Tove Jansson

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Tove Jansson was born and died in Helsinki, Finland. As a Finnish citizen whose mother tongue was Swedish, she was part of the Swedish-speaking Finns minority. Thus, all her books were originally written in Swedish. She was a popular author during her lifetime, but Tove always considered her career as a painter to be equally important to that of her writing.

Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, 'The Moomins and the Great Flood' towards the end of the Second World War in 1945. She said later that the war had depressed her, and she had wanted to write something naïve and innocent. Besides the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly popular picture books.

Jansson's Moomin books, originally written in Swedish, have been translated into 33 languages and are now widely considered to be treasures of the Finnish culture.

Author's Comment: One summer morning at sunrise a long time ago
I met a little girl with a book under her arm.
I asked her why she was out so early and
she answered that there were too many books and
far too little time. And there she was absolutely right.”

Nationality: Finnish