ADVENTURE, CATASTROPHE AND ROMANCE

Moomintroll and the End of the World, Tove Jansson's first Moomin comic strip, will be published in English this September. Presented in book form, the comic tale is augmented with a suite of articles illuminating Jansson's life and work.

Publication of the English version (full title: Moomintroll and the End of the World: Tove Jansson's first Moomin comic strip with essays on her life and work) follows the resounding success of the Swedish original and the Finnish translation, both published last year. The publisher, Tigertext, also publishes Ny Tid ("New Time"), the Finland-Swedish newspaper where the comic strip originally appeared in 1947 and 1948.

Translated from Swedish by Peter Marten and edited by Anna Rotkirch and Trygve Söderling, with graphic design by Lena Malm, the book includes an essay by Tove Jansson about her friend Atos Wirtanen, who was the editor-in-chief of Ny Tid when the paper commissioned Moomintroll and the End of the World. Moomin fans can also look forward to reading Henrika Ringbom's classic interview with Tove Jansson about how the comic strip was created.

Other essays found in the book include Juhani Tolvanen's description of the comic strip scene in the mid-twentieth century, and Kristina Rotkirch's delving into the historical context of war and catastrophe in Jansson's early works, an essay specially written for this English edition.

BACKGROUND

When he became editor-in-chief of Ny Tid in 1947, Atos Wirtanen asked for a comic strip from his friend, Tove Jansson. Using her book Comet in Moominland as a foundation, Jansson drew a weekly six-frame comic strip, placing the text beneath the pictures. The series Moomintroll and the End of the World was published every Friday in Ny Tid, from 3 October 1947 to 2 April 1948—making 2008 the 60th anniversary of the story's exciting conclusion.

In September 1954, The Evening News in London began carrying the Moomin comic strips six days a week. Newspapers in more than 40 countries all over the world followed suit, bringing Jansson's creations to countless millions of readers. And it all began in Ny Tid in 1947, with Moomintroll and the End of the World, now appearing for the first time ever in English.