This year Milena Busquets, Sara Lövestam and new Pontas author Carmen Bugan were presenting their books to large audiences at the Goteborg Bokmässan. Marc de Gouvenain and Marina Penalva were there to accompany them and to meet with international editors at the busy Rights Centre. They also met with new Pontas author Lisa Hågensen, whose novel Hennes ogon blå, a cozy suspense debut with a female librarian protagonist, sparked a big interest among publishers. Another novel that seduced editors at the fair was the between-wars family saga set in Puglia titled The Curse of the Palmisano by Rafel Nadal Farreras, currently topping the Catalan bestseller-lists and pre-empted, in Göteborg, by Sander Knol from Xanders Uitgeverij (Dutch rights).
Milena Busquets talking with her editor Erika Sördeström at Massolit Forlag.
Besides testing the ground for Frankfurt, the fair also provided valuable meetings with editors of other agency titles, such as Hélène Enqvist from Bucket List Books, who will publish Dolores Redondo in Swedish in 2016, Henrik Nilsson from Nilsson Förlaget, who will publish Beauty is a wound by Eka Kurniawan in Swedish, or Niko Aula from Basam Books and Charlotte Werner from Massolit Förlaget, who will publish The Last Way Out by Federico Axat in 2016 in Finnish and Swedish respectively.
Recent sales in Scandinavia also include The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma to Atena (Finland), Ordfront (Sweden) and Klim (Denmark) and Like Fire by Sara Lövestam to Gyldendal Norsk (Norway). Scandinavia remains a top market for our agency and our authors, and the Göteburg fair an unmissable event to do business and discuss new talent, new strategies and new opportunities.
Marc de Gouvenain with scout Koukla Maclehose. Marina Penalva with Ambo Anthos Editorial Director Tanja Hendriks.