Miika Nousiainen

Feel-Good Fiction from Finland!

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Feel-Good is here to stay!
Did you know that Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the World for three consecutive years? One of the reasons for this might be the Finns’ knack for Feel-Good literature!

Although the fall weather is rough, we are glad to have some fuzzy titles to keep us positive! Find the funniest, happiest titles with the best atmosphere for your publishing house below.

 
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.

  • Debut novel by acclaimed screenwriter and actress
  • Feature film in development by Aurora Studios

Amanda’s life is revolutionized when Onni curves into her life with a yellow minibus, chaos and four children riding along. She has been living an extended youth and cared mainly for her house plants until she met Onni and his kids. Happiness, the laundry pile and the dish mountains grow in their new home.

When Onni’s behavior starts to get weirder, she has to decide if love truly fixes everything.

Ask for the English sample for The Most Beautiful Word by clicking here.

 
FACELIFT by Miika Nousiainen

  • Newest title, sold already to Germany and Estonia!

Sami’s biological clock has been ticking for the past 15 years so loudly that sometimes it’s hard to hear his own thoughts.

But when his latest future-mother-candidate rides off with a biker guy, he makes a series of bad choices that cause him to anger the local motorcycle gang. How to fix a life where everything seems to go wrong? Sanni, a wellbeing blogger with perfectly instagrammable life arrives to offer a solution.

Ask for the English sample for Facelift by clicking here.

 
ROOTS by Miika Nousianen

Onni Kirnuvaara left to get groceries when his son was just a child – and never returned.
Years later, during a root canal treatment, the son finds out that he has a dentist brother, left behind as a child just like him.

The brothers embark on a journey to find out the truth about their father. After many detours, they find themselves in the Australian outback.

On their way to Darwin, secrets are revealed, new family members are found, and lengths of dental floss are needed. Digging to the roots hurts, but under the Southern Cross the ache starts to ease.

Ask for the English sample and synopsis for Roots by clicking here.

 
CHARLOTTA by Sara Medberg

Strict class hierarchy and fabulous silk ruffles rule in 19th-century Turku, Finland, where seamstress Charlotta is looking for her own Mr. Darcy.

Can an ordinary lady’s maid have it all: a meaningful life and the man of her dreams?

Ask for the English sample for Charlotta by clicking here.

 
HOPE NEVER DIES by Minna Lindgren

Marja Vehmarvarsi is a 62-year-old teacher, on the verge of retirement.

Marja’s parents Aina and Toivo are almost 100 years old, but nevertheless passionate YouTubers, whose goal is to save the Finnish school system – whatever it takes.

Marja’s popularity among the students grows as her parents’ radical plans spread over the internet.

Ask for the English sample and synopsis for Hope Never DIes by clicking here.

 
ANGRY WIDOW by Minna Lindgren

74-year-old Ulla has cared for her mean and slightly alcoholic paralyzed husband for the last 12 years.

At his funeral, all she can think is: finally! She reconnects with old friends and starts living every day as if it were her last.

The Angry Widow is an amusing and entertaining story about what it means to be seventy in a world where everyone over 65 ticks the same age box in a survey.

Ask for the English sample and synopsis for Angry Widow by clicking here.

 
SUNSET GROVE TRILOGY by Minna Lindgren

1st book:
Death in Sunset Grove is a devilishly funny and suspenseful story about old age, friendship and life in a relatively ordinary retirement home. Here the only fate worse than death is being drugged up and locked away inside the dementia ward. Even the sharpest senior can’t decipher all the nuances of this place; thankfully a few young people, including members of the biker gang and a grandchild’s boyfriend, offer some help.
2nd book: Residents Siiri, Irma and Anna-Liisa, all older than 90, decide to move from the retirement home into a shared apartment in the exotic neighbourhood of Hakaniemi

3rd book: The final part of the trilogy marks a return to the retirement community. But the place no longer feels like home, and has turned into a state-funded, technology-driven pilot project in elderly care. The conclusion brings together characters lost along the way, and murky details are brought to light. Legal justice is also served – in unexpected ways. A natural, long-awaited death finally collects some, but still not all, of our main characters.

