We are excited to share the news that LAND OF SNOW AND ASHES is one of the 10 works selected from over 160 submissions and will be included in this year’s “Books at Berlinale”.
Arranged online this time, the event will take place March 4-5 as part of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. The pitch event will be held on March 4 where all ten exceptional books, well-suited to screen adaptation will be presented. A matchmaking event will take place the following day on March 5, including individual online meetings as selected representatives of publishers and literary agents meet film producers. For all details about the event click here.
The annual “Books at Berlinale” has been placing a spotlight on recent publications and bestsellers since 2006. It offers film producers the chance to meet renowned and internationally active publishers and literary agents who hold the film rights to the books in question.
The multilayered debut LAND OF SNOW AND ASHES by Petra Rautiainen is set in the barren beautiful Lapland landscape brings to light untold difficult themes of Finland’s wartime history and the assimilation of the Sámi.
Since its release in August 2020, the book has received great interest both in Finland and internationally. It made headlines as the first Finnish debut novel where English translation rights have been sold before publication, acquired by Pushkin Press which was highlighted by both The Bookseller and Publishing Perspectives. So far translation rights have been sold into 10 languages. In addition to the UK and Australia, the novel will reach readers in Holland, Italy, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic.
Rautiainen has received three literary award nominations including 2020 Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and the Book of the Year by Finnish bookstore Suomalainen Kirjakauppa. She won the 2020 Savonia Prize for her debut novel in December 2020. Most recently, she was shortlisted for the 2021 Lapland Literature Prize.