Happy New Year! We are back from the holidays, ready for 2018, and glad to share news about our latest deals, this time on the non-fiction front.
As Katja Pantzar puts the finishing touches to her part-memoir, part-guidance Finding Sisu, due to be published in original English in March 2018, new deals have been struck for the book. Jaffa Kiadó and Hojosha acquired the Hungarian and Japanese language rights respectively, which ring in the 13th and 14th deals for the book.
“A book filled with the tips to live an open-minded and joyful life. What’s more, they are all easy and amazingly economical! I’d like to recommend this book to Japanese people who are used to spending money on interior activities, so that they’ll remember the vastness of the sky and how comfortable it is to be outside. Perhaps the onsen (hot spring) -loving Japanese folks might even feel like to jump into cold water after reading this book!?” said Japanese Hojosha on acquisition.
Also, a new book answering to the growing demand for children’s non-fiction, What Is the Night?, written by Laura Ertimo and illustrated by Satu Kontinen, has been sold to the prestigious CITIC Press in China. Over four, beautifully illustrated chapters What is the Night? spins a captivating tale of true facts interspersed with myths and legends: a bedtime book for knowledge-hungry kids and a literary tonic for insomniacs or those afraid of the dark.
Additionally, new foreign editions of our non-fiction titles have been published around the world. The Tove Jansson biography Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen has been published in Russian, The Sauna Cookbook by Katariina Vuori, Janne Pekkala and Vesa Ranta in Hungarian, and The Charm of Ice – a book on figure skating by Leena Lehtolainen, Kaisa Viitanen and Elina Paasonen – in Japanese.
Let us know if you’d like to receive English language materials for any of these titles by clicking here.
FINDING SISU rights sold:
CHINA, Yeeyan Publishing
CZECH REP., Mladá Fronta
FINLAND, Siltala
FRANCE, Belfond
GERMANY, Bastei Lübbe
HUNGARY, Jaffa Kiado
ITALY, Marsilio/Sonzogno
JAPAN, Hojosha
NETHERLANDS, Kosmos
POLAND, WUJ
RUSSIA, AST
SPAIN, Roca Editorial (WS)
UK, Hodder/Hachette (WE) (orig. publisher)
US, Tarcher Perigee/Penguin Random House
WHAT IS THE NIGHT? rights sold:
CHINA, CITIC Press
FINLAND, Myllylahti (orig. publisher)
TOVE JANSSON: WORK AND LOVE rights sold:
CHINA, Shanghai Cai Qin Ren Culture Diffusion
ESTONIA, Varrak
FINLAND, Schildts & Söderströms (Swedish)
FINLAND, Tammi (orig. publisher)
GERMANY, Urachhaus
JAPAN, Kawade Shobo Shinsha
NORWAY, Heinesen
RUSSIA, AST
SWEDEN, Norstedts
WORLD ENGLISH, Penguin
THE SAUNA COOKBOOK rights sold:
ESTONIA, Pegasus
FINLAND, Tammi (orig. publisher)
GERMANY, btb Luchterhand
HUNGARY, Corvina Kiadó
THE CHARM OF ICE rights sold:
FINLAND, Tammi (orig. publisher)
JAPAN, Sunmark
About author
Katja Pantzar
Katja Pantzar – Katja Pantzar is a Helsinki-based writer and journalist who swims in the Baltic Sea year round. Raised in Canada, with stints in New Zealand and England, she is the author of The Finnish Way (Penguin Random House/2018), a bestselling non-fiction book about Nordic well-being, winter swimming and sisu (resilience) that has been translated into 24 languages. Her second book on sisu, Everyday Sisu:Tapping into Finnish Fortitude for a Happier, More Resilient Life (Penguin Random House/2022) explores through expert interviews and research-based information how we can better support our mental and physical health while taking care of each other and our planet. Everyday Sisu has also been published in Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian. Pantzar’s work has been widely covered around the world in media ranging from Le Figaro, Le Monde, and El Paísto Vogue the Washington Post and the New York Review of Books. . She is also the author of three mini-guides to the Finnish capital, including 100 things to do in Helsinki (Siltala/2024).
Laura Ertimo is a geographer and author. She has previously worked in publishing of geography-related non-fiction and maps, and now she writes full time, specializing in children’s non-fiction. A recurring theme in her work is the holistic worldview, the interaction between phenomena, people and nature.
In 2020, she received the prestigious Tietopöllö Award for her work as a Non-Fiction writer. Her children's title WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu, was nominated for the 2021 Finlandia Award and has also won the Tieto-Lauri award!
Leena Lehtolainen is the top female crime author in Finland: her new titles always head straight to #1 on the Finnish bestseller lists.
Lehtolainen created her successful protagonist, detective Maria Kallio, in 1993. Having already featured in 16 novels and a complete TV series, a new Maria Kallio TV reboot series was launched in Fall 2021 on C More. Lehtolainen’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
And just like the events in Bodyguard, a that takes the heroine Hilja Ilveskero all around Europe, Lehtolainen’s own work takes her to book festivals, exhibitions and other events across the globe.
Leena Lehtolainen has also published outside the crime genre; her book The Charm of Figure Skating was voted sports book of the year 2010 in Finland, and A Life in Six Scenes showed her return to literary fiction.
The Crossing of the Green Dragon is her first title for YA audiences.
In her free time, Lehtolainen enjoys all kinds of music and follows lynx trails in the forests – just like Maria Kallio.
Satu Kontinen is a graphic designer and illustrator obsessed with flowers. She is known for her detailed ink works as well as creating quirky creatures and imaginary worlds that spark the imagination of kids and adults alike. She has been awarded for designing and illustrating one of the most beautiful books/book covers in Finland (_Vuoden kaunein kirja_ by the Finnish Book Art Committee) in 2008, 2015, 2016 and in 2018. In 2004 she was nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize and in 2017 she was one of the top 10 finalists in the prestigious Rudolf Koivu illustration awards. In 2020 she was given a Merit Award in the Three x Three International Illustration Awards.
In her free time Satu enjoys designing floral fabrics and writing children's and YA fiction in secrecy. Maybe some day she will show them to a publisher.
Dr. Tuula Karjalainen is a Finnish art historian and non-fiction writer who has previously worked as a director of the Helsinki Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki. As the author of Tove Jansson’s biography, Tuula Karjalainen has become an expert not only on Jansson’s works but also on her several decades of personal correspondence and journals.
Loukko by 
