The Podgoblin's Hat

This is the first episode of the Podgoblin's hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We will be introducing ourselves, our relationship with each other, and our relationships with the Moomins.

Check out our twitter @ThePodgoblin and our Instagram @thepodgoblin to see pictures of the tattoos, cuddly toys and dog eared books we mentioned.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 1: Introductions

This is the second episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

It's our first read-along and we're reading The Moomins and the Great Flood.

We summarise this fairytale of Tove Jansson's, chat about her influences and make a first attempt at a taxonomy of the broader Moomin bestiary.

This week our question for Snufkin is: Things keep stealing my time, and I can't manage to do the things I want to do. What would Snufkin do?

If you've got a question for Snufkin, catch us on Twitter and Instagram @ThePodgoblin or email us at thepodhat@gmail.com

Our Spirit of the Moomins are:

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (recommended by Nina)

Journey and What Remains of Edith Finch? (recommended by Dave)

And our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is: Tolkien Black Girls from Black Nerds Create.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 2: The Moomins and the Great Flood

This is the third episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week we're reading Comet in Moominland, the first fully fledged chapter book. There's lots of to discuss! The Little Creature from last week has become Sniff, a full member of the Moomin family by adoption. A philosopher comes knocking at the door in the middle of the night. But most importantly, Snufkin joins the cast.

We talk about the way this book is structured, the ways in which it calls back to Flood, and we make another fruitless attempt to discover how big Moomins are.

Our #WhatWouldSnufkinDo question this week is: What would you do if your cat came home wearing a new collar?

Spirit of the Moomins recommendations: The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy.

The films of Hayao Miyazaki, specifically Ponyo, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.

And our Spirit of The Podgoblin's Hat is: Avatar: Braving the Elements

Join us next week when we read the second half of Comet in Moominland!

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 3: Comet In Moominland (part 1)

This is the fourth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week we're reading the second half of Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson, and what a rip roaring adventure it is! Moomintroll meets the fabled Snorkmaiden and falls in love on the spot, our brave adventurers attend not one but two end-of-the-world parties, and the philosopher gets stuck into something gooey.

We talk about war and climate catastrophes (again! why is Moominland always threatened by climate change?) and discuss the heteronormativity of the Snorkmaiden and Moomintroll's relationship, but also the ways in which they break that mould.

This week, our question for Snufkin was provided by the AITA community on Reddit and concerns landlords.

Our Spirit of the Moomins recommendations are as follows:

By Ash, Oak and Thorn by Melissa Harrison (special shout-out to the audiobook)

Toy Story 3

And our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat, as provided by Nina this week, is Dragon Babies, a YA fantasy nostalgia podcast.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 4: Comet in Moominland (part 2)

This is the fifth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week we're reading the first half of Finn Family Moomintroll. Spring has sprung and the children have discovered a very interesting hat on top of a hill. The hat starts to transform everything that sits inside it, from eggshells, to outlandish words, to Moomintroll himself. Moominmamma is in the mood for a change of scene and leads an expedition to the Hattifatteners' lonely island. Snufkin catches sight of a terrific villain in the heart of a storm.

Our theme for this book is ALCHEMY, and we're looking at transformations and all things golden. Also, colonialist fantasies, various masculinities and the first edition of Nina's Botany Corner.

Our question this week pertains to Dave's nonmonogamous emotional life (!) so you'll definitely want to tune in for that.

Our Spirits of the Moomins are Bluey and Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell.

Our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is Black Men Can't Jump [In Hollywood].

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 5: Finn Family Moomintroll (part 1)

This is the sixth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts. It's also the last episode of the first series of the show.

It's the end of Finn Family Moomintroll, and the end of series 1!

The Hattifatteners have their barometer back, Snufkin gets around to telling the others about the Hobgoblin and his hat, and we meet Thingumy and Bob, the lesbian-inspired non binary couple of your dreams.

This book has more bumps in the road for us as modern readers than those that went before. #JusticeForTheSnorkmaiden

It also contains some really positive representations of what we might call non-monogamy and queerness. Truly a mixed bag.

Our question for Snufkin comes from Jane Eyre, and concerns marriage and true love.

Our Spirits of the Moomins this week are: The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is: On Eyre from Hot and Bothered.

We'll be back after a break with Memoirs (or are they Exploits?) of Moominpappa.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 6: Finn Family Moomintroll (part 2)

This a bonus episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts. It's also the last episode of the first series of the show.

In this first guest episode, we're talking to Heidi Gilhooly, a lifelong Moomin fan and translator. Heidi did a comparative study of three versions of the Trollkarlens Hatt: in Swedish, Finnish and English. She shares some juicy insider knowledge about what Elizabeth Portch left out when adapting it for an English audience, and what she changed.

