Fantasy & S/F

Emmi Itäranta’s brilliant third novel THE MOONDAY LETTERS published today

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Emmi Itäranta is one of the most internationally successful contemporary Finnish authors. Her first novel MEMORY OF WATER is published in 23 territories, and filming of the movie has begun this fall.

The Moonday Letters by award-winning author Emmi Itäranta, focuses on big themes. It is dedicated to all those who have lost their homes. Itäranta worked on The Moonday Letters for three and a half years while the world went through increasing turmoil. The climate crisis grew more urgent, authoritarianism and populism gained more ground in world politics. The novel did not strive to directly reflect these issues, but they could not help but filter into the fictional reality of the book.
Emmi Itäranta tells about the writing process:

“Years ago my editor cleverly planted the idea in my mind that there were not many space operas by Finnish authors, and that it might be interesting to see some. The thought began to take root. In January 2017 the first image of the story emerged in my imagination: a woman is sitting in a coffee shop on the Moon, watching Earth from there and thinking that she can never return to her home planet. The image spoke to me not only of a future world, but also of loss and longing for home. The book grew around these themes.”   “And on top of it all I completed the book in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“As I was putting the finishing touches on the book, the parallels with the current reality took even me by surprise.” Itäranta, who lives in the United Kingdom and is currently visiting Finland, says The Moonday Letters portrays first and foremost the grief of losing Earth, the only home of the human species, as it was.

“I believe we are already living in the middle of this grief in relation to the loss of biodiversity and the climate crisis that we see all around us. I also believe it is possible and meaningful to process these feelings of loss through fiction.”

 

About author


Emmi Itäranta

Emmi Itäranta (b.1976) holds two MA degrees, one in Drama and another in Creative Writing. Her award-winning debut novel Memory of Water (Teemestarin kirja) was published in Finland in 2012 to great accolades, followed by The Weaver (Kudottujen kujien kaupunki) in 2015, and The Moonday Letters (Kuunpäivän kirjeet) in September 2020. Her new title Snowsinger (Lumenlaulaja) was published in 2025.

Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin. Her honours include the Young Aleksis Kivi Prize 2013, the Kalevi Jäntti Literary Prize 2012 and first place in the Teos Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Contest 2011.

Memory of Water has sold to over 25 languages to date, and it has also been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014, and the Golden Tentacle award. In addition, Itäranta has been included on the Honor List of the Otherwise Award (formerly James Tiptree, Jr. Award).

Itäranta’s CV is an eclectic mix of writing-related activities, including stints as a columnist, theatre critic, press officer and dramaturge. Her poems, short stories, articles and essays have appeared in anthologies, film magazines and science fiction magazines in the UK and Finland. She now lives in Finland after 14 years in the United Kingdom.

Photo credit: Liisa Takala

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Bibliography


2025, Literary Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Snowsinger

Emmi Itäranta


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Moonday Letters

Emmi Itäranta


2015, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Weaver

Emmi Itäranta


2012, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Memory of Water

Emmi Itäranta

Related news

2020 Fiction Fall Rights Guide is published!

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We are proud to announce that our 2020 Fall Rights Guide is published, and this time it is completely digital.

What’s new: Author videos! 360 views on books
Browse different categories from the top menu, see 360 degree views of the titles and enjoy video clips from our authors. Ask for materials by only clicking a button.

Browse the fiction list here

We are super excited about our list! Below we have introduced our brand-new fiction titles. Take a look and get in touch to register your interest and request English materials!

WHEN THE KING DIES by Elina Backman

Beginning of a new detective series – already an international hit!

  • Rights sold to 8 countries and counting.
  • Immediate bestseller in Finland! Amazing reviews!
  • International TV series in development!

Saana is a former click-bait journalist who spends a summer in a quiet town of Hartola. But when she begins to dig into a case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, the peace of the small town is shaken. Meanwhile in Helsinki a crime investigator Jan Leino is solving a murder at King’s Gate at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

 

Rights sold in 2-book-deals:  FINLAND: Otava (orig.), CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada (Book 1), ESTONIA: Varrak, GERMANY: Piper Verlag, LITHUANIA: BALTO (Book1), NETHERLANDS: De Bezige Bij/Cargo, NORWAY: Cappelen Damm, SWEDEN: Bokfabriken, FILM & TV RIGHTS: tba

Book 2 coming in Summer 2021.

