From Italy, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, here’s a year-end look at titles with tidings of brisk rights activity.
International Audiobooks: Sweden’s Storytel Opens New Media Center
Now with South Korea among its markets, Storytel launches its media center Clipsource and projects 1,079,000 subscribers worldwide for this quarter.
Rights Roundup: Frankfurt Pilgrims and Dreams in Hurricane Season
From Oslo, Helsinki, Paris, Mexico City, New York, Jerusalem, Zurich, and the Basque region’s San Sebastian, here are books being presented at Frankfurt.
Industry Notes: Storytel Buys Finland’s Gummerus; McEwan Wins Iceland’s New Prize
Finland’s third largest publisher has been acquired by Sweden’s Storytel. In Iceland this week, the UK’s Ian McEwan is the first recipient of a new award.
Finland in Georgia: Tbilisi International Book Fair Has a Nordic Focus Country
The 21st annual Tbilisi International Book Fair’s focus country is Finland, and the International Publishers Association will help open the event on May 30.
‘Finnland: Cool & Happy’ Opens at Helsinki Lit 2019: ‘We Can’t Sit Back’
Roughly half of what Finns are publishing and reading annually is translated literature from abroad. Five years after its Frankfurt Guest of Honor stint, the Nordic market is ready to ramp up its exports again.
FILI’s ‘Happy’ Fifth Anniversary of Finland’s Guest of Honor
Five years after Finland was Frankfurter Buchmesse Guest of Honor, FILI has a series of events planned this year to keep up the momentum and ‘build a structure for the future.’
Words Without Borders March: ‘How Political Borders Shift’
Taking as a starting point the protest over right-wing exhibitors at the 2017 Göteborg Book Fair, ‘Words Without Borders’ March issue focuses on politics, stereotypes, and identity in Swedish and Finnish writing.
Finland’s Biggest First-Year Bestseller: ‘Kimi’ Drives Off With the Record and More Rights Sales
With more than 191,000 copies sold, the auto-racing biography of Kimi Räikkönen has entered 2019 as Finland’s biggest bestseller in history and is being published in a fast lane of foreign rights sales.
UK’s Deer Little Forest and Finland’s Ferly–Formerly Kaiken–in Licensing Agreement
The content development company once associated with Rovio and its ‘Angry Birds’ is operating under a new name and has a deal with ‘Deer Little Forest.’