(born 1976) is a Finnish novelist. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

'' Memory of Water'' was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in 2014.

Biography

Born in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland, Itäranta holds a MA in drama from the

University of Tampere The University of Tampere (UTA) (, ) was a public university in Tampere, Finland that was merged with Tampere University of Technology to create the new Tampere University on 1 January 2019. The university offered undergraduate, postgraduate an ...

, and worked as a columnist, theatre critic, script writer and press officer after graduation. In 2007 she enrolled in the postgraduate program of

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, where she began writing her debut novel as a part of her Creative Writing course work. Working simultaneously in English and her native Finnish, Itäranta completed both manuscripts, and in 2011 the Finnish version won the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Fiction contest organised by the Finnish publishing house . The novel was published by Teos in 2012 under the name ''Teemestarin kirja'' (lit. "The Tea Master's Book"). The book won the in 2012, and the in 2013. It was also shortlisted for the 2013

Tähtivaeltaja Award Tähtivaeltaja Award is an annual literary prize presented by Helsingin science fiction seura ry for the best science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imag ...

. The English version of the book, '' Memory of Water'', was published by

in 2014 in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It has been nominated for the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award, as well as the Golden Tentacle Award and the

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award ...

. Translation rights of the book have been sold to 21 territories to date, and it has already been published in Arabic, Czech, Danish, Estonian, French, Georgian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. The Italian version of the book, ''La Memoria dell'Acqua'', was published by Frassinelli and was among the three final nominees for the Premio Salerno Libro d'Europa in 2016. Itäranta's second novel was published in October 2015 in Finnish, as '' Kudottujen kujien kaupunki''. It too was nominated for the 2016

, and was one of the novels to receive the City of Tampere Literary Award. The English language version was published in 2016, under the name ''The City of Woven Streets'' in the UK, and as ''The Weaver'' in the US and Canada. Her third novel ''The Moonday Letters'' was published in the US and UK July 2022 by Titan Books. Itäranta lives in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, United Kingdom.

Works

* '' Memory of Water'' (2014) * '' The City of Woven Streets'' (2016) * ''The Moonday Letters'' (2022)

References

External links

*
Emmi Itäranta
at the Elina Ahlback Agency website
Excerpt of Memory of Water
at HarperVoyager Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Itaranta, Emmi 1976 births Living people English-language writers Finnish expatriates in the United Kingdom Finnish women writers Finnish science fiction writers Finnish writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers People from Tampere