Literary Site: Tove Jansson Home and Studio - Helsinki, Finland

Tove Jansson Home and Studio

Helsinki, Finland

GPS: N60° 09.803;  E024° 56.866

Short Description: 

A plaque identifies the Helsinki home and studio of Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist, illustrator, and comic strip author Tove Jansson in the center of the city at Ullanlinnankatu 1.

Long Description:

Tove Marika Jansson (August 9, 1914 – June 27, 2001) was born in Helsinki into an artistic family. After studying art in Stockholm, Helsinki, Paris and Italy she rented an attic home in central Helsinki at Ullanlinnankatu 1. She lived and worked in this studio from 1944 until her death in 2001.

Jansson gained a world-wide reputation for her creation of the beloved Moomin characters. The Moomins are cartoon characters developed in a series of nine books and a comic strip released between 1945 and 1993. These white, routund characters resemble hippopotamuses. They live in Moominvalley and enjoy carefree adventures with their various friends.

A bilingual (Swedish-Finnish) plaque that contains the high relief image of Tove Jansson along with her signature is located outside the entrance to her home in Helsinki.

The plaque is inscribed:

BODDE HÄR 
ASUI TÄÄLLÄ 

1944 - 2001

FINLANDS SVENSKA
FÖRFATTAREFÖRENING

Translation:

LIVED HERE (SWEDISH)
LIVED HERE (FINNISH)

1944 - 2001

FINLAND-SWEDISH
WRITERS ASSOCIATION

Excellent website with pictures of the studio.
http://moominmania.co.uk/tove-janssons-studio/

Wikipedia lists the following works by Tove Jansson:

Moomin books:

1. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (1945, The Moomins and the Great Flood) (translated into English)

2. Kometjakten (1946, Comet in Moominland) (translated into English)

3. Kometen kommer (1968; reworked edition of Comet in Moominland)
Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll; in some editions The Happy Moomins) (translated into English)

4. Muminpappans bravader (1950, The Exploits of Moominpappa) translated into English)

5. Muminpappans memoarer (1968, The Memoirs of Moominpappa; reworked edition of The Exploits of Moominpappa) (translated into English)

6. Farlig midsommar (1954, Moominsummer Madness) (translated into English)

7. Trollvinter (1957, Moominland Midwinter) (translated into English)

8. Pappan och havet (1965, Moominpappa at Sea) (translated into English)

9. Sent i November (1970, Moominvalley in November) (translated into English)

Short story collections:

Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser (1962, Tales from Moominvalley) (translated into English)

Picture books:

Hur gick det sen? (1952, The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My), (translated into English)

Vem ska trösta Knyttet? (1960, Who Will Comfort Toffle?) (translated into English)

Den farliga resan (1977, The Dangerous Journey) (translated into English)

Skurken i Muminhuset (1980, An Unwanted Guest)

Visor från Mumindalen (1993, Songs From Moominvalley)
(songbook. With Lars Jansson and Erna Tauro)

Comic strips:

Mumin, Books 1–7 (1977–1981, Moomin; Books 3–7 with Lars Jansson) (all seven released in Swedish, Books 1–6 (released in English).

Novels:

Sommarboken (1972, The Summer Book) (translated into English)

Solstaden (1974, Sun City) (translated into English)

Den ärliga bedragaren (1982, The Honest Swindler) (translated into English in 2009, under the title The True Deceiver)

Stenåkern (1984, The Field of Stones)

Anteckningar från en ö (1993, Notes from an Island) (autobiography; illustrated by Tuulikki Pietilä)

Short story collections:

Bildhuggarens dotter (1968, Sculptor's Daughter) (semi-autobiographical, translated into English)

Lyssnerskan (1971, The Listener)

Dockskåpet och andra berättelser (1978, The Dollhouse and Other Stories, also translated as "Art in Nature")

Resa med lätt bagage (1987, Travelling with Light

Luggage) (translated into English in 2010, under the title Travelling Light)

Rent spel (1989, Fair Play) (translated into English)

Brev från Klara och andra berättelser (1991, Letters from Klara and Other Stories)

Meddelande. Noveller i urval 1971–1997 (1998, A Winter Book) (compilation of earlier material. Translated into English)

Picture books:

Sara och Pelle och näckens bläckfiskar (under the pseudonym of Vera Haij) (1933, Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite)


Awards received:

Hans Christian Andersen Award (gold medal, 1966)
Award for State Literature (1963, 1971 and 1982)
Order of the Smile (1975)
Pro Finlandia Medal (1976)
Swedish Culture Foundation Honorary Award (1983)
The Finnish Cultural Award (1990)
Selma Lagerlöf Prize (1992)
The Finland Art Prize (1993)
Mercuri International pronssiomena (1994)
The Swedish Academy Award (1994)
The American-Scandinavian Foundation Honorary Cultural Award (1996)
WSOY Literary Foundation Award (1999)
Le Prix de l'Office Chrétien du Livre