The British publishing house Boxer Books has bought the English-language publishing rights to illustrator Mauri Kunnas'sViikingit tulevat! (The Vikings Are Coming!).
The book will appear in the British and U.S. markets in 2010.
Publishers in English-speaking countries buy the rights to foreign illustrated works for children only very rarely. The last occasion when books by Kunnas were published in the UK or in the United States was back in the 1980s.
At the same time, English is only one of 25 languages into which the prolific author's books - hugely popular in the Finnish market - have been rendered.
In addition to Finland, Kunnas's works, including several Santa Claus books, have been released in 28 different countries.
Worldwide sales (not including Finland) are in excess of 2.5 million copies.
The particular book in question has in fact earlier been translated into English by Otava, Mauri Kunnas's publishers in this country.
