Loukko by 
We are very happy to announce that Text Publishers, a well-known independent publishing house, has acquired Russian rights to Emmi Itäranta’s internationally celebrated speculative fiction debut, Memory of Water (Teos 2012). Rights to the novel have now sold in 19 languages! Text Publishers is also home to the works of Samuel Beckett, Pascal Bruckner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio and Nancy Huston, among others.
Set in a future Scandinavia in which water has become a scarce resource, Memory of Water tells the story of young Noria who is set to become the next tea master in her village. When her father dies, she assumes the dangerous responsibility of guarding a hidden spring.
The novel has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Philip K. Dick Award and the Golden Tentacle award, a category of the Kitschies fantasy and speculative fiction awards. It has also been praised by the likes of Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The Guardian and The Washington Post, and been included on the Honor List of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Most recently Memory of Water was voted a favorite among Finnish library-goers in the annual HelMet literature awards recognizing an outstanding Finnish novel: voters called it “surprising,” “touching” and “captivating,” and “a book that offers a powerful reading experience.”
“With the lyricism of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and the world building brilliance of Atwood, Emmi Itäranta’s effortless and poignant debut novel is a coming of age story full of emotional drama and wonderment. Where Itäranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters.”
– Publishers Weekly, Red star review
Itäranta’s follow-up, The City of Woven Streets (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki, Teos 2015) will publish this fall in Finland and next year in the UK and U.S. by HarperCollins as The Weaver. This literary ecological tale in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin and Sheri S. Tepper is set in a world in which dreaming is forbidden.
RIGHTS SOLD: MEMORY OF WATER
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
WORLD ENGLISH, HarperCollins (2-book deal)
ARABIC, Dar Al Muna
BRAZIL, Record (2-book-deal)
BULGARIA, Perseus
CZECH, Albatros Media/Plus
DENMARK, Turbine
ESTONIA, Koolibri
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs (2-book deal)
GEORGIA, Palitra L Publishing
GERMANY, DTV/Reihe Hanser
HUNGARY, Metropolis Media (2-book deal)
ITALY, Sperling & Kupfer
JAPAN, Nishimura Shoten (2-book deal)
KOREA, The Book in My Life
NORWAY, Gresvik Forlag
RUSSIA, Text Publishers
SPAIN, Ediciones B.
TURKEY, Dogan Egmont
RIGHTS SOLD: THE CITY OF WOVEN STREETS
WORLD ENGLISH: HarperCollins
BRAZIL: Record
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs
HUNGARY: Metropolis Media
JAPAN: Nishimura Shoten
Reading material:
Memory of Water
English edition
French edition
German edition
Spanish edition
The City of Woven Streets
Finnish edition
English synopsis
English sample
Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com
