We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Sámi poet, musician and activist and the author of Underfoot Niillas Holmberg, recently nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize, discusses the rise of indigenous people, the most annoying stereotypes yet to be overturned and the greatest Sámi artists everyone should hear about. Read the entire interview here.
The Arabic rights of Selja Ahava’s Things that Fall from the Sky have been acquired by Egyptian Cultural Assembly, making it 24th foreign sales for the title.
Selja Ahava’s European Union Prize for Literature winning novel Things that Fall from the Sky will be published in Arabic by Egyptian Cultural Assembly.
The novel tells a story of a girl whose mother dies under a block of ice falling from the sky, of a woman who wins the jackpot twice and of a man hit by a lightning for five times. It has been described a whimsical and thoughtful literary fairy tale.
The rights have been previously been sold to Albania (IDK); Armenia (Guitank); Bulgaria (Colibri); China (Citic); Croatia (Vuković & Runjić); Czech Republic (Pavel Dobrovský – Beta); Denmark (Jensen & Dalgaard); World English (Oneworld); Estonia (Post Factum | Eesti Meedia); France (Bleu & Jaune); Georgia (Agora); Germany (Mare Verlag); Hungary (Typotex); Latvia (Lauku Avize); Lithuania (Homo liber); Macedonia (Magor); Poland (Relacja); Serbia (Štrik); Slovenia (KUD Sodobnost International); Spanish (Editorial Bercimuel); Swedish (Bakhall); Turkey (Timas) and Ukraine (V. Books XXi).
We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Legendary Pirkko Saisio, a six-time nominee for the Finlandia prize and the winner in 2003 discusses writing processes, artistic stereotypes and irony, and tells the best curse word so far. Read the entire interview here.
We are continuing our creative literary interviews series with HLA’s writers! Fenno-Swedish writer Ellen Strömberg discusses her deep, psychological novels Chasing Water and The Itch, the limits of sanity and looking for ugly things. Full interview can be found here.
Sami poet, musician, actor, and cultural and environmental activist Niillas Holmberg was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for his new poetry collection Underfoot.
As the jury stated in its rationale:
“Underfoot is like a political and cunning joik that even the underworld can rely on. This is a volume of poetry in which both the illustrations and the well-chosen words build an aesthetic that allows for a broader mindset towards nature conservation, in terms of both willingness and knowledge.“
Underfoot is a collection of poems that emphasises the connection between people and the earth. It praises nature folklore whilst questioning whether it fits in with our contemporary mind and way of life.
It is the second time Holmberg was been shortlisted for the award. More information can be found on Nordic Council’s website.
Congratulations to the author!