Petra Rautiainen’s Land of Snow and Ashes Shortlisted for the 2023 Petrona Award
7 September 2023
Petra Rautiainen’s Land of Snow and Ashes Shortlisted for the 2023 Petrona Award
We at Rights & Brands are delighted to share that Land of Snow and Ashes (Tuhkaan piirretty maa, 2020) by Petra Rautiainen has been shortlisted for the Petrona Award this year, which recognises the best Scandinavian crime fiction novels published in the UK!
Seven crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have made the longlist for the 2023 Petrona Award, competing to hold the title Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The award is open to translated crime fiction, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.
You can see all the shortlisted titles here.
Petra Rautiainen’s powerful debut, Land of Snow and Ashes quickly became a critically acclaimed novel for its depiction of one of the darkest times in human history, and how it proceeded on Finnish soil during the Second World War. The book earned Rautiainen the Savonia Prize, and nominations for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and the Lapland Literature Prize. The rights have been sold to 10 countries to date, and in 2022, The Guardian listed the book among the ‘best recent translated fiction.’
Here are part of the judges’ comments:
Rautiainen weaves in the elements of Finland’s recent hidden history in the European context, and gives voice to Sámi people, while Inkeri’s personal investigation shows the painful truths of human brutality and the cost of survival in extreme conditions. A harsh yet beautiful landscape adds to the mystery and allows for reflection and thought in this striking historical but contemporary novel.
The winner of the award will be announced on 5 October 2023.
Warmest congratulations to our author Petra for this recognition!
