more than one million copies sold worldwide.) And 2009 was also the year the country’s first international literary agency, the Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency, opened its doors, and Finland signed an agreement with the world’s most important book and media fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, to be the Guest of Honour country in 2014. “Frankfurt is an absolutely unparalleled opportunity,” says Iris Schwanck, director of FILI, the Finnish Literature Exchange, which supports the publication and promotion of literature abroad and leads the Frankfurt effort. Close to 175,000 book professionals from around the globe will attend the annual October fair and 89 per cent of those have the right to buy and sell rights – which is where potential growth lies for a small country such as Finland with its population of 5.4 million people. Iceland, the Guest of Honour country in 2011,
OF GRANTA’S BEST YOUNG FINNISH NOVELISTS
under 40 top Finnish writers TWENTY OF the nguage a special English-la will be published in n of the itio ed land, the Finnish issue of Granta Fin furt nk Fra e th r magazine fo prestigious literary anta, Gr d rea ers ak -m decision Bookfair. “Literar y of gree in this means a de so being included e big future th are e es Th d. ee nt attention is guara y them and bu , em Believe in th names of Finn Lit: commuLiisa Riekki, Otava’s follow them,” says itor is Granta Finland’s ed nications director. Aleksi Pöyry. GR ANTA .COM
is still reaping the benefits from the international exposure that it received in increased book sales and a continuing interest in Icelandic culture. This October it’s Finland’s turn in the limelight. “The world media will be focussing on Finland during the Fair,” says Liisa Riekki, leading book publisher Otava’s communications director. DRAFTING SUCCESS Like the carefully cultivated environment for growing vines to produce the best grapes for the finest wines, the conditions for taking Finnish literature abroad have been primed for a long time. Schwanck, the grande dame of Finnish Literature, has championed the export of Finnish culture for close to four decades. “Ever since we signed the Frankfurt Book Fair deal five years ago, our goal has been the breakthrough of Finnish literature, not just in Germany but internationally,” says Schwanck. “We thought if we could sell rights to 100 titles to the German market this year – the average is 20 or 30 annually – that would be great. However, according to the most recent figures, we’ve already sold 130 titles as of June.” The potential for rapid growth is also recognised by the Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency. “My target is to tenfold the export of Finnish literature within five to ten years,” says literary agent Elina Ahlbäck, whose powerhouse of top authors includes a new generation of young female writers who are landing significant international deals. One of them is Emmi Itäranta, 38, whose recently released debut novel Memory of Water is a dystopian page-turner set in a futuristic Lapland, where China rules Scandinavia and water is a scarce commodity. Young Noria dreams of becoming a tea master like her father, but an authoritarian regime and a dangerous family secret threaten her future. Memory of Water has received rave reviews including a starred one from Publishers’ Weekly, nicknamed the “bible of the book biz.” Published in the US by Harper Voyager (part of HarperCollins, one of the world’s top English-language publishers), Memory of Water was given a first print run of 50,000 copies – high for a first-time Finnish author. THE BACKSTORY “I always look for something totally unique with international potential, whether it’s the characters, atmosphere or setting. And I saw that immediately in Emmi’s book, which was written in both Finnish
24 BLUE WINGS
SEPTEMBER 2014