Loukko by 
We are happy to announce that Argo, Czech publisher of Katri Lipson’s EU Prize for Literature-winning The Ice Cream Man (Tammi 2012), has acquired rights to Cosmonaut (Tammi 2008), Lipson’s acclaimed first novel.
“The Ice Cream Man by Katri Lipson opened a door for Czech readers, and we are very happy that we can introduce them to another one of her books – Cosmonaut.”
– Marketa Matuskova, foreign rights and translation grants, Argo
Among other authors published by Argo are George Orwell, Philip Kerr and Charles Bukowski. Last year Lipson’s visit to Prague as Argo’s guest drew enthusiastic attention from the local media.
Cosmonaut, Set in Murmansk in the 1980s, won the highly regarded Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, given to an outstanding debut book. It was also nominated for the 2008 Finlandia Prize. Rights were also recently sold to Jensen & Dalgaard in Denmark.
“The experience of frustration is one of the core subjects of the Russian Classics, and the Finnish Cosmonaut represents a respectable continuation of this long tradition. Lipson’s novel arouses an old-fashioned sense of pity and compassion – and reminds us that it is these feelings that make us human.”
– Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize jury, 2008
About Cosmonaut:
In the Soviet city of Murmansk in the 1980s, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, Svetlana Kovalevna is a music teacher mercilessly bullied on the job. However, there has been one glimpse of happiness at work: Serjoza, a shy boy who is secretly head over heels in love with her. Serjoza aspires to become a cosmonaut and writes a school essay on the topic – becoming a national hero and the star of a television documentary, a latter-day Yuri Gagarin and a post-Brezhnevian miracle of the East to combat the temptations of the West.
RIGHTS SOLD: COSMONAUT
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
CZECH REPUBLIC, Argo
DENMARK, Jensen & Dalgaard
RIGHTS SOLD: THE ICE CREAM MAN
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
ALBANIA, Fan Noli
BULGARIA, Perseus
CZECH, Argo
DENMARK, Jensen & Dalgaard
ESTONIA, Varrak
GEORGIA, Elf
HUNGARY, Typotex
TURKEY, Nemesis
WORLD ENGLISH, AmazonCrossing
Reading materials: Cosmonaut
German sample
Russian sample
Finnish edition
Reading materials: The Ice Cream Man
English edition
Czech edition
German sample
Finnish edition
Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com