Being able to express yourself is one of the most important things in the world: it allows you to communicate your hopes and dreams, relate to others, engage with the big issues of our times, and create change.

To express yourself, you first need to learn to read and write.

Developing a love of words at a young age is proven to bring other benefits, too, like increased empathy and a greater understanding of different cultures and ways of life. Essentially, reading and writing broaden a young person’s horizon.

That’s why we at Moomin Characters Ltd are on a mission to spark a love of reading and writing – and we would love for you to join us.

The launch of Reading, Writing and the Moomins will happen via livestream. You will be able to join on Youtube or Facebook on February 18th at 15:00 EET (Helsinki time).

Here is the starting time in other time zones:

• 13:00 GMT (London time)
• 14:00 CET (Paris time)
• 08:00 EST (New York time)
• 22:00 JST (Tokyo time)

Here is a preliminary list of the guests that will participate:

• Sophia Jansson, Artistic Director, Moomin Characters
• James Zambra, the Graphic Designer behind the alphabets, Kobra
• Paula Nivukoski, Author of Onnelliset aakkoset
• Annika Sandelin, Author of Mumindalens alfabet
• Edward Gillespie, Oxfam
• Natania Jansz, Sort of Books
• Kaisu-Maria Toiskallio, Otava

With the support of these organizations:

• PEN International
• Unicef
• Red Cross
• Read Hour

Check the full schedule:

• Greetings from Courage, Freedom, Love! The Moomins 75 exhibition at the National Museum of Finland
• How the Reading, Writing and the Moomins initiative came about and the process of designing the alphabets - Interview with Sophia Jansson, artistic director at Moomin Characters, and James Zambra, designer at Kobra
• Reading and Writing in the Moominvalley series
• Reveal of the #MoominABC shop window in the book store Suomalainen kirjakauppa
• A look at the Swedish and Finnish #MoominABC books - Interview with Annika Sandelin, author of Mumindalens alfabet, Förlaget M, and Paula Nivukoski, author of Onnelliset aakkoset, Otava
• Children sharing their feelings about the letters of the Novel alphabet
• Upcoming #MoominABC products
• Greetings from Linda Liukas, children´s book author
• Promoting reading and writing in the UK and around the world - Interview with Edward Gillespie, Private Sector Partnerships at Oxfam, and Natania Jansz, Publisher at Sort of Books
• Upcoming #MoominABC books in the UK - Interview with Nicole Pearson, Publishing Director at Macmillan
• Tove Jansson and freedom of speech - Interview with Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International
• Dress your avatar in ABC clothing! - Frever app introduction
• Reading and writing initiatives in Finland - Interview with Tuuli Lahti, Corporate Relations and Fundraising Specialist at Finnish Red Cross, Nina Vähäpassi, Corporate Alliances Manager at Finnish Committee for UNICEF and Olli Alanen, Executive Director at The Children and Youth Foundation/Read Hour
• Children giving their thoughts on reading
• Presentation of the upcoming Reading, writing and the Moomins exhibition
• #MoominABC related products presentation from publishing house Otava - Interview with Kaisu-Maria Toiskallio, Publishing director, children and young readers, Otava
• Announcement of the winners of the giveaway - We will send all Tove Jansson books in English from Sort of Books, the Swedish ABC book Mumindalens alfabet from Förlaget M and the Finnish ABC book Onnelliset aakkoset from Otava

Please register to receive updates via email and add the event to your calendar. We are looking forward to seeing you there!