Guests attend the first book launch of Chinese translation Work and Love at Embassy of Finland in Beijing on April 13.

The first book launch of Chinese translation Work and Love, a biography of Finnish painter Tove Jansson, was held at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing on Saturday. Guests, Janna Laine, a Finnish sinologist for the Embassy of Finland in China, Chinese writer Shen Shuzhi, and Chinese illustrator Xi Jiu had a dialogue at the scene. Cui Ke, the translator of the Chinese translation was connected online at the event.

During the event guests shared their views of Tove Jansson and her well-known Moomin stories, expressing their interest in cultural exchanges between China and Finland.

Janna Laine was “happy” that “the books are available in China" and she expects more translations of literature work will be published for Chinese and Finnish peoples “to learn about each other".

The original Finnish version of Work and Love, Tee työtä ja rakasta, was written by Finnish art historian Tuula Karjalainen, who is also an expert in the study on Jansson's several decades of personal correspondence and diaries. The biography combines manuscripts, diaries, letters and other materials to comprehensively present Jansson's lifelong pursuit of artistic creation, love and freedom, depicting a three-dimensional female figure.

The year 2024 marks the 110th anniversary of Tove Jansson's birth and the 80th anniversary of the birth of her creation Moomin. Tove Jansson, a Finnish household name, received the International Hans Christian Andersen Medal.