Fishing For the Little Pike ranked in the top 10 Bestseller List at Warwicks Bookstore

More amazing news for Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila: the book has been featured in the top 10 Bestseller list at Warwicks Bookstore, an iconic indie bookstore in San Diego, California.

American readers are increasingly fascinated with Juhani Karila‘s Fishing For The Little Pike: after receiving an honourable mention for the Crawford Award and a nomination for the Foreword Indie Book of the Year Award, the book has been ranked in the top 10 best-selling titles of the iconic indie bookstore Warwicks, in San Diego, California.

Warwicks top ten bestsellers of early March

In the list Karila is in the great company of, among others, the Man Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, with his Prophet Song, Yangsze Choo, James McBride and Paulo Coelho.

Fishing For the Little Pike is Juhani Karila’s debut novel and it follows Elina Ylijaako, a young woman who is under the spell of a curse that forces her to travel back to her home village in the Finnish Lapland to fish a specific pike from a specific pond every year, or she and her childhood love will die. This year, however, the supernatural gets in the way in the form of a mythological creature haunting the pond, all while a detective is on her trail as she is suspected of murder. Funny, surprisingly wise and proudly weird, Fishing For the Little Pike was an instant hit upon its release, and it has so far travelled to 17 language territories. In Finland, it is published by Siltala, and in the US it is distributed by Restless Books.

Warm congratulations!

Light and Flame by Ulla-Lena Lundberg sold to Croatia

Light and Flame by Ulla-Lena Lundberg is travelling to Croatia, where it will be published by Hena, the publisher of Lundberg’s Finlandia winning title Ice.

Fantastic news from Croatia: Hena will be publishing Light and Flame by Ulla-Lena Lundberg.

In Light and Flame, it is August 1852, and the city of Vaasa on Finland’s west coast has burned to the ground. The Swedish-speaking maid Betty can no longer find work and, although she possesses neither money nor fluency in Finnish, sets out on foot to seek a livelihood in the capital.

Light and Flame (Lyser och lågar, 2022)

Betty’s trek begins a three-generation trip through the stormy years of Finland’s transformation into a nation, as successive Russification, independence, and civil war throw society into turmoil.

The new nation is also an educational project. Betty’s daughter Olga becomes a teacher, and Olga’s husband Robert the headmaster of a uniquely Nordic phenomenon, the folk high school. Impassioned conversation by impassioned conversation, the worker’s rights’ movement and cultural and educational movements wage battle on behalf of an independent Finland.

Whereas men stagger and are trampled beneath their ideologies, women stay standing, work, tend to their families, doubt, hope, and love.

Hena is based in Zagreb and boasts a list of authors that includes some of the most significant Croatian and foreign writers, such as Ante Tomić, Stjepo Martinović, Mary Novosel, Pero Kvesić, Marina Vujčić, Umberto Eco, Peter D’Adamo, Amos Oz, Don DeLillo, Ken Bruen, Elif Shafak, Louise Penny, Ahmet Umit, Ayfer Tunc, Michela Murgia, Ece Temelkuran, Jana Benova. Hena is also the Croatian home of the Finlandia award-winning title Ice by Ulla-Lena Lundberg, and the two titles will be part of the same series.

Congratulations to the author and the publisher!

Fishing For the Little Pike awarded honourable mention for the Crawford Award and running for Foreword Indie Books of the Year Award.

Fishing For the Little Pike by Juhani Karila, published with the title Summer Fishing in Lapland by Pushkin Press, has been awarded an honorary mention for the Crawford Award. Karila’s novel received extensive media coverage in the English-speaking world, and it has traveled to 17 language territories so far.

Summer Fishing in Lapland (Pushkin, 2023)

Fishing For The Little Pike by Juhani Karila, published in the UK by Pushkin Press with the title Summer Fishing in Lapland and in the US by Restless Books, continues to attract attention and accolades in the English-speaking world. The book has received an honourable mention for the IAFA Crawford Award, a yearly award for outstanding writers whose first fantasy book was published during the previous calendar year. 

The award takes its name from William L. Crawford, a US publisher who produced the first full-size book as a publisher specialising in sci-fi and fantasy. Crawford honorees have gone on to win a dozen World Fantasy Awards and numerous more awards. The majority of Crawford Award honorees are based in the US, but a few authors from different parts of the world are counted in their midst.

Fishing For the Little Pike is also a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, in the category Literary Fiction. Foreword Reviews is a US-based platform dedicated to discovering, reviewing, and sharing the work of independent publishers, and it assigns on a yearly basis a literary award for fiction, non fiction, children’s literature and general works.

Fishing For the Little Pike is Juhani Karila’s debut novel and it follows Elina Ylijaako, a young woman who is under the spell of a curse that forces her to travel back to her home village in the Finnish Lapland to fish a specific pike from a specific pond every year, or she and her childhood love will die. This year, however, the supernatural gets in the way in the form of a mythological creature haunting the pond, all while a detective is on her trail as she is suspected of murder. Funny, surprisingly wise and proudly weird, Fishing For the Little Pike was an instant hit upon its release, and it has so far travelled to 17 language territories. In Finland, it is published by Siltala.

