Vivica Sophia Jansson (born 1962 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) is the daughter of cartoonist Lars Jansson and the niece of the famous Finnish writer and painter Tove Jansson. Jansson has worked as a

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, creative/artistic director, chairman, and majority shareholder of Oy Moomin Characters, Ltd, and provided direct oversight together with her father for the 1990 ''Moomin'' animated series.

Moomin Characters Oy Ltd

Growing up in the center of the collaboration of efforts between her aunt and father, Jansson gained an intimate window into the creative processes behind the ''Moomin'' comic strip series. As Tove's efforts became directed more at writing and the strip's production became more the effort of her father, Jansson became an active help in management of the visual aspects of '' Moomin'' as an intellectual property. In 1979, Lars Jansson founded the

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

, Moomin Characters Oy Ltd, now headed by Roleff Kråkström. According to a 2004 article in the Finnish business magazine ''Talouselämä'', Oy Moomin Characters, Ltd is

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

's most cost-effective business, with some 80 Moomin licences in Finland and almost 300 abroad. It has been listed as among the top Creative Export Companies of Finland in 2007. Since 1993, Jansson, together with her father, has managed the production of a new series of Moomin strips which Jansson now manages solely. In 2006 Jansson took the role of director in the release of the CD, ''Muumipeikko ja Pyrstötähti''. In 2008, the rediscovery by Jansson of the

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

for "The King in Moominland" (a TV script written by Tove and Lars in the late 60s) made news as the resulting

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

performed at the Åbo Svenska Teater represented the first performance of this "lost episode" in decades.

Sophia Jansson in film and print

Lars Jansson produced both ''Moomin'' strips as well as others including a short strip called ''Sophia'' which he produced for a publication called ''Jaana'' in 1965. In May 2003, the Finnish Embassy in

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arranged for events to surround the recent translation of Tove Jansson's 1972 '' Sommarboken'', a novel which featured the fictionalized life of the young Sophia on an island. During this event, publishers presented works by Sophia Jansson and Johanna Sinisalo. Jansson was later interviewed in June 2003 by ''

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'' where she explained the details surrounding the story presented in '' Sommarboken'' and the relationship shared between Jansson and her aunt, Tove Jansson. She would write in more detail about this topic in 2006 in the Scandinavian Review, and again in 2010 for ''The Guardian'', when she explained the nature of her relationship with the rest of the family including her grandmother Signe and Tove's partner, Tuulikki Pietilä. Jansson has been credited in such books as Tove Jansson's 1989 ''Rent Spel'' and Kate McLoughlin's and Malin Lidström Brock's 2007 ''Tove Jansson Rediscovered'' among others. Jansson has appeared as the host of 1998's short film, ''Haru: The Island of the Solitary, Introduced by Sophia Jansson''. She has also featured in Paul Gravett's 2006 documentary film, ''Moomin's Memoirs,'' presented at the March 2007 Tove Jansson Conference in

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Honors and awards

In 2001, following the death of her aunt, Jansson went to the UK to help Sort of Books promote the re-release of a Moomin picture book. In June 2004, Jansson was invited by the Consulate General of Finland to the 31st "Dreams & Visions" Annual Children's Literature Conference in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The Consulate sponsored her trip. Here, Jansson represented Finnish children's literature during an engaging lecture and presentation. In August 2004, Jansson launched the silver Tove Jansson and Children's Culture collector's coin, receiving the first pressing from Raimo Makkonen, CEO of the Mint of Finland. She served as a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

in the selection of the coin's images, as well as the series of medals that were also issued. In 2006 Jansson was invited as a notable speaker for one of the Monthly Luncheons hosted by IWC

. In February 2007 Jansson was invited to speak at the Scandinavia House in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In September 2008 Jansson participated as a member of the Committee of Honor in the renowned IBBY World Congress. Jansson participated in the Helsinki Design Week 2008.Helsinki Design Week 2008
2008.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansson, Sophia 1962 births Living people Finnish businesspeople Moomins 21st-century Finnish businesswomen 21st-century Finnish businesspeople Finnish people of Swedish descent