This time we dive into episode 7 of the Rights and Brands podcast with author Cristina Sandu and her agent Leenastiina Kakko who talk about her two novels THE WHALE CALLED GOLIATH and THE UNION OF SYNCHRONISED SWIMMERS. The episode was recorded in 2019 upon the release of the author’s second novel.
Cristina Sandu’s celebrated debut THE WHALE CALLED GOLIATH was nominated for the 2017 Finlandia Prize and received many rave reviews, quite the rocket launch for the author’s writing career. Sold translation rights include French, Romanian and Catalan.
Sandu shares her thoughts on the acknowledgement and what inspired her to write the rich and multi-layered debut novel where life becomes steeped in legends, myths and fairy tales. Sandu tells how she gathered background information for the story from everyday anecdotes and local’s life stories during her stay at her family’s home village in Romania.
The author’s second book THE UNION OF SYNCHRONISED SWIMMERS (in Finnish Vesileikit), is a short novel about six girls, a synchronised swimming team living in a piece of land between two rivers belonging to no state longing for a different life. Short and intense, it becomes a magical tapestry of intertwined fates reaching across the world. The author discusses the different and relatable themes of the book that inspired the storyline, how she chose the location of the story and why synchronised swimming was a perfect match for the storyline. She also ponders the significance of language in her writing.
”For me, as I wanted to write about Romanian and Finnish cultures and growing up between them, it was easiest for me to choose something that is close to me and to build my characters based on people around me. So, there are a lot of similarities between me and the narrator but then, of course, to make the book interesting I also used a lot of fiction”, says Cristina Sandu.
The book was recently awarded the Toisinkoinen Literary Prize, an annual award dedicated for first-class second novels. It will be published in English by Scribe in the UK (June 2021), USA and Australia (July 2021), and by Book*hug in Canada (June 2021).
Cristina Sandu also sheds light on the themes of her next novel that she is currently writing.
Tune in here!
Rights and Brands podcast features insightful talks with Nordic authors represented by Rights and Brands. Together with their agent Leenastiina Kakko guest authors chat about their books, reveals the stories and inspiration behind them and everything in between. If you are intrigued to hear more and discover the interesting voices in Nordic literature, this is the podcast for you. The podcast is available at Acast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and iTunes.