Ask for the full English pdfs for Sunset Grove trilogy by clicking here.

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.

Read more

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen / Otava 2020

Read more

About author


Minna Lindgren

Minna Lindgren (b. 1963) is a freelance journalist and columnist known for her whimsical writing style and fearless approach to topics as strange as opera and death. In addition to novels, she has authored nonfiction books on classical music. In 2009, Lindgren won the Bonnier Journalism Prize for her article entitled “Father’s Death” (“Isän kuolema”).

Lindgren is best known for the Sunset Grove trilogy, which has been sold to 18 territories, and the final part, The End of Sunset Grove, was nominated for the International Dublin Literature Award in 2019. She has also written four standalone novels and a non-fiction book about the history of opera.

Minna Lindgren’s books have been critical and commercial successes, in Finland and internationally.

Read more Author's page

About author


Sara Medberg

Sara Medberg is a historian, who has just finished her doctoral dissertation about the education of highborn girls in the 18th century. The ideas for her novels come from her research. In her thesis she studies young womens' conduct manuals in Sweden in the 18th century from the perspective of the modernising ideals for women and the upbringing of girls.

Sara has received academic scholarships from the Swedish Cultural Foundation, Waldemar von Frenckell's Foundation and the Swedish Literature Society. Including others, her literary work is sponsored by the Finnish Author Association and Otava's Book Foundation.

Medberg enjoys costume dramas, fashion from the past, castles, mansions, shopping and running. Her novels have sold over 100,000 copies across all territories.

Read more

Two new deals for Miika Nousiainen!

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We are more than excited to announce that Eesti Raamat from Estonia has pre-empted 2 titles of Miika Nousiainen: FACELIFT (2020) and ROOTS (2016).
The first title  – ROOTS  – will most likely be published already in 2021 and FACELIFT will follow.

FACELIFT
by Miika Nousiainen

Sami has a dream: he desperately wants to be a father. His biological clock has been ticking for the past 15 years so loudly that sometimes it’s hard to hear his own thoughts. But it’s not so easy to become a father, first of all, you need to find a suitable future mother candidate.

But when Sami’s latest future-mother-candidate rides off with a biker guy, he makes a series of bad choices that cause him to anger the local motorcycle gang. How to fix a life where everything seems to go wrong? Sini, a wellbeing blogger with perfectly instagrammable life arrives to offer a solution.

”Nousiainen comes to grips with profound topics, managing them with an ease and wits that keeps readers hooked from the page one. In “Facelift”
the modern superficiality gets pointed out in the most entertaining manner.”
– Reet Trummal, editor, Eesti Raamat, Estonia

Ask for English materials for FACELIFT by clicking here

ROOTS 
by Miika Nousiainen

Onni Kirnuvaara left to get groceries when his son was just a child – and never returned. The father was never mentioned again. Years later, during a root canal treatment, the son finds out that in addition to his bad dental karma he has a dentist brother, left behind as a child just like him.

The brothers embark on a journey to find out the truth about their father. After many detours they find themselves in the Australian outback. Lousy fathers are fathers too, after all.

”Nousiainen´s novel about the laws of life is truly enjoyable: both amusing and thought-provoking, sharp and warm. Life has its own unique ways to make us face the problems that are not necessarily the most comfortable to face. With or without anesthesia – one simply cannot bypass his roots!”
– Reet Trummal, editor, Eesti Raamat, Estonia

Ask for English materials for ROOTS by clicking here

Rights sold: ROOTS

FINLAND, Otava (Original publisher)

CZECH REPUBLIC, XYZ
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
HUNGARY, Kossuth
ITALY, Iperborea
LITHUANIA, Alma Littera
NETHERLANDS, Prometheus
SWEDEN, Brombergs

 

Rights sold: FACELIFT

FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY: Kein & Aber

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen / Otava 2020

Read more

Bibliography


2024, Commercial/Upmarket, Humor

Push, Pace, Position, Pray

Miika Nousiainen


2020, Commercial/Upmarket, Humor

Facelift

Miika Nousiainen


2016, Humor

Roots

Miika Nousiainen


2007, Humor

Raspberry Boat Refugee

Miika Nousiainen

Related news

Finest Feel-good Fiction from Finland!

