Author: Urte

We are thrilled to announce the first foreign rights sale for Kari Hotakainen’s new novel Story! Italian rights were sold to Iperborea.

As the publisher states: “In this novel, as always, Hotakainen has managed to point his critique towards many phenomena of our times in a very sharp and original way without ever losing his unique humour and rhythm, and his amazing talent for storytelling.”

Hotakainen’s novel received an overwhelming critical response and made news selling over 20,000 copies in just five weeks after the title was published in Finland.

Congratulations to the author, publisher and those lucky Italian readers!

This little pike is on fire! Just last weekend awarded the prestigious Jarkko Laine Literature Prize, Juhani Karila’s hilarious novel is now nominated for the Fantasy Literature Prize.

The award is given by the Finnish Tolkien Society to the best fantasy book of the year. Karila’s book is competing with four other nominees, and the winner will be announced on November 6th.

The fact that, during the past year, Fishing for the Little Pike has been nominated for four very different awards (so far winning three) proves just how versatile Karila’s novel is, as well as beloved among a wide range of readership. Earlier in the year, it also won Kalevi Jäntti’s Literary Prize as well as Tähtifantasia Prize.

The rights have so far been sold to Canada (World French), Denmark, Hungary, Poland and most recently, Germany.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

Juhani Karila’s hilarious novel Fishing for the Little Pike won the Jarkko Laine Literature Prize!

According to the jury, the novel, set in the Finnish Lapland, is “magic realism at its best” and “is exceptionally fresh in drawing its power from folk beliefs”.

“The book, full of original characters, is as entertaining as a picaresque novel, with a masterfully entwined murder mystery. The hilarious storytelling only emphasises the serious topics instead of hiding them: a human relation with nature, searching for self, the feelings of guilt and love.“

Jarkko Laine Literature Prize is given every second year to the most extraordinary and challenging fiction work published in the last three calendar years. The prize is 10,000 euros.

Karila’s novel has been so far sold to Canada (World French), Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Poland, and running the third print in Finland. It also won The Kalevi Jäntti’s Literature Prize and Tähtifantasia Literature Prize earlier this year.

Congratulations to the author!

Jerusalem-based Carmel Publishing House will be publishing a collection of poems by Paavo Haavikko, one of the great 20th century Finnish modernists!

As stated on the publisher’s website, Carmel is an “eclectic, multi-faceted and fresh publishing house. Since its founding in 1987, its goal has been to enrich the world of Hebrew literature and culture by publishing the best of translated literature, encouraging local fiction, publishing fascinating non-fiction books that appeal to a wide audience and raising the profile of original and translated poetry.”

Paavo Haavikko (1931–2008) is considered to be one of the most significant writers in Finland’s literary cannon, and his poems have been translated into 12 languages. Last year, HLA sold Estonian rights of Haavikko’s poem collection to Eksa.

The poems will be selected and translated by enthusiastic translator Rami Saari, who also helped to draw publisher’s attention to Haavikko’s works.

We are continuing our series of creative interviews with HLA authors, that help the readers to know the titles and authors even better! This month, J.P. Laitinen talks about the depths of his extraordinary, philosophical novel Fictional and of course, answers the beloved questionnaire! You can find the interview here.