Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson
c. 1970
c. 1970
BornTove Marika Jansson
(1914-08-09)9 August 1914
Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
Died27 June 2001(2001-06-27) (aged 86)
Helsinki, Finland
OccupationArtist, writer
LanguageSwedish
NationalityFinnish
Notable worksThe Moomins
The Summer Book
Notable awardsHans Christian Andersen Award
1966
Order of the Smile
1975
Pro Finlandia
1976
PartnerTuulikki Pietilä
ParentsViktor Jansson
Signe Hammarsten-Jansson
RelativesPer Olov Jansson (brother)
Lars Jansson (brother)
Einar Hammarsten (uncle)
Sophia Jansson (niece)
Signature

Tove Marika Jansson (Fenno-Swedish pronunciation: [ˈtuːve ˈjɑːnsːon] ; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author of Swedish descent. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Paris. She held her first solo art exhibition in 1943. Over the same period, she penned short stories and articles for publication, and subsequently drew illustrations for book covers, advertisements, and postcards. She continued her work as an artist and writer for the rest of her life.

Jansson wrote the Moomin novel series for children, starting with the 1945 The Moomins and the Great Flood. The following two books, Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll, published in 1946 and 1948 respectively, were highly successful, and sales of the first book increased correspondingly. For her work as a children's author she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966; among her many later awards was the Selma Lagerlöf Prize in 1992. Her Moomin stories have been adapted for the theatre, the cinema, and as an opera.

She held a solo exhibition of paintings in 1955, and five more between 1960 and 1970. She carried out several commissions for murals in public buildings around Finland between 1945 and 1984. She created the illustrations both for her own books and for classics including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hobbit.

Starting with the semi-autobiographical Bildhuggarens dotter (Sculptor's Daughter) in 1968, Jansson wrote six novels, including the admired[1] Sommarboken (The Summer Book), and five short story collections for adults.

  1. ^ Westin, Boel (2013). Tove Jansson - Ord, bild, liv [Tove Jansson – Words, Images, Life] (in Swedish). Albert Bonniers. ISBN 978-9-51-501672-0.