Posted on

The summer is coming with feel-good titles!
It is already the middle of May and we have some excellent feel-good titles to match with the sunny weather!
Find the funniest, happiest titles with the best atmosphere for your publishing house below.
CHARLOTTA by Sara Medberg

Strict class hierarchy and fabulous silk ruffles rule in 19th-century Turku, where seamstress Charlotta is looking for her own Mr. Darcy.
When baron Ridderlöw of Starfire Manor hires seamstress Charlotta Silke as a lady’s maid for her sister, their lives change for good.Charlotta gets her hands on Jane Austen’s newly published Pride and Prejudice and it alters the way she sees her role as a woman. But the book’s ideas of modern love, marriage and early feminism are put to the test as the bitter war-torn baron Ridderlöw becomes romantically interested in Charlotta. Can an ordinary lady’s maid have it all: a meaningful life and the man of her dreams?

Ask for the English sample for Charlotta by clicking here.

 
FACELIFT by Miika Nousiainen

Sami has a dream: he desperately wants to be a father. His biological clock has been ticking for the past 15 years so loudly that sometimes it’s hard to hear his own thoughts. But it’s not so easy to become a father, first of all, you need to find a suitable future mother candidate.But when Sami’s latest future-mother-candidate rides off with a biker guy, he makes a series of bad choices that cause him to anger the local motorcycle gang. How to fix a life where everything seems to go wrong? Sanni, a wellbeing blogger with perfectly instagrammable life arrives to offer a solution.

Ask for the English sample for Facelift by clicking here.

 
HOPE NEVER DIES by Minna Lindgren

Marja Vehmarvarsi is a 62-year-old teacher, on the verge of retirement. The schools in Finland have been privatized at a brisk pace, and in order to get any work hours Marja has to come up with new learning games for phenomenon-based learning curriculum, and organize weekly meetings for cross-subject synergies.

Marja’s parents Aina and Toivo are almost 100 years old, but nevertheless passionate YouTubers, whose goal is to save the Finnish school system – whatever it takes. Marja’s popularity among the students grows as her parents’ radical plans spread over the internet.

Ask for the English synopsis for Hope Never DIes by clicking here.

 
ANGRY WIDOW by Minna Lindgren

For the past 12 years, 74-year-old Ulla has cared for her paralyzed husband, a mean and slightly alcoholic man. At his funeral, all she can think is: finally! She reconnects with old friends and starts living every day as if it were her last. Her adult children try to stop her newfound debauchery in many ways – but the biggest change comes along in the guise of an older gentleman.

The Angry Widow is an amusing and entertaining story about how friendships and love affairs change when you grow old. With warmth and sarcasm Lindgren examines the questions of what it means to be seventy in a world where everyone over 65 ticks the same age box in a survey.

