Tove Jansson author page

Tove Jansson biography

Tove Jansson was a Finnish writer, illustrator, painter and cartoonist who was born in 1914 and died in 2001. She was a Finnish citizen whose mother tongue was Swedish, and her books were originally written in Swedish. She began her career as a cartoonist, drew her first Moomin in the 1930s, and turned the character into a children’s story in 1945. That story, The Moomins and the Great Flood, was followed by Comet in Moominland in 1946 and Finn Family Moomintroll in 1948.

Jansson wrote and illustrated many books for both children and adults. Her Moomin work includes novels, short stories, comic strips and picture books. She wrote and illustrated four original Moomin picture books, and she also illustrated editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Hunting of the Snark and The Hobbit.

Alongside her writing, Jansson continued to treat painting as an important part of her career. Her adult fiction includes The Summer Book, published in 1972. During her lifetime she received many awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal.