Finncon Gets Cultural Grant

I'm happy to report that the Finnish Cultural Foundation has given this year's Finncon a grant of 10.000 € to help in organising Finncon 2013. Yay!

More Sinisalo in English

The world English rights of Johanna Sinisalo’s excellent novel Enkelten verta (The Blood of Angels) have been sold to Peter Owen, her UK publisher. The novel will also come out in French this year, from Actes Sud.

The novel, set in the very near future Finland, deals with the mystery of the global disappearance of bees, intertwined with the stories of three generations of men in a family and their relationship.

Small Blue Planet

Small Blue Planet is a new podcast, hosted by the fabulous Cheryl Morgan. In it, she will each month be spotlighting a different country, and talking about the sf scene and language of that country with guests.

The first episode is online at the Locus Roundtable blog (also available on iTunes), and it features Finland. Marianna Leikomaa and Jukka Halme are the guests, and the conversation covers the Finnish fandom, the literary scene (with author recommendations), and conventions (including, naturally, the Finnish Worldcon bid). So, if you want to get an overview of sf in Finland in the form of an entertaining conversation, look no further!

Topelius Prize to Simukka

The Topelius Prize, awarded by the youth writers’ association of Finland for the best Finnish YA book published in the previous year, has been given to Salla Simukka for her novels Jäljellä (Without a Trace) and Toisaalla (Elsewhere). The novels examine the world of the youth, the pressures of society, and finding the important things in life, be it in a dystopic world almost devoid of people or in the virtual world created for the young who are in danger of being left behind by the society.

If you would be interested in these books, reading materials in English can be requested from the literary agency.

Itäranta Takes the World (cont’d)

In addition to previously reported sales, the novel Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta has been sold also to Italy and Turkey. Great News!

Moominvalley Moves

The Moominvalley exhibition has opened in its new home in the Tampere Arts Museum. Fans of the exhibition were relieved to find out that the centrepiece of the exhibition, a 2-meter tall Moomin house survived the move intact. The museum is open daily (except on Mondays).

Happy New Year!

Merry 2013!

As it’s the first of the month, the monthly newsletter about sfnally interesting events in the Turku area is out.

Also, the pub meetings continue as usual. The first this year is on Thursday, in Teerenpeli at six. Hope to see you there!