We would like to take a moment to look back at another wonderful year of books and celebrate our authors and their many successes in 2024!

We have welcomed new authors and screenwriters, and new colleagues alike (Julia, Martti & Satu), and cheered on our authors as they won awards and hit the bestsellers list. We are thankful to all our publishing friends who have acquired rights and helped to spread Finnish literature far and wide.

We wish you all happy holidays and a good start into the new year – we are excited to talk more about books with you in 2025 and can’t wait to share our spring list with you soon! Enjoy your well deserved break and time with friends and loved ones!

All the best from us at Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency,

Elina, Julia, Martti & Satu

2024 Sales highlights

We were thrilled to see that our authors had a successful year in sales both at home and internationally! Here is a selection of sales that we would like to highlight:

• FOLLOW THE BUTTERFLY by Martta Kaukonen has now sold to 17 territories, and got her first three-book-deal from Iceland and the prestigious UK literary magazine Literary Review selected the book as one of the top crime novels of the year
• MILO by Max Seeck, was a domestic bestseller with over 40,000 copies sold and for the first time Max’s book was acquired by a Japanese publisher, Kodensha.
• The four books in Elina Backman’s SAANA HAVAS crime series sold over 140,000 copies in Finland
• The three books in Eeva Loukko’s RONJA VAARA crime series sold 50,000 copies in Finland, while the fourth is being published in January 2025

   

• Sirpa Kähkönen’s 36 URNS. A HISTORY OF BEING WRONG sold close 90,000 copies in Finland
• THE KRISTINESTAD MURDERS series by Kaisu Tuokko, has sold over 35,000 copies in Finland, and sold to Germany in a pre-empt two-book-deal
• SANNA MARIN: FINLAND’S YOUNG PRIME MINISTER by Salla Vuorikoski, has sold almost 20,000 copies and the Estonian rights were sold at auction

   

• First Finnish romantasy novel, THE DAUGHTER OF TWO BLOODS, was a domestic bestseller with 6,000 copies sold
• Arttu Tuominen’s RIVER DELTA series came to an end, with a bang. The final book sold over 20,000 copies, bringing the series’ total sales to an impressive 200,000 copies
• Arttu Unkari and Kai Vaalio’s DAD MAN middle grade series sold over 140,000 copies in Finland

  

• Sara Al Husaini’s DISOBEDIENT GIRL sold over 35,000 copies in Finland
• Tommi Kinnunen’s PINE BARK sold almost 40,000 copies in Finland, and was sold to Estonia and Japan
• Riikka Jäntti’s LITTLE MOUSE series continues to charm readers in Poland and in Estonia, securing two book new deals in both countries!
• HELSINKI NOIR TRILOGY by Anne Hietanen and Michaela von Kügelgen was first sold to Denmark in a pre-empt deal, followed by landing an original Swedish publisher from Schildts & Söderströms

2024 Award highlights

There have been many reason to celebrate our authors this year! A big round of congratulations to all award winners and nominees!

FINLANDIA PRIZE NOMINEES:

This year we had a record breaking amount of our talented authors nominated for the prestigious Finlandia Prize in all categories:

   

• Fiction:
  HOW WE MET YOUR MOTHER by Kaj Korea-aho
  PINE BARK by Tommi Kinnunen
  TREATMENT  by Hanna-Riikka Kuisma
• Non-Fiction:
  SANNA MARIN: FINLAND’S YOUNG PRIME MINISTER by Salla Vuorikoski
  THE DIGITAL SPELL by Perttu Pölönen
• Children & YA:
  THE SECRET STAIRCASE by Salla Simukka and JP Ahonen

   

Our Award Winners:

 

• INHERITED LAND by Maria Turtschaninoff wins the Eeva Joenpelto Award
• THE HORNED GOD by Magdalena Hai wins the Laivakello Prize
• THE WOMEN I THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT by Mia Kankimäki wins Tallinn’s TV Beats Series Co-Production Development Award
• A SHORT HISTORY OF ETERNAL LIFE by Tiina Raevaara wins Nonfiction Jury Award

 

• A DISOBEDIENT GIRL by Sara Al Husaini wins the Young Aleksis Award
• DAUGHTER OF TWO BLOODS by S. K. Rostedt wins Best (fiction) Book of the Year Award
• Arttu Tuominen voted top crime author by the Finnish Whodunnit Society

Our Award Nominees:

   

• INHERITED LAND by Maria Turtschaninoff nominated for the European Literature Prize
• THE MOONDAY LETTERS by Emmi Itäranta longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award
• FOLLOW THE BUTTERFLY by Martta Kaukonen nominated for the Glass Key Award and the Viktor Crime Award
• PINE BARK by Tommi Kinnunen wins Readers’ Favorite Finlandia Award and nominated for the Botnia Literature Prize
• Author Max Seeck nominated for the Glass Knife Award
• NARAKA by Elina Pitkäkangas nominated for Topelius Award
• ØRJA by Riikka Sandberg nominated for Young Aleksis Award
• COUNT SILENTLY TO TEN by Laura Lähteenmäki nominated for Nordic Council Prize
• THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST by Aki Ollikainen nominated for Eeva Joenpelto Award
• THE INVISIBLES by Sanna Isto nominated for Young Aleksis Award
• Five of our authors nominated for the Adlibris Award, winners to be announced in February 2025: 

                                   

Other highlights

• Max Seeck was listed on Vogue’s “19 best Nordic noir of all time”
• Ahlback Agency celebrated its 15th anniversary with Editors’ Week in June
• Ahlback Agency now represents also the best of Finnish screenwriting talent