January fiction deals: Memory of Water and Raspberry Boat Refugee

Posted on 12.01.201806.03.2018

With the beginning of the new year, we’d like to extend our thanks to our cooperation partners of 2017, and we look forward to new, exciting projects in 2018.

Grants & book fairs
FILI’s grant application round for translation of Finnish titleshas begun, and the deadline for the applications is February 1st 2018. Read more on FILI’s website.

We are attending both London and Bologna Book Fairs, and scheduling meetings now. For meeting requests please contact: info@ahlbackagency.com.

Fiction deals
Among the newest fiction deals we have a German deal for Raspberry Boat Refugee by Miika Nousiainen, whose 2016 novel Roots has been a runaway success in Germany, now in its 4^th hardback printing. The Swiss publisher Nagel & Kimchewas glad about the acquisition of the 2007 novel, previously sold to Sweden and made into a movie in 2014:

“A Finn desperately wanting to be a Swede and walking over dead bodies for it? Doesn’t sound like an international issue. But read the first pages of this novel and you just don’t want to stop. Nousiainen: that stands for esprit, wit, ideas, clever entertainment. This author is definitely my personal discovery of last year – and hopefully more years to come,“ said Dirk Vaihinger, publisher of Nagel & Kimche, Zürich.

On the other side of the world, Emmi Itäranta’s Memory of Water has charmed yet another publisher. Sichuan People’s Publishing House acquired the simplified Chinese rights to Itäranta’s 2012 debut, which has been previously sold in 21 territories; also an English-language film is in the progress.

If you’re interested, please request reading materials by clicking here!

RASPBERRY BOAT REFUGEE rights sold:
FINLAND, Otava (Orig. publisher)
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
SWEDEN, Brombergs

ROOTS rights sold:
FINLAND, Otava (Orig. publisher)
CZECH REPUBLIC, XYZ
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
HUNGARY, Kossuth
ITALY, Iperborea
LITHUANIA, Alma Littera
NETHERLANDS, Prometheus
SWEDEN, Brombergs

MEMORY OF WATER rights sold:
FINLAND, Teos (Orig. publisher)
ARABIC, Dar Al Muna
BRAZIL, Record
BULGARIA, Perseus
CHINA, Sichuan People’s Publishing House
CZECH REPUBLIC, Albatros Media/Plus
DENMARK, Turbine
ESTONIA, Koolibri
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs
GEORGIA, Palitra L Publishing
GERMANY, DTV/Reihe Hanser
HUNGARY, Metropolis Media
ITALY, Piemme
JAPAN, Nishimura Shoten
KOREA, The Book in My Life
LATVIA, Janis Roze
LITHUANIA, Nieko Rimto
NORWAY, Gresvik Forlag
RUSSIA, Text Publishers
SPAIN, Ediciones B.
SWEDEN, Modernista
TURKEY, Dogan Egmont
WORLD ENGLISH, HarperCollins
FILM RIGHTS, Bufo

About author

Emmi Itäranta

Emmi Itäranta (b.1976) holds two MA degrees, one in Drama and another in Creative Writing. Her award-winning debut novel Memory of Water (Teemestarin kirja) was published in Finland in 2012 to great accolades, followed by The Weaver (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki) in 2015. Her latest novel The Moonday Letters (Kuunpäivän kirjeet) was published in September 2020.

Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin. Her honours include the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize 2013, the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize 2012 and first place in the Teos Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Contest 2011.

Memory of Water has sold to over 25 languages to date, and it has also been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014, and the Golden Tentacle award. In addition, Itäranta has been included on the Honor List of the Otherwise Award (formerly James Tiptree, Jr. Award).

Itäranta’s CV is an eclectic mix of writing-related activities, including stints as a columnist, theatre critic, press officer and dramaturge. Her poems, short stories, articles and essays have appeared in anthologies, film magazines and science fiction magazines in the UK and Finland. She now lives in Finland after 14 years in the United Kingdom.

About author

Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)