Ahlback Agency December Newsletter

Jussi Valtonen

Jussi Valtonen (1974) is an author and psychologist from Helsinki. He has studied neuropsychology in the United States and screenwriting in the UK, and has also worked as a science reporter. He has written three novels and a short story collection.

Carried by Wings (Siipien kantamat, Tammi 2007) was given second place in Bonnier’s novel competition, and received a warm reception from both critics and bloggers. In 2014 Valtonen was awarded the Finlandia Prize, the country’s highest-profile literary award, for They Know Not What They Do (He eivät tiedä mitä tekevät, Tammi 2014).

Karo Hämäläinen

Karo Hämäläinen (b. 1976) has two passions: literature and the stock market, and has a 15-year background as an economics reporter. He works as the managing editor managing editor of Parnasso, Finland’s best-known literary publication. Hämäläinen’s novel The Buyout was shortlisted for the Savonia Prize in 2011 and received the Tampere Literary Prize in 2012.

Hämäläinen has studied both in the humanities and in economics. Following stints in Helsinki, Munich and Berlin, he now lives in Tampere, Finland. He is a popular lecturer and guest commentator, and has had his own radio show. In his professional work, he uses Finnish, English, German and Swedish. In his spare time, Hämäläinen likes reading and running; his record marathon time set in 2010 is 3:04:04.

Katja Pantzar

Katja Pantzar –  Katja Pantzar is a Helsinki-based writer and journalist who swims in the Baltic Sea year round. Raised in Canada, with stints in New Zealand and England, she is the author of The Finnish Way (Penguin Random House/2018), a bestselling non-fiction book about Nordic well-being, winter swimming and sisu (resilience) that has been translated into 24 languages. Her second book on sisu, Everyday Sisu: Tapping into Finnish Fortitude for a Happier, More Resilient Life (Penguin Random House/2022) explores through expert interviews and research-based information how we can better support our mental and physical health while taking care of each other and our planet. Everyday Sisu has also been published in Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian. Pantzar’s work has been widely covered around the world in media ranging from Le Figaro, Le Monde, and El Paísto Vogue the Washington Post and the New York Review of Books. . She is also the author of three mini-guides to the Finnish capital, including 100 things to do in Helsinki (Siltala/2024).

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Laura Lindstedt

Laura Lindstedt (b. 1976) became a critical darling with her adoption-themed debut novel Scissors (Sakset, Teos 2007), which earned her a nomination for the Finlandia Prize, the country’s most prestigious literary honour. Lindstedt’s second novel Oneiron (Teos 2015), a work of speculative fiction that takes place in the mysterious moments that follow one’s death, earned her the coveted Finlandia Prize of 2015 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2017. Lindstedt’s success has continued with My Friend Natalia (Teos 2019) which has earned critical acclaim and has been sold to 12 territories. Together with author Sinikka Vuola, she has authored 101 tapaa tappaa aviomies (101 Ways to Kill Your Husband, Siltala 2022) which has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize of 2024.

She is currently completing her Ph.D. thesis on French author Nathalie Sarraute.

Leena Lehtolainen

Leena Lehtolainen is the top female crime author in Finland: her new titles always head straight to #1 on the Finnish bestseller lists.

Lehtolainen created her successful protagonist, detective Maria Kallio, in 1993. Having already featured in 16 novels and a complete TV series, a new Maria Kallio TV reboot series was launched in Fall 2021 on C More. Lehtolainen’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.

And just like the events in Bodyguard, a that takes the heroine Hilja Ilveskero all around Europe, Lehtolainen’s own work takes her to book festivals, exhibitions and other events across the globe.

Leena Lehtolainen has also published outside the crime genre; her book The Charm of Figure Skating was voted sports book of the year 2010 in Finland, and A Life in Six Scenes showed her return to literary fiction.

The Crossing of the Green Dragon is her first title for YA audiences.

In her free time, Lehtolainen enjoys all kinds of music and follows lynx trails in the forests – just like Maria Kallio.

Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff is known for crafting lyrical, historically inspired fantasy stories starring strong female protagonists. In addition to J.R.R. Tolkien, she counts Philip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin and C.S. Lewis among her favorite authors. She is a two-time winner of the Society of Swedish Literature Prize, winner of the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, winner of the Thank You for the Book Award, a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2020-2024), and winner of the 2014 Finlandia Junior Prize. In 2024, Maria Turtschaninoff won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) for her literary masterpiece Inherited Land.

Her Red Abbey Chronicles YA trilogy has been sold into 30 languages, while her first adult novel Inherited Land has been sold to 23 territories. Maria has a Master of Arts in human ecology and works full-time as a writer.

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Minna Lindgren

Minna Lindgren (b. 1963) is a freelance journalist and columnist known for her whimsical writing style and fearless approach to topics as strange as opera and death. In addition to novels, she has authored nonfiction books on classical music. In 2009, Lindgren won the Bonnier Journalism Prize for her article entitled “Father’s Death” (“Isän kuolema”).

Lindgren is best known for the Sunset Grove trilogy, which has been sold to 18 territories, and the final part, The End of Sunset Grove, was nominated for the International Dublin Literature Award in 2019. She has also written four standalone novels and a non-fiction book about the history of opera.

Minna Lindgren’s books have been critical and commercial successes, in Finland and internationally.

Riikka Jäntti

Riikka Jäntti, a 2003 graduate of University of Industrial Art of Helsinki, now part of Aalto University, is a Helsinki-based illustrator and author who has created art for both nonfiction and fairy tale books for children. Her first children’s book was published in 2005. Jäntti is best known for the adorable Little Mouse series that has publishers in 20 territories, including Australia, Nepal, and China!

In her illustrations, she uses pen and ink as well as watercolor and gouache. In 2009 Jäntti won the first-ever Tieto-Lauri, an award for children’s and juvenile non-fiction, for her illustrations in Viidakkotanssi (Jungle Dance). The book was written by Markku Löytönen about the explorer Rafael Karsten in Ecuador.

Salla Simukka

Salla Simukka is the author of the international success story The Snow White Trilogy: rights are sold in 53 territories and in Hollywood. She has written several novels for young readers and her accolades include the Topelius Prize 2013 and the Finland Prize 2013. Simukka has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award  every year 2021–2024. Where It All Begins, published in 2022, is her first novel for adults and in 2024 she started a collaboration with JP Ahonen on a middle grade novel.

Previously Simukka has written book reviews for the newspapers, translated all kinds of texts into Finnish, worked as an editor at a literary magazine and as a screenwriter for a popular TV show for young audiences.  She has also been working on the programme of Turku Book Fair in 2017–2020.

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Tuutikki Tolonen

Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, a Finnish literary magazine for children. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award.  Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny trilogy sparked during a family breakfast. “My son Leo, then six, said: ‘I heard on the radio yesterday that all moms have to go on vacation and monsters will take their places,” she says.

Her other bestselling series is the Agnes-series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" was in 2021 nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award. Tolonen tells that the inspiration for Agnes comes for her interest for weird and inexpicable tales, ghost stories and mysteries: "I wanted to write a book my daughter Aili, then nine, would like to read - not too long, not too scary, but very curious."