Guest author: Emmi Itäranta – Free Mondays

Emmi Itäranta discusses her book Lumenlaulaja. Interview conducted by Kati-Annika Ansas, MA. “I have never revealed my origin story to anyone. Not until now.”

Lumenlaulaja (Teos 2025) is Emmi Itäranta’s latest novel, in which Louhi’s enchanting origin story takes us back to a mythical past, a world of magical powers and shape-shifting. Harmony and respect reign between people, nature and animals. Until the idyll is shattered and lust for power, vengeance and greed become part of life.

Lauha spends her childhood in Pohjola, a land ruled by strong women, each with her own magical animal form. When Lauha was nine years old, a foreign tribe attacked Pohjola, killing most of her family, and Lauha fled with her mother and two younger sisters. After enduring hardships, she finds refuge in a women’s community, Metsänpeitto, where she lives a quiet life for years.

Following a tragic event, she decides to take revenge on the conquerors of Pohjola and reclaim her home. Defending Pohjola and keeping her own family safe shape Lauha into Louhi, a woman feared by many. The painful memories of her escape drive Louhi towards choices that have fateful consequences for the people of Pohjola as a whole, and for Louhi herself.

Emmi Itäranta is an award-winning and much-loved author of speculative fiction based in Tampere, whose debut novel Teemestarin kirja (2012) is already a classic. Teemestarin kirja has been adapted into a film and translated into over 20 languages. An English-language version written by Itäranta alongside the Finnish text, entitled Memory of Water, was published in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2014, and has received numerous nominations for awards in English-language science fiction and fantasy literature, as well as an honourable mention from the jury of The James Tiptree Jr. Award.

Itäranta’s second novel, Kudottujen kujien kaupunki, was published in 2015. With her third book, Kuunpäivän kirjeet, she won the prestigious Tähtivaeltaja Prize in 2021.

Her fourth novel, Lumenlaulaja, marks a strong return to the world of fantasy following her science fiction novels.