Estonian rights to THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and illus. JP Ahonen sold to Ühinenud Ajakirjad!

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We are starting the week off by announcing that Estonian rights for THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and illustrator JP Ahonen have been acquired by Ühinenud Ajakirjad! This deal was closed by Julia Bogen.

Salla Simukka is the multiple award-winning, internationally bestselling author of the Snow White trilogy, and JP Ahonen is a comic book artist and the illustrator of the cult classic Belzebubs project.

You can watch the book trailer below:

For fans of Michael Ende and Maria Gripe, THE SECRET STAIRCASE is an exciting and touching novel about two boys, who live in the same house but in different realities. Can their friendship cross the border separating two worlds?

10-year-old Alexis’ family moves to a house where he gets the attic room. Another 10-year-old-boy, Max, moves to a house, where a great basement room is waiting for him. Soon the boys notice something weird in their houses: Alexis hears voices under the floor, even though they don’t have a basement. Max’s ears pick up someone playing an instrument from the attic, even though no one is there.

When the two boys finally meet, they realize that they can visit each other’s worlds at night time. But will their friendship endanger everything when the worlds start to blur into each other?

Rights still available in France, Germany, Holland…

Click here to download all reading materials for THE SECRET STAIRCASE!

POIKA ULLAKOLLA, POIKA KELLARISSA
Tammi, March 2024, 200 pp., b&w illustrations

Reading material:
English sample with illustrations
Finnish edition

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
ESTONIA: Ühinenud Ajakirjad

About author


JP Ahonen

JP Ahonen (1981) is a comic book artist, illustrator, and the author of several newspaper strips in his native Finland. He is best known for his graphic novel SING NO EVIL and the critically acclaimed strip series BELZEBUBS, which has evolved from a humble webcomic into a unique cross-media project, interweaving comics, music and animation.

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About author


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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