Discover more about the life and creations of Tove Jansson through this continually cultivated library of links
As part of my ongoing Tove Trove project, I have collated a selection of links to noteworthy Tovian websites, articles, artworks and other related information resources in English. Please do let me know if you stumble across anything of interest that should be included here. Keep popping back because this list is going to grow!
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OFFICIAL WEBSITES
- Tove Jansson or Tovejansson.com: “The most extensive website dedicated to the Finnish author and artist Tove Jansson, who created Moomin and much more.”
- Moomin Museum: “The world’s only Moomin Museum”, located in Tampere, Finland.
- Moomin Official Site: “Discover Moominvalley and the magical characters created by Tove Jansson. Get the latest Moomin news and stories.”
- Moomin Shop UK: “Explore the biggest selection of official Moomin products available in the UK.”
- Sort of Books: Publishing Tove Jansson’s books in English since 2001.
- Drawn & Quarterly: D&Q Moomin is the place to purchase Moomin books if you live in Canada.
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ACADEMIC WRITINGS
- De Gruyter: Introduction: Phenomenological approaches to Tove Jansson’s fiction (Sara Heinämaa and Joona Taipale, 5 July 2018)
- De Gruyter: Tove Jansson, Nietzsche and the poetics of overcoming (Hans Ruin, 5 July 2018)
- Research Gate: Tove Jansson Rediscovered (review) (David Russell, September 2008)
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THE ARTIST & HER ART
- 4Columns: Curious and gleeful, socially awkward and irritable: in the multidimensional characters of the beloved Moomin universe, a reflection of their creator’s dualities (Mark Sinker, 16 December 2022, Tove Jansson by Paul Gravett, Illustrator Series)
- Artnet: Tove Jansson artworks (sold and for sale)
- BBC Culture: The serious artist behind a children’s classic (Cath Pound, 14 December 2016)
- DailyArt Magazine: Tove Jansson’s Life of Wonders (Natalia Tiberio, 28 July 2025)
- Design Stories: Tove Jansson’s studio: A creative sanctuary and the birthplace of the Moomins (Anna-Kaisa Huusko, 13 June 2025)
- Forbes: A Spotlight On Tove Jansson, Painter (Helsinki exhibition, Chadd Scott, 28 October 2024)
- It’s Nice That: The Moomin magician: celebrating Tove Jansson’s boundless creativity (Paris exhibition, Liz Gorny, 5 October 2023)
- Wallpaper*: The rich, creative life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson (Paris exhibition, Hannah Silver, 25 September 2023)
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BIOGRAPHICAL / MISCELLANEOUS
- Aeon: Pippi and the Moomins: The antics in postwar Nordic children’s books left propaganda and prudery behind. We need this madcap spirit more than ever (Richard W Orange, 6 October 2020)
- AnOther: Retracing the Footsteps of Tove Jansson’s Adventurous Life (Claire Marie Healy, 20 October 2017)
- Bluestocking Oxford: Tove Jansson: Satirising Stalin (Enlii Lewis, 11 July 2019)
- The Guardian: How Tove Jansson’s love of nature shaped the world of the Moomins (Susannah Clapp, 5 June 2021)
- The Marginalian: I Long to Read More in the Book of You: Moomins Creator Tove Jansson’s Tender and Passionate Letters to the Love of Her Life (Maria Popova, 6 December 2020)
- The Yale Review: Tove Jansson’s Genius: The radical imagination that built the visionary world of the Moomins (Evan James, 1 June 2020)
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THE BOOKS
The Atlantic: The Outsider Who Captured American Loneliness (Lauren LeBlanc, 10 February 2025, Sun City)
Caught by the River: Notes from an Island (Dan Richards, 13 November 2021)
The Guardian: My favourite book as a kid … Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson (Tom Holland, 7 May 2020)
LARB: A Little Piece of a Life: Tove Jansson’s Fiction for Adults (Madeleine LaRue, 21 December 2014, various titles)
The Marginalian: Control, Surrender and the Paradox of Self-Transcendence: Vintage Wisdom from the Moomins (Maria Popova, 22 January 2022, Moominland Midwinter)
The Millions: Sad, Strange Brilliance: On Tove Jansson and Moomin (Alix Ohlin, 12 June 2014, the Moomin books)
The Rumpus: On Tove Jansson’s Eccentrics and Oddballs (Emily Webber, Rachel Luria and Beverly Luria, 7 March 2025, The Woman Who Borrowed Memories: Selected Stories)
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MOOMIN FEATURES (GENERAL)
The Artifice: Moomins and the Finnish Culture (birdienumnum17, 12 June 2020)
The Conversation: Moomin80 (a series of articles celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Moomins, various writers, 2025)
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Please let me know if you spot any broken links. Thank you!
Categories: Tove Jansson
What a great resource! Thank you Paula.
I’m really glad you think so, Madame B. Thank you. 😊👍
Thank you!
It’s a pleasure, Jane. Thank you! 😊
Thank you for this collection!
You’re most welcome. Thank you! 😊
Wonderful! So much to explore – thank you!
Thank you, Kaggsy! 😊👍
Superlative collection of links, Paula! I read my way through them all and think you should have official status in the Moomins Museum. Just one link that kept loading-loading but did not open for me: “Studio International, Studio International visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery to view the Finnish artist Tove Jansson’s first retrospective exhibition in the UK (MK Palomar, 16 November 2017)” although this could be my computer! G. 🌼
Thank you for mentioning this, Gretchen. It appears that the entire Studio International site is down, although it was working perfectly a couple of days ago. I will remove the link completely for now and see what happens with the website over the next couple of days. 👍
Ooh, me in the Moomin Museum. How exciting would that be! 😃
Very helpful, Paula, thanks – I look forward to exploring!
Thank you, Chris. 😃👍
The other day I was making one of my periodic attempts to find matching copies of this set and had a lovely romp through what IS available even though it wasn’t what I wanted to find hee hee …including a volume of sock patterns. I love the Moomin fandom almost as much as I love the idea of the Moomins!
I sometimes wonder what Tove Jansson would have made of it all because she was so much against commercialising the Moomins and was quite strict about what was permitted during her lifetime. She famously turned down selling the rights to Disney, which was a jolly good thing in my opinion, but I have a hunch she would have been quite shocked at some of the Moomin merchandise on offer these days. Having said that, I’m guilty as charged of owning all sorts of stuff – keyrings, ear rings, a decorative Moomin egg, t-shirts, socks galore and so on… I do try to restrain myself but it isn’t easy! 😆