Tove Jansson

Who is Tove Jansson?

Tove Jansson was a Finnish author, illustrator, and painter, best known as the creator of the Moomins. Born in Helsinki into a Swedish-speaking artistic family—her father was a sculptor and her mother an illustrator—she trained as a painter in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Paris. She first introduced the Moomin characters in her books during the 1940s, beginning with 'The Moomins and the Great Flood' (1945) and 'Comet in Moominland' (1946). Over the following decades she wrote and illustrated a beloved series of Moomin novels and picture books, and drew a long-running Moomin comic strip. Her whimsical yet philosophically rich stories about the round, tolerant Moomin family gained worldwide popularity and were translated into dozens of languages. Later in life she also wrote acclaimed fiction for adults, including 'The Summer Book' (1972). She spent much of her life painting and living on islands in the Gulf of Finland.

Sources: Tove Jansson, 'Finn Family Moomintroll' (1948) · Boel Westin, 'Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words' (Sort of Books, 2014)