Macmillan Children’s Books is thrilled to announce an extension to its publishing partnership with Rights & Brands, agent for Moomin Characters. In a new publishing deal, Macmillan Children’s Books will be master publisher of the Moominvalley books, based on the new forthcoming animated TV series.
The deal was brokered by Stephanie Barton, Publisher of Macmillan’s 0-6 division, Hanna
Pajunen-Walsh of Rights & Brands and Moomin Characters UK Agent, Caroline Mickler.
Macmillan will launch their Moominvalley books in 2019 and will publish globally across a
range of formats, based on the new MOOMINVALLEY TV series, which will premiere in the
UK in Spring 2019 on Sky One and TV streaming service NOW TV. The series will air on
public broadcaster YLE in Finland, with many more deals under negotiation worldwide.
The ground-breaking animation series will comprise thirteen twenty-two-minute episodes,
featuring new stories based on Tove Jansson’s world. The pioneering animation is produced
by an outstandingly talented team, including CEO and founder of Gutsy Animations and
executive producer Marika Makaroff; Oscar®-winning director Steve Box; BAFTA and
Emmy-winning producer John Woolley and Emmy-winning writing duo Mark Huckerby and
Nick Ostler. Its star-studded cast includes Taron Egerton (Moomintroll), Rosamund Pike
(Moominmamma), Matt Berry (Moominpappa) and Kate Winslet (Mrs Fillyjonk). The series is
produced by Gutsy Animations and, using brand new innovative techniques in 3D CGI, it
promises to be an exciting launch for family audiences.
In a separate but co-ordinated publishing initiative, Macmillan will also publish a stunning range of newly illustrated picture books and storybooks, drawn from Tove Jansson’s original classic stories. The first book, Christmas Comes to Moominvalley, which published on 1st November, is an exquisitely illustrated re-telling of Tove Jansson's classic story The Fir Tree, in which the Moomins are woken from their winter sleep to be told that 'Christmas' is coming.
The text is written by Scandinavian writers, Alex Haridi and Cecilia Davidsson, with beautiful new illustrations based on Jansson’s original drawings and colour plates, created by Filippa Widlund.
Stephanie Barton commented: “We have been working with Moomin Characters for several
years now and are proud and delighted to be part of the new animation plans and to be able
to grow a new generation of Moomin fans, with the launch of these stunning picture books
and storybooks, is an absolute joy.”
Sophia Jansson, creative director of Moomin Characters and niece of Tove Jansson, said:
“We’ve loved working with Macmillan – their combination of creativity and a deep
understanding of the rich world Tove created has already led to some beautiful and
imaginative books, including the stunning Moomin Colouring Book and greatly anticipated
Moomins Craft Book. We’re delighted that they will be continuing their excellent work and
are joining us on this exciting new animation journey.”
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For further information, contact Jo Hardacre at Macmillan Children’s Books,
jo.hardacre@macmillan.com / 07896158851
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About Pan Macmillan
Pan Macmillan (www.panmacmillan.com) is the UK general book publishing arm of the
Macmillan Group, which operates in over 70 countries. Its imprints include Macmillan,
Mantle, Pan, Picador, Bluebird, Boxtree, Sidgwick & Jackson, Bello, Tor, Macmillan
Children's Books, Campbell Books and Macmillan Digital Audio. Pan Macmillan was named
Publisher of the Year at The Bookseller Industry Awards in May 2015 and May 2017.
Cast and characters of MOOMINVALLEY
• Moominmamma – Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, A United Kingdom, An Education)
• Moominpappa – Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Toast of London, The Philanthropist)
• Moomintroll – Taron Egerton (Kingsman, Eddie the Eagle, Testament of Youth)
• Snorkmaiden – Akiya Henry (Bing, Bottersnikes and Gumble, Noddy in Toyland)
• Sniff – Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Life’s Too Short)
• Little My – Bel Powley (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, A Royal Night Out, Carrie Pilby)
• Snufkin – Edvin Endre (Eddie the Eagle, Vikings, Nameja gredzens)
• Ninny – Mayumi Kawai
• Teety-Woo – Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids, Doctor Who, Little Britain)
• Too-Ticky – Katie Leung (Harry Potter)
• Misabel – Rebecca Root (The Danish Girl, Boy Meets Girl)
• Mymble – Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, French and Saunders, Shrek)
• Emma the Stage Rat – Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey, Pride & Prejudice)
• Hemulen (Female) – Susie Brann
• Hemulen (Male) – Joe Wilkinson (Rovers, Miranda, Him & Her)
• Mrs Fillyjonk – Kate Winslet (Titanic, Revolutionary Road, The Reader)
• The Muskrat – Will Self (Shooting Stars, author of Phone and Sky Arts drama The
Minor Character)
• The Ghost – Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, presenter of Travel Man & Crystal
Maze)
About Gutsy Animations
Gutsy is a team of creators and producers who believe that the world is in need of funny,
clever, gutsy and – above all – meaningful content. All of its productions are aimed at
international audiences and based on a concept of genuine social impact.
About Moomin Characters
Oy Moomin Characters Ltd is the owner, originator and official company responsible for
supervising and managing the Moomins' brand, copyright and registrations. The company
was started in 1958 by Tove Jansson and her brother Lars Jansson and even today is run by
family members. Sophia Jansson, Lars's daughter and Tove's niece, is Chairman of the
Board and Creative Director at Moomin Characters. All characters from Moominvalley are
registered trademarks.
About Rights & Brands
Rights & Brands is a Nordic literary rights and brand licensing agency with a background in
literature, art and design. Brands and authors include the Moomins and Tove Jansson, Mauri
Kunnas, Carl and Karin Larsson, Marius of Norway, Gigglebug, Hello Ruby.
About Sky
With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and
entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group.
We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what
they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save
Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our
ever improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows
they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming
service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free
service.
We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data
shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women
and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers.
We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right
thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign we’re committing to be completely single-use
plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and
we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.