Reading materials: English sample & synopis – click here to request them

Author bio:
Elina Backman, is a media & marketing professional living in Helsinki, in an old wooden 1920 house with a family of 2 kids and a husband. Elina loves books (all sorts), travelling, cycling and is a host of a Book & Wine Club.

IRRATIONAL THINGS by Saara Turunen

Autofictive story of love, death and life between two countries. Turunen’s funny, witty and melancholic voice examines the contradiction of sense and sensibility.

The narrator travels to Barcelona to study theatre. After a few weeks she falls in love with a local man. Thus begins an intensive relationship that tears her between two countries and two cultures. She learns that relationships are between two individuals who have their own ways of expressing love to others and to themselves.

Click here to watch the author video

Reading materials: English sample available in September

Author bio: 
Saara Turunen is an internationally acclaimed award-winning author, playwright and director. She is known for her bold and direct style and much of her work examines the themes of identity and social norms.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORD by Emmi Pesonen

Warm, humorous and beautiful debut novel from the point of view of a stepmother. Patchwork family life, and new beginnings.

  • Feature film in development by Aurora Studios

Amanda’s life is revolutionized when Onni curves into her life with a yellow minibus, four children riding along. She has been living an extended youth and cared mainly for her house plants and herself until she met Onni and his kids. Happiness, the laundry pile and the dish mountains grow in their new home. Everything is always lost, and the house is permanently messy, but Amanda firmly believes that love conquers all obstacles. But when Onni’s behavior starts to get weirder, she has to decide if love truly fixes everything.

Click here to watch the author video

Reading materials: English sample and synopsis available in September

Author bio:
Emmi Pesonen is a Helsinki-based writer, screenwriter and actress. She graduated in 2001 as a Master of Theater Arts and has worked as an actor in several in theaters, movies, and TV series. Pesonen is bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) and she has translated and dramatized Swedish-language plays.

THE OTHERS OF US by Mooses Mentula

Meet Jack Kerouc, Charles Bukowski, Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen!

To escape the demands and responsibilities, Tino fetches a jar from the closet, digs out a pill, sets it on the back of his tongue, and accelerates the medicine’s journey to his stomach with some coffee.  He sinks into images of lives that are experienced elsewhere, at different times, through the eyes of other people. He suddenly finds himself writing only stories – and not just stories of the world outside, but he is also writing his own life into a story which events he is no longer able to control.

Click here to watch the author video

Rights sold: GERMANY: Weidle Verlag

Reading materials: English sample & synopsis – click here to request materials

Author bio:
Mooses Mentula works as a teacher, but writing is his passion. He strives for intelligence and challenge and aims for a simple surface. Most importantly, all of his books contain hope and warmth. The Others of Us is Mentula’s third novel and some of his works have been translated in German.

About author


Elina Backman

Elina Backman is an author and a media & marketing professional living in Helsinki. Elina loves books (all sorts), traveling, cycling and is a host of a Book & Wine Club. She is a creative soul with a commercial mind, and her goal is to find readers globally.

Her debut novel All the King's Men was published in 2020 and immediately gained an enormous amount of attention from the Finnish media, including a praising review by the biggest daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The Saana Havas series is now a best-selling series in Finland and an international TV series is in development. Elina's books have sold over 190 000 copies in Finland.

Together with Heidi Holmavuo, Elina has also narrated the true crime podcast Ratkaisematon (Unsolved), which turned into a full-length audio book as the two crime writers started investigating the murder of a young girl in 1955. They were able to uncover new evidence and their research led the police to reopen the investigation. This story is narrated in the book Unsolved - The Case of Elli Immo.

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen

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About author


Emmi Pesonen

Emmi Pesonen (1977) is a Helsinki-based writer, screenwriter and actress. She graduated in 2001 as a Master of Theater Arts and has worked as an actor in several in theaters, movies, and TV series. Pesonen is bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) and she has translated and dramatized Swedish-language plays. She is also the screenwriter of a movie The Violin Player (Violinist, Mjölk Movies), which premiered in Finland in 2018, and has toured successfully at more than 20 film festivals around the world (including Gothenburg, Moscow, Singapore, Kaliningrad). The film deals with power structures in the art world, passion and giving up.  The Most Beautiful Word (Otava, August 2020) is Pesonen’s debut novel. The book tells a story of a patchwork family from the point of view of the new step-mother. It’s a story of endless love, irreversible decision and learning new things. The movie rights have been optioned by Aurora Studios and a film is currently being developed.

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