Dess Terentyeva / Young Adult Fiction
40
(b. 1992) is an author of Russian origin who lives in the vibrant city of Tampere in Finland. As a migrant author, both Russian and Finnish cultural aspects reflect in her works. Her writing also carries strong LGBTQ themes. Terentyeva has a Master of Arts from the University of Jyväskylä. With Lovely (Ihana) Terentyeva won WSOY's new voices YA writing competition in 2021.
© Sonja Siikanen
Dess Terentyeva
Lovely (Ihana) 14+ | 128 pages | WSOY | 2021
A fresh and cohesive verse novel with a narrative that resembles the spoken word. Lilja is a pansexual in 9th grade who constantly has a crush. Lilja has nicknamed her latest social media crush as Lovely. It turns out that Lovely is the child of Lilja’s single dad’s latest girlfriend, quite the game-changer. Lovely appears to be a confident and conscious nonbinary on social media, but Lovely’s conservative mother has no clue about her child’s true identity. Can Lilja come to terms with the fact that dad is dating a woman who seems to be transphobic? And can one force another to show their true colours? In 2021 Lovely won Finnish publishing house WSOY’s writing contest that discovers new voices. It was also nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize and the Tulenkantaja award in 2021.
"The captivating and touching 'Lovely' (Ihana) is a whole and beautiful reading experience. The passionate rhythm of the language in the work manages to reach the experiences and the feelings of young people accurately and credibly. Becoming accepted as one’s true self, being seen and feeling loved is a vast theme that is handled sensitively and skillfully through the verse novel.” Finlandia Junior Prize jury 2021