We chat about the Thingumy and Bob, a gutsier Snorkmaiden and the origin of Moominmamma's proficiency with an axe.

Many thanks to Heidi for being our first ever guest! You can find out more about her here: https://kaantopiiri.fi/en/translators/heidi-gilhooly/profile/

The Podgoblin's Hat Bonus Episodes

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode Bonus #1: Heidi the translator

Our special guest for this episode is Medieval historian Dr Eleanor Janega. Eleanor joins us to shout about how much she loves Comet in Moominland, share her Moomin memes of choice and talk about how Tove Jansson draws on medieval storytelling tropes like weird little guys you find in the woods, comets, and really good food writing. There is a case made for Moominmamma as an agony aunt and a scathing burn for Ian Fleming.

 

You can find Eleanor's on twitter @GoingMedieval, buy her new book The Once and Future Sex here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-once-and-future-sex-going-medieval-on-women-s-roles-in-society-eleanor-janega/18507010?ean=9780393867817

 and her comic The Middle Ages: A Graphic History here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Middle-Ages-Graphic-History-Introducing/dp/1785785915

She also has her own podcast We're Not So Different: https://podfollow.com/1551657923

This a bonus episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts. It's also the last episode of the first series of the show.

The Podgoblin's Hat will return in August with season two, which kicks off with The Memoirs of Moominpappa / The Exploits of Moominpappa. We'll tell you about both versions of the story so you can pick which one to seek out and read!

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode Bonus #2 Dr Eleanor Janega

This is the seventh episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts. 

Welcome back to a new season of the Podgoblin's Hat! This week, Nina is reading the Exploits of Moominpappa and Dave is reading the Memoirs of Moominpappa. Our theme for these books is Memoir.

 This episode is all about unreliable narrators, self mythologising and the fundamental mystery of our parents. Moominpappa has finally finished his memoirs and is reading them out to the children. Did he really build a Moomin house, or did he just draw it? How much of this story is true?

We have a question for Snufkin from upcoming guest Martin Zaltz Austwick, who you can find here.

Our Spirits of the Moomins are both memoirs: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. Dave's spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is Down to a Sunless Sea.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 7: The Exploits (or Memoirs) of Moominpappa (part 1)

This is the eighth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We're back with the second half of Moominpappa's memoirs, in which our brave hero becomes the subject of a country run by an Autocrat, starts a colony and meets his wife.

Moomintroll has some very sensible notes for his Pappa in this half of the book, Sniff has some very good questions, but alas, we will never know why Moominmamma was in the sea.

Our question for Snufkin this week comes from Helen Zaltzman.

Our Spirits of the Moomins are Edward Carey's The Swallowed Man and Alice Tarbuck's A Spell in the Wild. Nina's other podcast, Even the Trunchbull, is our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 8: The Exploits (or Memoirs) of Moominpappa (part 2)

This is the ninth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

It's summer in Moominvalley and this book truly hits the ground running. There's a volcano casually going off in the background, and another flood, and the Moomin family has to relocate to a strange floating house. Also, Snufkin is nowhere to be found and Moomintroll is pining away. 

We've got a bunch of cool new characters, some magical midsummer traditions, and a lot of theatrical superstitions. Dave is taking a new occasional rubrik out for a spin: it's the Clothes Corner!... Nina's usual Botany Corner is also here, and it's all about mosses and lichens.

Our Spirits this week are Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, The Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones, and So I Got To Thinking, a Sex and the City podcast by Juno Dawson and Dylan B Jones.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 9: Moominsummer Madness (part 1)

This is the tenth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

Content note: discussion of suicidal thoughts in the What Would Snufkin do part of the podcast 

This book splits three ways on Midsummer Eve: Snufkin is enacting revenge on a Park Keeper, Moomintroll and the Snork Maiden are having a party with a Fillyjonk, and the rest of our crew are still aboard the floating theatre.

There's so much about theatre in this book: a play within a play, a lion being played by two beavers, a disastrous dress rehearsal and happy endings all round.

We talk about the effects of responsibility on Snufkin (spoiler: he hates it) and there's some light prison abolitionism.

It's a banger. You should definitely read this one.

Our Spirits this week are Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, How It Ends and Wizard Team, a black fantasy podcast from Black Nerds Create.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 10: Moominsummer Madness (part 2)

This is the eleventh episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We're breaking from our normal format for these next two episodes to bring you Tove Jansson's picture books.

The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My is really ahead of its time in terms of interactivity and the use of holes cut out of the pages. It's a simple enough journey story, and a vehicle for some really gorgeous art. We compare the translation from the 1960s with the more modern text in our newer editions. There's very creative versification and some brand new Hattifattener lore!

