed by the endearing and successful YA novel We’ll Just Ride Past, by Ellen Strömberg.

This comes at a great time for all these titles: the Cotton Mill Trilogy, a historical romance about three generations of women and their family business, has recently made its 5th foreign sale, and Hast’s Body of Evidence, a startling work of autotheory, has received wide accolade and won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize.

Marja Kyllönen’s The Undeparted, a dark twist on the story of a childless couple, has been awarded the Runeberg Prize, and Merja Mäki’s Before the Birds, a gorgeous story of struggle and hope set in the time of World War II, has been sold to France and Sweden and has been awarded the Torch-Bearer Prize.

A Giraffe’s Heart is Unbelievably Large by Sofia & Amanda Chanfreau has been wildly successful: a Finlandia Junior winner in 2022, its foreign rights have been sold to 14 territories and has received raving reviews. In theYA category, We’ll Just Ride Past, by Ellen Strömberg has been nominated for the 2023 Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize and has recently been sold to both Italy and Korea.

Warm congratulations to the authors, and don’t miss out on these titles!