Loukko by 
We are so proud to share that Maria Turtschaninoff has won the Eeva Joenpelto Literary Prize (10,000 euro award) this weekend for her literary masterpiece, INHERITED LAND!
According to the Eeva Joenpelto award selection committee:
INHERITED LAND is a touching, linguistically diverse and original work that enchants and leaves an impression on the reader. It brings myths to life as a lived experience and tells history through a relationship with nature. The main character is a place whose habitation is observed from century to century. Nature, its change and permanence appear strongly in the work. Especially in the descriptions of the past, mythological themes, spirits, and creatures of the marsh are also present. The novel asks: are we not all caretakers of this land?
The marsh binds together a chain of generations and builds layers in the identities of the people who live by it. Intertwining stories told in different styles are united by the fact that the characters are rooted in the same soil. As it is said at the beginning of the work: “There is something in the soil of this place that knows you and is now getting to know me.”
For any unfamiliar to INHERITED LAND, this novel tells multiple enchanting stories about short human lives on a small farmstead in the north of Finland with its golden cloudberries and mythical forest creatures. The hub of the narrative is a marsh close to the farmstead, and nature is the constant while humans are like dragonflies: here one day, gone the next. Across four centuries, the people face wars, epidemics, and heartbreaks, but in the woods they find shelter and a place to be themselves.
INHERITED LAND is a novel about the climate crisis without ever mentioning it by name. Instead, the novel explores what people have thought about their environment, how they have used it and why. The novel is a reminder of where we have come from, and what a relationship between humans and nature could look like in the future.
We now have a full English PDF for you to read!
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Förlaget (orig. Finland-Swedish), Tammi (Finnish), SWEDEN: Förlaget, AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran, BULGARIA: Izida, CHINA: Rentian Ulus, CROATIA: HENA COM, CZECHIA: ARGO, DENMARK: Alpha Forlag, ESTONIA: Rahvat Raamat, FRANCE: Éditions Paulsen, GERMANY: Rowohlt, HUNGARY: L’Harmattan, ISRAEL: Hakibbutz Hameuchad – Sifriat Poalim Publishing House, ITALY: Bompiani, NETHERLANDS: Uitgeverij Atlas Contact, NORWAY: Bonnier Norsk Forlag, POLAND: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, ROMANIA: Editura Univers, TURKEY: Timas , UKRAINE: Old Lion Publishing House, WORLD ENGLISH: Pushkin Press
