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Radio Popov by Anja Portin is nominated for the most prestigious literary award in Finland, Finlandia Junior Prize! As the jury stated:

“A warm adventure story is about lonely children whose worries are heard after all. The book has elements of a classic fairytale novel and a lovely narrating voice. The radio transmitter invented by Popov brings a certain frame to the story, where abandoned children start helping each other out.“

The author has stated that the nomination feels extremely important, as it shows that the book has reached the reader, which is the always the best reward a writer can hope for.

“My book ideas always begin with some particular image or situation. This time, it was about a lonely boy who is trying to get some sleep in his corridor. At the same time, I was reading a book about radio history, where inventor Aleksandr Popov was mentioned. […] It was surprisingly easy to find the narrator’s voice; it felt as if Alfred has long been silent and finally got an opportunity to tell his story which I only wrote down,” said Anja Portin.

The novel begins when a nine-year-old Alfred the Forgotten, virtually abandoned by his father, meets Amanda, a paperwoman for the Sharp Ears. An unforgettable adventure follows that changes the lives of many. After finding an old radio transmitter designed by a Russian physicist, A. S. Popov, Alfred starts making a secret, nightly radio broadcast that all the other forgotten children in the city listen to. The novel reminds of Roald Dahl’s classics, where children often experience quite miserable lives oppressed by quite horrible adults, but find refuge in new friendships and worlds on the border between reality and fantasy.

Finlandia Prize is the most important literary award in Finland, given annually in three categories: the best novel, the best children’s or YA book and the best nonfiction book of the year. The award sum is 30,000 euros. 

Previously, two other HLA’s authors have received the award in children’s and YA category: Sanna Mander (The Lost Key, 2017), Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen (Light, Light, Light, 2011), and last year, A Dog Called Cat Meets a Cat by Tomi Kontio and Elina Warsta was a nominee.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

Selja Ahava’s novel Things that Fall from the Sky, translated to English by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah and published by Oneworld, is longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2020.

As it is stated on the official website: “The  prize was established by the University of Warwick in 2017 to address the gender imbalance in translated literature and to increase the number of international women’s voices accessible by a British and Irish readership. In 2020 the prize is generously supported by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the British Comparative Literature Association.”

The jury has remarked the record number of submissions, totalling 132 eligible entires representing 34 languages and countries including Argentina, Brazil, China, Malaysia and Sudan. 16 titles made it to the longlist.

The judges said of this year’s nominees:

“This year’s longlist not only takes us from Sudan to Malaysia, and from Finland to Brazil. It is the most genre-bending longlist to date, encompassing lyric poetry and children’s fiction, crime writing and gastronomic memoir, an epistolary novel and a collection of letters, as well as the historical epic and the short story. On this occasion, the judges’ choices also showcase an outstanding group of previously untranslated works by great women writers of the twentieth century.”

The shortlist for the prize will be published in early November. The winner will be announced in an online ceremony on Thursday 26 November. You can read more about this year’s prize and other nominees on Warwick’s official website.

Things that Fall from the Sky has been one of the most internationally successful Finnish works of fiction, with foreign rights sold to 24 territories. Ahava’s latest novel, The Woman Who Loved Insects, came out in August to wonderful reviews and overwhelming interest from publishers around the globe.

Congratulations to the author and fingers crossed!

Virtual Frankfurt is coming to an end, but the results of it are only beginning to show now! We are thrilled to announce the first foreign rights deals for Anja Portin’s wonderful children’s novel Radio Popov: Estonian rights were sold to Ühinenud ajakirjad and Latvian rights to Janis Roze Publishers.

Portin’s new novel reminds of Roald Dahl’s classics, where children often experience quite miserable circumstances, but find refuge in friendships and partly magical worlds.

When a nine-year-old Alfred, who virtually lives alone, sets off in the company of the mysterious Sneak, who puts things through letter- boxes – not just newspapers, but apples, woollen socks and sandwiches – an unforgettable adventure begins that changes everything, and not just for Alfred. Sneak turns out to be the eccentric Amanda Lehtimaja, a paperwoman who is one of the Sharp Ears. At Amanda’s home Alfred finds an old radio transmitter designed by a Russian physicist, A. S. Popov. He starts making a secret, nightly radio broadcast that all the other forgotten children in the city listen to.

The book has received a lot of attention during the Frankfurt fair, and we expect more deals to follow soon.

Congratulations to the author!

We are so thrilled to announce that World English rights for the ghost and horror novel for the middle grade readers Raspberry Hill by Eva Frantz were sold to Pushkin Press in the UK!

Pushkin Press is an established publisher with an impressive list of awarded adult and children’s titles. Pushkin Children had titles shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Books Prize the last four years in a row and this year won the Prize’s Older Readers category.  This year they also had Dutch bestseller Lampie by Annet Schaap shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal – the first time a book in translation has ever been shortlisted for the UK’s most prestigious children’s book prize.

According to publisher Adam Freudenheim, Frantz’s book “has wonderful echoes of classic children’s books like The Secret Garden and yet is also undoubtedly very modern at the same time”, which will make it a perfect addition to Pushkin Children’s list.

Raspberry Hill was the first children’s book by Frantz, and an immediate success: not only it was received with an overwhelming enthusiasm by the small readers, it was also awarded the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in 2019. Frantz is otherwise known for her bestselling and award-winning crime series, focusing on the life of police investigator Anna Glad.

Pushkin Press has also recently published hilarious children’s verse book The Secret Life of Farts written by Malin Klingenberg and illustrated by Sanna Mander, and also represented by HLA. Frantz’s Raspberry Hill has previously been sold to Bulgaria.

Congratulations to the author and all the lucky readers and future fans of Raspberry Hill!