2021 brings along a revised Rights and Brands podcast. In this episode, the multi-talented Johanna Laitila, one of our newest authors sits down to talk about her second novel Hatching (Synty) together with her agent Leenastiina Kakko. This episode is special as it also introduces the new format, the intriguing “Quick Five”, a quick-fire round of questions that reveal a bit more about our guest.  

Hatching is a chilling and stirring literary novel about the complexity of gender in an era where there were no words for the experience. Set in the historical scenery of 1917’s Helsinki the novel leads the reader to the doorstep of Aleksanteri, a German translator who lives a secluded life. He spends his days in a small apartment located by the seaside of Finland’s boiling capital where daily life is becoming increasingly grim. He immerses himself in playing Chopin on the piano and translation work and is wrapped up in inner thoughts about the surrounding world. Two women - housekeeper Hilda and lover Elna are his only connections to the outside world until his attention is caught by a mysterious new neighbour, a Russian journalist. The two soon form a peculiar and conflicting relationship as they become entangled in a power struggle where irresistible addiction and contradictory hatred constantly crosses to lust. The intense events of the story wrap around historic turning points with two revelations that await the reader.

Johanna Laitila tells how she left behind an academic career in Scotland when she returned to Finland to pursue a writing career, and how her years in the academic world reflect on her writing. She also shares her thoughts on the significance of language in her works, what was the inspiring seed to the storyline and the process of re-writing the English version of the story. The author also sheds light on her upcoming third novel. The new format “Quick Five” wraps up the episode, but what does musician Nick Cave have to do with it?

Listen to find out!

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