Loukko by 
We are proud to announce that Oneiron (Teos 2015), author Laura Lindstedt’s celebrated novel about seven women who meet in a white, undefined space after death, has received the Toisinkoinen literature prize.
Awarded by students of Finnish literature at the University of Helsinki, Toisinkoinen is given annually to an author’s outstanding second book.
From the jury:
“This novel made an impression, starting from its dazzling opening. It manages to achieve, without fumbling, narrative goals that embrace the impossible. How should one write a story in which time doesn’t exist? How can seven women from different countries, without a shared language, manage to express themselves, understand one another and comprehend the fuzziness of existence in the intermediate state of death? And how can the reader be kept engaged from the first to the last page? The jury was glad to see how Oneiron seems to rise effortlessly to the best of international literature.”
Contact the Agency for an English sample of Oneiron!
Praise for Oneiron:
”Oneiron is like a stream that spills and spins towards something – death, at least. Before that happens, we live. Every life and death is unique. Stunning.”
– Tuijata culture blog, Finland
“Lindstedt’s debut Scissors was a 2007 Finlandia Prize nominee, and it would be a surprise if Oneiron doesn’t receive the same honor, in the very least. On an international scale this is an exceptionally bright pearl of high literature – a novel that is close to perfect.”
– Aamulehti newspaper, Finland
”Lindstedt’s prose offers many things that can’t be conceptualized…they can simply be felt. Lindstedt doesn’t shy away from her ambition, and writes deep, high literature that is becoming more and more rare…Oneiron is likely to earn its place among the international best of Finnish literature.”
– Kannesta canteen, sivuista sivuille (“Cover to Cover, Page to Page”) literature blog, Finland
“I’ve never read anything like Oneiron. In the best possible way.”
– Lukutoukan kulttuuriblogi (“Bookworm’s Literature Blog”), Finland
About Oneiron:
Performance artist Shlomith from New York, chief accountant Polina from Moscow, heart transplant patient Rosa Imaculada from Brazil, upper-crust Nina of Marseilles who is expecting twins, cancer patient Wlbgis from the Netherlands, aspiring model Maimuna from Senegal and Austrian teenager Ulrike have all ended up in an empty, blank space. Time, as we understand it, has ceased to exist, and all bodily sensations seem to have disappeared.
Lindstedt plays with genres from essay to poetry, transitioning from humor to rage – while asking her reader to contemplate the question of death’s inevitability.
RIGHTS SOLD: ONEIRON
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
RIGHTS SOLD: SCISSORS
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
DENMARK, Turbine
Prizes
Nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize 2007
Nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2007
Reading material: Oneiron
English sample
English synopsis
Finnish edition
Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com