Ask for the English sample and synopsis for Angry Widow by clicking here.
SUNSET GROVE TRILOGY by Minna Lindgren

1st book: Who could imagine that anything illegal – whether it be suspicious deaths, thefts or the covert trading of medications – could happen in Sunset Grove retirement home? Its 90-year-old residents Siiri and Irma certainly can’t.
Death in Sunset Grove is a devilishly funny and suspenseful story about old age, friendship and life in a relatively ordinary retirement home. Here the only fate worse than death is being drugged up and locked away inside the dementia ward. Even the sharpest senior can’t decipher all the nuances of this place; thankfully a few young people, including members of the biker gang and a grandchild’s boyfriend, offer some help.
2nd book: Residents Siiri, Irma and Anna-Liisa, all older than 90, decide to move from the retirement home into a shared apartment in the exotic neighbourhood of Hakaniemi
3rd book: The final part of the trilogy marks a return to the retirement community. But the place no longer feels like home, and has turned into a state-funded, technology-driven pilot project in elderly care. The conclusion brings together characters lost along the way, and murky details are brought to light. Legal justice is also served – in unexpected ways. A natural, long-awaited death finally collects some, but still not all, of our main characters.

Ask for the full English pdfs for Sunset Grove trilogy by clicking here.
ROOTS by Miika Nousianen

Onni Kirnuvaara left to get groceries when his son was just a child – and never returned. The father was never mentioned again. Years later, during a root canal treatment, the son finds out that in addition to his bad dental karma he has a dentist brother, left behind as a child just like him.

The brothers embark on a journey to find out the truth about their father. After many detours they find themselves in the Australian outback. Lousy fathers are fathers too, after all.

On their way to Darwin, secrets are revealed, new family members are found, and lengths of dental floss are needed. Digging to the roots hurts, but under the Southern Cross the ache starts to ease.

Ask for the English sample and synopsis for Roots by clicking here.

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen / Otava 2020

Read more

About author


Minna Lindgren

Minna Lindgren (b. 1963) is a freelance journalist and columnist known for her whimsical writing style and fearless approach to topics as strange as opera and death. In addition to novels, she has authored nonfiction books on classical music. In 2009, Lindgren won the Bonnier Journalism Prize for her article entitled “Father’s Death” (“Isän kuolema”).

Lindgren is best known for the Sunset Grove trilogy, which has been sold to 18 territories, and the final part, The End of Sunset Grove, was nominated for the International Dublin Literature Award in 2019. She has also written four standalone novels and a non-fiction book about the history of opera.

Minna Lindgren’s books have been critical and commercial successes, in Finland and internationally.

Read more Author's page

About author


Sara Medberg

Sara Medberg is a historian, who has just finished her doctoral dissertation about the education of highborn girls in the 18th century. The ideas for her novels come from her research. In her thesis she studies young womens' conduct manuals in Sweden in the 18th century from the perspective of the modernising ideals for women and the upbringing of girls.

Sara has received academic scholarships from the Swedish Cultural Foundation, Waldemar von Frenckell's Foundation and the Swedish Literature Society. Including others, her literary work is sponsored by the Finnish Author Association and Otava's Book Foundation.

Medberg enjoys costume dramas, fashion from the past, castles, mansions, shopping and running. Her novels have sold over 100,000 copies across all territories.

Read more

January fiction deals: Memory of Water and Raspberry Boat Refugee

Posted on

With the beginning of the new year, we’d like to extend our thanks to our cooperation partners of 2017, and we look forward to new, exciting projects in 2018.

Grants & book fairs
FILI’s grant application round for translation of Finnish titleshas begun, and the deadline for the applications is February 1st 2018. Read more on FILI’s website.

We are attending both London and Bologna Book Fairs, and scheduling meetings now. For meeting requests please contact: info@ahlbackagency.com.

Fiction deals
Among the newest fiction deals we have a German deal for Raspberry Boat Refugee by Miika Nousiainen, whose 2016 novel Roots has been a runaway success in Germany, now in its 4th hardback printing. The Swiss publisher Nagel & Kimchewas glad about the acquisition of the 2007 novel, previously sold to Sweden and made into a movie in 2014:

”A Finn desperately wanting to be a Swede and walking over dead bodies for it? Doesn’t sound like an international issue. But read the first pages of this novel and you just don’t want to stop. Nousiainen: that stands for esprit, wit, ideas, clever entertainment. This author is definitely my personal discovery of last year – and hopefully more years to come,“ said Dirk Vaihinger, publisher of Nagel & Kimche, Zürich.