Warm congratulations to the author and the publishers!

Kalsarikännit featured on The Simpsons

When it comes to happiness rankings, Finland always scores near the top. Many Finnish phenomena set the bar high: the best education system in the world, gender equality, a flourishing welfare state, sisu or bull-headed pluck, and, of course, kalsarikänni or, for the non-Finnish speakers, pantsdrunk, the fine art of drinking (responsibly) home alone in your underwear.

This practice rose to fame thanks to, among others, the international bestselling hit book Kalsarikänni | Pantsdrunk by Miska Rantanen.

Pantsdrunk is a path to solitary relaxation, recovery and self-empowerment to help you face your future challenges. The procedure is as follows:

Peel off your work uniform down to your underwear. Place savoury or sweet nibbles within reach, by bed or sofa, alongside remote control and devices to access social media. Open a bottle or can of alcoholic beverage.

The practice towards inner strength, higher quality of life and peace of mind has begun.

This book is your guide on the path to find wellness, bliss, and peace of mind the Finnish way, following the pantsdrunk method. By completing each concrete step and fully embracing the philosophy you can relieve anxiety, fatigue and pain. The method will lead you to live a healthier, more energising and relaxing life – wherever, whenever.

A frame from the episode of the Simpsons featuring all things Finnish, kalsarikännit included (Photo source: Helsingin Sanomat)

This practice is quoted in a recent episode of the world-famous cartoon The Simpsons as the real key to happiness in the world’s happiest country. This is a statement that Homer Simpson, the protagonist, accepts with a hint of pride, claiming that he did kalsarikännit before it was cool.

Kalsarikänni (Pantsdrunk, 2018)

Kalsarikännit | Pantsdrunk became an instant hit book upon its release, and it has currently travelled to 12 language territories all over the world, taking the English-speaking world by storm:

“You might have found hygge too smug. You might have been confused by lagom. You probably never bothered clicking on the thing about famntag natur. But give päntsdrunk a go. Scandi living might be for you after all. ”
– The Telegraph

”After a busy workweek, feel free to ditch your plans — and your pants — and stay in. Instead of “Netflix and chill,” Netflix and kalsarikannit.”
– The Washington Post

We recommend getting acquainted with this Finnish practice, and starting strong by reading Kalsarikännit!

Happy Kalevala Day | Path of Eternal Winter out now

Today is the day: Finland celebrates Kalevala Day in honor of the Finnish national epic, and the wait for another Finnish work deeply rooted in mythology is over: The Path of Eternal Winter by Niilo Sevänen is officially out now.

The Path of Eternal Winter (Ikitalven polku, 2024)

The Path of Eternal Winter has been turning heads since the news of its publication reached the public. Kultuuritoimitus magazine has listed the book in its “Best right now” collection, stating as follows:

Insomnium singer-basist Niilo Sevänen does not shy away from tough challenges in his literary production. His debut novel The Path of Eternal Winter (Gummerus, 2024) is the beginning of an ambitious, interesting fantasy saga. There are authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson and China Miéville whose level of skill and ambition is easier dreamed than done. […] Sevänen’s debut novel is a chilling and darkly romantic mood piece, which is carried forward with sufficient skill and depth to keep you looking forward to the sequel with great interest.

Sevänen has been interviewed by, among others, Savon Sanomat newspaper and Turun Sanomat newspaper. On Savon Sanomat newspaper, Sevänen commented on his debut and its background:

Author Niilo Sevänen

“My novel has elements of Finnish and Kalevala mythology, but also of German, Italian, Greek and Irish history, for example. Sevänen’s novel has a long backstory. He first dealt with the subject in his short story Winter Gate. In 2007 the novella, which was awarded first prize in the Nova Novella competition, tells the story of how Vikings arrive on a mysterious island in the 800s and unleash something mysterious. Sevänen and his band Insomnium later made a theme album Winter’s Gate based on the same story. The ambitious 40-minute album consisted of a single track. Although Sevänen sneers that the idea initially sounded like commercial suicide, the record company gave the green light. The album, which saw the light of day in 2016, became Insomnium’s most successful to date.

Turun Sanomat newspaper highlights how Sevänen’s background work for the book has part of its roots in his studies in cultural history, and partly in a love for history and mythology that can be traced back to his childhood:

His [Sevänen’s] academic background is also evident in his debut novel, although the author says that he has been interested in history and mythology almost all his life, and in a way these two subjects form the framework of the whole work. The Path of Eternal Winter could trendily be called a historical fantasy novel, as Sevänen uses history and characters mainly as material for interesting plot developments.

We can’t wait for this title to start its journey into the world – congratulations to the publisher and the author, and stay tuned!