Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson
c. 1970
Born	Tove Marika Jansson (1914-08-09)9 August 1914 Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Died	27 June 2001(2001-06-27) (aged 86) Helsinki, Finland
Occupation	Artist, writer
Language	Swedish
Nationality	Finnish
Notable works	The Moomins The Summer Book
Notable awards	Hans Christian Andersen Award 1966 Order of the Smile 1975 Pro Finlandia 1976
Partner	Tuulikki Pietilä
Signature

Tove Marika Jansson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈtuːve ˈjɑːnsːon] ^ⓘ; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. 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.