Authors Electric

I was stuck for a topic for this month’s blog until I read Griselda Heppel’s article on woodcuts (published 1 st November). Her blog reminded me of how important illustrations were for me as a young reader – for all young readers I imagine. Even now, I adore illustrated books. A few years ago I purchased a book called Waterlife , which is purely illustrations. It’s a treasured possession. Few novels, besides specifically graphic novels (which have become quite popular) are illustrated. 19 th century novels often contained illustrations but that has gone out of fashion. Now, only a handful of fiction books for adults have illustrations. Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy contains a small number. The Hobbit includes illustrations but Tolkien had trouble persuading his publisher to include his drawing of the The Book of Mazarbul in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact it was not included in the first edition. The Silmarillion was illustrated but Tolkein did not live to see it in pr...

I recently asked myself, as you do, who was my favourite author of all time, for any age-group, any genre, fiction or non-fiction etc etc etc… and, after about five seconds’ thought, decided that it had to be Tove Jansson. You’ve almost certainly heard of the Moomins and their friends, but if you haven’t, please don’t bother reading any more of this but go and find yourself one of the Moomin books instead. If you had the idea they were only for children, please think again. These cute little creatures with their rounded snouts and velvety skin are not only cuddly and appealing, they are savvy, profound, liberated, inclusive and immensely comforting. They are perfect for a dismal Sunday afternoon when you feel the need to cosy up in a warm place (possibly behind a stove, in traditional Moomin fashion) and read away the troubles of a trying week. You will, I promise, very soon feel enveloped in their kindness, their wit, their acceptance and all their all-encompassing… I can on...

My favourite childhood books are the Moomintroll series written by Finnish author Tove Jansson. She was an artist and she illustrated her own books.  For me, as the reader, the illustrations were a big part of the magic because they worked so well with the text. Moomin Valley was a very real place, maybe because I was seeing it just as the author had created it. The Moomin house in Moomin Valley I was quite grown-up before I realised that Tove Jansson and her partner, the artist Tuulikki Pietila, had also created maps, tableaux and an actual five-story model of the Moomin House which was in the Moomin museum in Finland.   The big surprise was that the house they  made was different to the illustrations - it was square rather than round as it appears in the books and this puzzled me. The reason seems to be that it was specially made for a biennale of illustrations in Bratislava and was going to be exhibited in a corner.  The only way that Tove could make...