Hungarian rights sold to THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and JP Ahonen!

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We’re thrilled to announce that the Hungarian rights for The Secret Staircase, an award-nominated middle-grade novel written by Salla Simukka and illustrated by JP Ahonen, were acquired by Ciceró Könyvstúdió! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe and Elina Ahlbäck at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

A grounded fantasy novel with a classic feel, The Secret Staircase is the first collaboration of award-winning and internationally bestselling novelist Salla Simukka, known for her Snow White trilogy, and illustrator JP Ahonen, known for his Belzebubs project. The Secret Staircase was nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize for Children’s and YA Literature and won the 2024 Kuopus Prize for best children’s novel!

With this latest sale, The Secret Staircase has now been sold to 4 territories!
Rights are available in, e.g., Germany, Denmark, Poland, Italy, France, Netherlands…

Download materials for THE SECRET STAIRCASE here!

The Secret Staircase

Salla Simukka, illustrated by JP Ahonen

What would you do if you found a secret room in your house? A story about friendship and two boys in two worlds.

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?

THE SECRET STAIRCASE
POIKA ULLAKOLLA, POIKA KELLARISSA
Tammi, 2024, 200 pp.

READING MATERIALS
English sample and synopsis
Finnish edition

RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: Tammi (orig.)
CZECHIA: Portál
ESTONIA: Ühinenud Ajakirjad
HUNGARY: Ciceró Könyvstúdió

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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