Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 14 April
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM
Ever since he met Tove Jansson’s Moomins lurking in the corner of the Northcote Library in 1973, Bernard Caleo has been comforted and haunted by these large-snouted, pig-like, adventurous, bohemian, lonely characters. He’s not the only one – since Jansson’s The Moomins and the Great Flood was first published in 1945, the series has spawned nine books, a comic strip, multiple television series, a Finnish theme park and a legion of fans of all ages.
What is it about the Moomins that has so enchanted multiple generations of readers? Bernard reckons it might just have something to do with the emotional gulf between Jansson’s words and her exquisite line drawings. Join Bernard for a magical and surprising illustrated talk, as he shares his thoughts about how the Moomins help us to appreciate sadness.
Featuring
Bernard Caleo
Bernard Caleo is a comic book teacher, maker, and communicator. He was the editor and publisher of the romance comics anthology Tango, made the feature film Graphic Novels Melbourne with filmmaker Daniel Hayward and is part of the graphic novel publishing enterprise Twelve Panels Press. In 2021 he started a PhD at the University of Melbourne's Creative Writing program, the outcome of which will be a comic book set in Melbourne in 1888, and a written thesis examining how Australian comic books create Australian places.