Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson was BOTD in 1914. Born in Helsinki in the Grand Duchy of Finland (then part of the Russian Empire), her family was part of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland. She showed an early talent for drawing, publishing illustrations in children’s magazines in her teens. She moved to Stockholm to study painting at the Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts and Design), working part-time as an illustrator and cartoonist for the satirical magazine Garm. One of her political cartoons, picturing Adolf Hitler as a crying baby being fed slices of cake by European political leaders, achieved brief international fame. She later studied at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She held her first solo exhibition in 1943, and worked as an illustrator for children’s books. In 1945, she published her first self-written and illustrated children’s book In Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Moomins and the Great Flood), featuring the Moomintrolls, small furry hippopotamus-like creatures living in a woodland known as Moominvalley. Praised for its originality, complex characterisation and sophisticated humour, it became a bestseller in Scandinavia. Jansson became better known in English-speaking countries with her comic strip Moomin, which ran in the London Evening News during the 1950s and was syndicated to other English-language publications. She published eight further Moomin books, becoming one of the most beloved children’s series of the mid-20th century, translated into 45 languages and adapted for theatre, opera and film. During the 1960s, she created illustrations for Swedish translations of classics children’s books including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. In 1966, she was awarded the International Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her contributions to children’s literature. In later life, she wrote a well-regarded memoir Bild-huggarens dotter (Sculptor’s Daughter) in 1968, followed by six adult novels and five short story collections. Jansson had affairs with men and women, and was in a discreet 45-year relationship with graphic designer Tuulikki Pietilä, living together on an island in the Gulf of Finland to avoid public attention. Jansson died in 2001 aged 86.