On the other side of the world, Emmi Itäranta’s Memory of Water has charmed yet another publisher. Sichuan People’s Publishing House acquired the simplified Chinese rights to Itäranta’s 2012 debut, which has been previously sold in 21 territories; also an English-language film is in the progress.

If you’re interested, please request reading materials by clicking here!

RASPBERRY BOAT REFUGEE rights sold:
FINLAND, Otava (Orig. publisher)
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
SWEDEN, Brombergs

ROOTS rights sold:
FINLAND, Otava (Orig. publisher)
CZECH REPUBLIC, XYZ
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
HUNGARY, Kossuth
ITALY, Iperborea
LITHUANIA, Alma Littera
NETHERLANDS, Prometheus
SWEDEN, Brombergs

MEMORY OF WATER rights sold:
FINLAND, Teos (Orig. publisher)
ARABIC, Dar Al Muna
BRAZIL, Record
BULGARIA, Perseus
CHINA, Sichuan People’s Publishing House
CZECH REPUBLIC, Albatros Media/Plus
DENMARK, Turbine
ESTONIA, Koolibri
FRANCE, Place des Editeurs
GEORGIA, Palitra L Publishing
GERMANY, DTV/Reihe Hanser
HUNGARY, Metropolis Media
ITALY, Piemme
JAPAN, Nishimura Shoten
KOREA, The Book in My Life
LATVIA, Janis Roze
LITHUANIA, Nieko Rimto
NORWAY, Gresvik Forlag
RUSSIA, Text Publishers
SPAIN, Ediciones B.
SWEDEN, Modernista
TURKEY, Dogan Egmont
WORLD ENGLISH, HarperCollins
FILM RIGHTS, Bufo

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

Read more Author's page

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen / Otava 2020

Read more

Roots rights and reviews

Posted on

We hope that some of Miika Nousiainen’s bestseller success in Finland with the recently-published paperback edition of Roots (Juurihoito) – debuting at #1 and currently still dominating the top of the Finnish bestseller list – will rub off on the forthcoming German paperback edition, which an esteemed paperback publisher snapped up in a sub-rights deal with Nagel & Kimche for publication in 2019.

Miika has been busy promoting his book, including a recent trip to Gothenburg Book Fair in September, where he participated in readings and discussions about his work. Here are some recent review highlights from the press and book bloggers all around Europe:

”Roots is a particularly amusing novel with a high feel-good content.” – Hebban.nl website, the Netherlands

“An amusing family story you read with a smile.” – Tsum literary blog, the Netherlands

“A cock-and-bull story that touches difficult questions.” – Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden

“Cool page-turner about men in crisis.” – Upsala Nya Tidning, Sweden

“Recommended for anyone who has teeth and a dentist to say thanks to.” – Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

“The novel is hilarious and melancholic at the same time.” – Freie Presse, Germany

 

Rights sold:
FINLAND, Otava (Original publisher)
CZECH REPUBLIC, XYZ
GERMANY, Nagel & Kimche
HUNGARY, Kossuth
ITALY, Iperborea
LITHUANIA, Alma Littera
NETHERLANDS, Prometheus
SWEDEN, Brombergs

About author


Miika Nousiainen

Miika Nousiainen (b. 1973 in Säynätsalo) has worked as a news and current affairs journalist for MTV3's news department. In addition, he has written for several popular TV-shows.

Nousiainen’s debut novel, Raspberry Boat Refugee (2007), tells the story of Mikko Virtanen, a man who desperately wants to become Swedish at any cost. In this tragicomic work, Nousiainen makes sharp observations about our western neighbor and illustrates that we’re all self-proclaimed experts on Sweden.

Roots (2016) follows the search for a missing father, taking readers across continents from Lieksa, Finland, to Australia. The book was also well-received internationally.

