Owen Witesman Freelance Translation
Finnish Literary Translation–Real English // Oikea englanti
by Jyrki Vainonen
From the Tammi/Elina Ahlbäck Agency Rights Guide:
A unique story of death, revenge and atonement from a true Master of Surprise. The Towers is a perceptive and psychologically charged story, mixed with the elements of fantasy, erotica and horror. Jyrki Vainonen’s works have previously been likened to those of Roald Dahl and Julio Cortàzar, and his world is found in the wild no-man’s-land between reality and fantasy.
Another article I translated for Books from Finland, this one from fall 2010.
Should a journalist show his hand? Columnist Jyrki Lehtola ponders the pros and cons of showing one’s true political colours.
From the Tammi/Elina Ahlbäck Agency Rights Guide:
Worms is an intensely emotional tale of the long shadows cast by the past and atonement for irreversible deeds. It is also a story about modern day people clinging to their blind faith in their own free agency as they are faced with the forgotten secrets of the past. On a barren island lurks the mysterious legacy of a shipwreck, marked by nine stone graves and a small, dilapidated chapel. These ghostly memorials conceal an ancient tragedy and an ideology in which a sinner is of no more worth than a worm crawling in the dirt. And on the island, that legacy appears to live on.
Marko’s blog post about the work of writing (Finnish, but with some fun pictures).
Read what the reviewers are saying (ENGLISH)
Sample available for publishers
Also read about Marko’s previous, terrifying work, Shrouds.
Tammi, 2010
By Markku Pääskynen
From the Elina Ahlbäck Agency rights guide:
A young father’s stunningly intensely depicted trial of strength in a time of difficulty Markku Pääskynen’s Book of Angels is an intense and poetic description of the waning of an individual’s strength and his slow ascent to fresh hope. It is a story of consolation, a bold description of the grandeur of the small, everyday things in life, of the fundamental questions of existence.
Why, and for whom, do we live? What is love? Pääskynen once again exhibits an astounding capacity, familiar to readers of Vihan päivä (The Day of Wrath), to see deep into the human heart.
“Enkelten kirja is based mainly on sensory observations, thoughts, feelings and memories. The reader is compelled to remain attentive as the course of events and referential function of the story gradually become unveiled. – – It is nice to see a novel that places so much confidence in the power of words.”
– Parnasso
Markku Pääskynen — Book of Angels – Ch 1-3 (PDF)
Tammi, 2010
From the Ahlbäck Agency foreign rights guide:
A lyrical, down-to-earth story of family members painfully searching for their place in this world.
A ballad of unrequited love. “The bear would shamble up and she would become the bear’s and everything would be the way it was and no one would be able to do anything about it.” But the bear never comes, and Stella stops waiting.
Until someone starts sniffing around the house. The Bear’s Death expands on Finno-Ugric mythology. Mumma dies but refuses to rest. She cannot; she is simply incapable of it. The paralyzed old woman was at the mercy of her daughter Fanny while she was alive, but now she is free and everything remains unfinished.
Fanny’s son Alex is rootless. His relationship with a round-cheeked Inuit doesn’t bring him peace of mind, nor does returning to his homeland, where his cool and distant mother awaits.
Only Fanny’s sister Stella, a healer shunned by her fellow villagers, knows her place: she will become the bear’s bride. But only those who are bound forcefully enough to the earth can find comfort in the arms of the bear.
“The narration in Essi Kummu’s second novel appeals to the senses. The fragrance of the forest, the prickle of pine needles and a warming smile give wings to the flow of this story so permeated in death. — Kummu writes like many other young women of today: physically, sinfully and visibly breaching boundaries.”
– Aamulehti
Essi Kummu — Death of the Bear — Sample Translation 04.11.2010
