Loukko by 
U.S. publication nears for The Core of the Sun (Teos 2013), Johanna Sinisalo’s novel set in a dystopian version of Finland in which pleasure is forbidden and sex is commoditized. Published by Grove Atlantic in January of 2016, The Core of the Sun has already received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews!
“The novel creates an impressively detailed and extremely frightening world…Written with wit and grace – Sinisalo describes depression as ‘a smooth-walled cavity, an open, echoing cave with a darkness living in it deeper than the space between the stars’ – the novel maintains an impressive grasp on plot and suspense, easily luring the reader into taking its characters, politics, and striking story to heart.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Last week Sinisalo met with readers in Seattle, Washington, where she was interviewed by translator Lola Rogers at the Elliott Bay Book Company on Saturday, October 24th.
See here for an article by Rogers in The Seattle Review of Books, in which she discusses Sinisalo’s career and contributions to world literature.
“[Sinisalo] coined the term Finnish Weird (Suomikumma) to describe her work and that of several other Finnish writers of the past two or three decades… The distinguishing feature of Finnish Weird for me, though, is the way it inserts the unexpected, uncanny, or otherworldly into otherwise familiar fictional worlds, often using this juxtaposition of reality and fantasy to explore deep, sometimes heady themes,” Rogers writes.
Recently Sinisalo was also interviewed for Strange Horizons, a publication focusing on speculative fiction, about the blurred lines between the realistic and the fantastical, her involvement in the translation process, and much more. Read the interview here.
Sinisalo’s previous novel The Blood of Angels (Teos 2011), published in the U.S and UK by Peter Owen in 2014, received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist. Her upcoming novel, Iron Sky: Renate’s Story (working title) is inspired by the 2012 cult film Iron Sky, at which Sinisalo worked as one of the concept developers. Rights have been acquired in Germany by Klett-Cotta and in Finland by Johnny Kniga.
RIGHTS SOLD: IRON SKY: RENATE’S STORY
FINLAND, Johnny Kniga
GERMANY, Klett-Cotta
RIGHTS SOLD: THE CORE OF THE SUN
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
CZECH REPUBLIC, Euromedia
FRANCE, Actes Sud
GERMANY, Klett-Cotta
WORLD ENGLISH, Grove Atlantic
RIGHTS SOLD: THE BLOOD OF ANGELS
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
WORLD ENGLISH, Peter Owen
FRANCE, Actes Sud
POLAND, Foksal
RIGHTS SOLD: BIRDBRAIN
Original publisher: FINLAND, Teos
FRANCE, Actes Sud
NORWAY, Vega
UK, Peter Owen
RIGHTS SOLD: NOT BEFORE SUNDOWN (TROLL – A LOVE STORY)
Original publisher: FINLAND, Tammi
ALBANIA, Dituria
BRAZIL, Devir
BULGARIA, Perseus
CZECH REPUBLIC, One Woman Press
FRANCE, Actes Sud
GERMANY, Tropen
JAPAN, Sunmark
LATVIA, Atena
LITHUANIA, Vaga
POLAND, Terytoria
RUSSIA, Amphora
SLOVENIA, Modrijan
SPAIN, Poliedro
SWEDEN, Wahlstrom & Widstrand
UK, Peter Owen
U.S, Grove Atlantic
Contact: info@ahlbackagency.com