In Facelift (2020), Nousiainen gently explores themes of family and the longing for connection.

In addition, he has written The Danger of the Long Distance Runner (2009) and Forrest Giant (2011).

Nousiainen's novels have been adapted countless times and translated into languages such as Swedish, German, Dutch, Italian, and Estonian.

Miika Nousiainen have been awarded with: Laila Hirvisaari Foundation Grant (2008), Kalevi Jäntti Prize (2009) and Honorable Mention in the Sports Museum Foundation’s Sports Book of the Year Competition (2010)

Photo credit: Jonne Räsänen / Otava 2020

Read more

Bibliography


2024, Commercial/Upmarket, Humor

Push, Pace, Position, Pray

Miika Nousiainen


2020, Commercial/Upmarket, Humor

Facelift

Miika Nousiainen


2016, Humor

Roots

Miika Nousiainen


2007, Humor

Raspberry Boat Refugee

Miika Nousiainen

Related news

October deals & reviews round-up: The Guardian Angel and The Core of the Sun

Posted on
Guardian Angel film still
New deals for Hansen’s psychological thriller

The Guardian Angel, Einar Hansen’s psychological thriller, has sparked a lot of interest from Frankfurt. We currently have first offers in Denmark – where the story takes place – and a newly-closed deal in Serbia with Vulkan, whose list includes high-profile thriller authors such as Paula Hawkins and Stephen King, with plans for a film tie-in for the Serbian premiere of The Guardian Angel, the movie.

Rights also sold in Italy to Piemme, at auction, last month. In Finland, the book will be published by WSOY in spring 2018.

Hansen’s novel, which has been written alongside an eponymous feature film, directed by Arto Halonen as a Finnish-Danish-Croatian co-production, is based on real events of the so-called ’hypnosis murders’ that shook Copenhagen in the early 1950s.

Turkey and Denmark acquire a feminist dystopia

Meanwhile, Johanna Sinisalo’s Prometheus Award-winning dystopian novel The Core of the Sun has just been sold in two territories, coinciding with its longlisting for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award.

In Denmark, indie publisher Jensen & Dalgaard acquired the rights, and in Turkey rights sold to Ithaki Yayinlari. The prominent Turkish publisher of speculative and general fiction acquired Johanna’s topical dystopian novel, which has received a stream of great press attention since its publication in English:

“Margaret Atwood and Aldous Huxley get down with Carlos Castaneda in The Core of the Sun, an adventurous and original dystopian satire which isn’t likely to be forgotten in a hurry… It’s dark, biting, unlike anything you’ll read this year and, ultimately, a triumph,” The Herald (Scotland) wrote.

 

LATEST REVIEWS

Highlights of recent foreign and Finnish press for our authors’ books…

Undertaker by Marko Kilpi:
“At the top of its genre.” – Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
“Undertaker is also a work of art.” – Kauppalehti, FinlandThey Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen:
“This hugely ambitious work of contemporary realism offers a dramatic warning about the influence of digital culture.” — Booklist,USA
“A contemporary novel that doesn’t lose sight of perennial dilemmas.” – Kirkus Reviews, USA

Roots by Miika Nousiainen:
“A quirky Nordic story that’s simply fun!” – Brigitte Extra, Germany
“Quirky humour, a good story, a happy end. Reading is rarely as deliciously amusing while also educative about dental hygiene and public health.” – NDR Kultur, Germany

THE GUARDIAN ANGEL
Rights sold:
FINLAND, WSOY
ITALY, Piemme
SERBIA, Vulkan

Reading material:
English manuscript

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THE CORE OF THE SUN
Rights sold: 
FINLAND, Teos
CZECH, Euromedia
DENMARK, Jensen & Dalgaard
FRANCE, Actes Sud
GERMANY, Klett-Cotta
LATVIA, Petergailis
TURKEY, Ithaki
WORLD ENGLISH, Grove Atlantic

Reading material:
English & Finnish editions