Join us for a special panel event celebrating 80 years of Moomin with a fabulous host of Moomin superfans and special guests Akiya Henry, Cariad Lloyd, Paul Gravett, Philip Ardagh, hosted by Guardian Chief Books Writer Lisa Allardice, as they discuss the impact of the Moomins and why they are so beloved by children and adults across the world.
Akiya Henry is an experienced stage and screen actor as well as voice artist. Her stage credits include Macbeth (Almeida Theatre), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), Medea (The Old Vic), Much Ado About Nothing/Shakespeare in a Suitcase (RSC), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal National Theatre), Mad House (Ambassador’s Theatre), and The Little Matchgirl (Shakespeare’s Globe). She has also worked with the BBC on screen and radio and is the voice of Snorkmaiden on Sky's Moominvalley.
Cariad Lloyd is a writer, actor, comedian, podcaster and improviser. She is the creator and host of the award-winning podcast Griefcastand author of the critically acclaimed Times bestseller You Are Not Alone,based on her grief lessons from the show. Cariad has also appeared in Peep Show, Alan Partridge, Have I Got News for You, QIand a number of other comedy shows on TV and radio. She is one of the creators of hit improv show Austentatious and co-hosts Sara and Cariad’s Weirdos Book Clubpodcast with Sara Pascoe.
Paul Gravett is a London-based freelance journalist, curator, lecturer, writer, and broadcaster, who has worked in comics publishing and promotion since 1981. Paul curated a 65th anniversary Moomin exhibition in 2010 for the Comic Art Museum in Brussels. He published a biography of Tove Jansson in 2022 under The Illustrators series, which provides fresh insight into and a deep appreciation for the life and art of the creator of the Moomin world.
Award-winning children’s author Philip Ardagh is translated into over 40 languages, has written a number of best-selling series, and co-wrote High in the Clouds with ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney which is currently being made into an animated feature film. An avid Moomin-fan since childhood, Ardagh is also the author of The World of Moominvalley, now out in a special 80th anniversary edition. Tove Jansson’s niece, Sophia Jansson, describes the 380+ page book as ‘the definitive guide to the Moomins’ and Philip ‘as one of the world’s great Moominologists’. Standing 2-metres tall, with an impressively bushy beard, Philip Ardagh is a familiar face at literary festivals around the world.
