The Moomins come to Covent Garden for Tove Jansson’s birthday BRANDORA Editorial Staff - August 2014

 
Celebrations of Moomins creator’s centenary culminate in birthday weekend event

It was 100 years ago this August that Tove Jansson, the creator of the Moomins, was born. In the months leading up to this anniversary, a number of UK venues — from the Institute of Contemporary Arts to the Polka Children’s Theatre — have been staging special events, shows and readings, all culminating in Moomin Summer Fun, a big Moomin party in Covent Garden on Tove Jansson’s birthday weekend. On Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th of August Moomin fans young and old are invited to London’s Covent Garden for a weekend of fun, music, stories and more. Children’s writer Philip Ardagh, the name behind the incredibly popular Eddie Dickens books and a lifelong Moomin fan, will be reading extracts from some of his favourite Moomin books to a live audience. Benny Törnroos, one of Finland and Sweden’s best-loved children’s entertainers, will be among the guests appearing during the weekend. There will also be a Moomin puppet performance of selections and songs from the Polka Theatre’s popular Moominsummer Madness show, as well as face painting and some personal appearances by the Moomins themselves.

Moomin Summer Fun will be held in a specially designed and constructed teepee on the main piazza in Covent Garden, home of the famous Moomin Shop.

The Tove Jansson anniversary celebrations began in the UK in May with a special seminar at the Courtauld. In July the ICA housed a display of unseen photographs and material relating to Jansson’s life and work. For the kids, the Unicorn theatre presented the Summer Book, a new play based on a story by Tove Jansson about a woman's relationship with her six-year-old granddaughter. And since June the Polka children’s theatre in Wimbledon has been showing Moominsummer Madness, described by What’s On Stage as “enthralling for children and adults alike”.

The lovable family of trolls who live in magical Moominvalley with a large group of strange and wonderful friends first appeared in print in 1945. Finn Family Moomintroll was the first English-language book in 1950. The books have never been out of print since. In the past 50 years the Moomins have become stars not just of books, but of cartoon strips, stage, TV and cinema and theme parks — they’ve even appeared on the side of a plane! In the UK, licensing agent Caroline Mickler Limited manages a growing licensing programme that has brought the Moomin brand to toys, t-shirts, fashion bags, greeting cards, children’s and baby’s clothes and more!

Jansson is most famous for her work on the Moomins but is also an important artist in her own right, achieving major international success that made her one of the best-known Finnish artists in the world.

For further information please contact :
Jane Garner & Suzy Wyld
jgarner@kilog.co.uk / swyld@kilog.co.uk