And if it's true to say that that first book showcases Tove's love of colour, that's even more true of Who Will Comfort Toffle?. Toffle is a small grey creature living in a big colourful world. He always feels on the outside of everything. Pointillism abounds in the black and white pictures of Toffle's fearful little world. Snufkin has a cameo and he's swapped his mouth organ for a silver flute - what is up with that? Ultimately it's a story about the wisdom and strength that love brings.

For obvious reasons, there are a lot more pictures to share than usual this week, so we recommend you find us on twitter and instagram to see all that stuff.

Our Spirits of the Moomins this week are the game Gris and Press Here by Herve Tullet. Our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is She-Ra: Progressive of Power.

The Podgoblins Hat Episode 11: The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My & Who Will Comfort Toffle

This is the twelth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

To wrap up season two we are bringing you the last two picture books set in the Moomin universe written by Tove Jansson.

Both of these books are a bit difficult and inaccessible! They're very interesting to Moomin fans in that they show the later stages of Tove's journey with her little trolls, and how she felt about them towards the end of her life.

The Dangerous Journey is a portal fantasy that sees human girl Susanna enter the Moomin world and travel through a series of gorgeously bleak watercolor landscapes. The Moomins are barely in this, and when they do appear, it's time for Susanna to go. We talk about the many influences on the art and writing of Jansson and read the book as a kind of retrospective of her life.

 

Villain in the Moominhouse has no official translation into English and is kind of hard to find! You can read a fan translation by Teresa Ronayne here: https://kupdf.net/download/the-unwanted-guest-final-version-03-09-small_58d46345dc0d60893ec34667_pdf

This is a more typical story shape for the Moomins, except it's all set inside the Moominhouse. Little My is awakened by a horrible smell - eventually the whole house is roused to search out the pungent intruder. Again, we have characters from all different Moomin books and comics humbled together, in a very much larger than canon house. This book is a photo picture book: each illustration was staged inside a large Moomin dolls house that Tove worked on in collaboration with her friends. It's more of a sculpture than a book?

Our Spirits of the Moomins this week are The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon by David Almond (honourable mention to How to Stay Sober When You'd Rather Be Dead which you can borrow from overdrive here: https://clevnet.overdrive.com/clevnet-ADVANTAGEKEY/content/media/1475832), Where the Wild Things Are (the movie). And Nina's Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is All About Agatha.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 12: The Dangerous Journey & Villain In The Moominhouse

This is the thirteenth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to series 3! We're back with a banger: Moominland Midwinter. Nina has had this book hyped up by everyone who knows she's doing this podcast, and despite all the hype it doesn't disappoint.

In this first half of the book, the unthinkable happens: Moomintroll awakes from his hibernation and finds himself alone in a world of winter. It is as if he has rolled out into outer space.

This is such a beautiful meditation on loneliness, and change, and uncertainty. We've got a great new character in Too-Ticky, and of course the whole show is stolen by recurring character Little My.

Our spirits of the Moomins this week are Nimona (the animated film) from Dave and two short stories from Nina: The Horse in the Snow by Jeanette Winterson and the Snow Horse by Joan Aiken.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 13: Moominland Midwinter (part 1)

This is the fourteenth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We're wrapping up Moominland Midwinter this week, and despite being only three chapters, it's 70% of the words in this book, so do strap in for a mammoth episode.

There's a whole raft of new characters: the lonely and the rum, a flock of small creep, a very melancholy dog and a jock Hemulen. Misunderstandings and unrequited longings abound. Moomintroll finally gets to grips with the snow. Little My invents ice skating. And we finally get to hear what Mamma thinks about it all. Perhaps the real winter was the friends we made along the way. Or maybe, as per Too Ticky, one has to discover everything for oneself, and get over it all alone.

Our spirits of the Moomins this week are Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm and Bob's Burgers, an animated sitcom. Our spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is the blog series The Percy Jackson Project by Talia Franks.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 14: Moominland Midwinter (part 2)

This is the fifteenth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We're wrapping up this year on the Podgoblin's Hat with Tove's Christmas offering: The Fir Tree.

It's got everything you want from a Christmas story: the light and the dark, the fear and the wonder. There's even a little cameo from the Moomin family gun.

We chat about different translations of this story, we exchange presents and talk at length about egg nog.

Our Spirits of the Moomins this Week are The Father Christmas Letters by JRR Tolkien, the Muppets Christmas Carol, and Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson. Our Spirits of the Podgoblin's Hat is The Last Christmas, the final episode of Dave's other podcast Getting Better Acquainted.

The Podgoblin's Hat Episode 15: The Fir Tree

This is the sixteenth episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

The crocuses are up, the cherry trees are in bloom, and Snufkin is tramping back to Moomin Valley - it must be time for our spring miniseries!

We're kicking off with this beautiful, perfectly formed gem of a short story from the collection Tales from Moomin Valley. It's a story about creativity, inspiration, song writing, and how big you need to be to get a name.

We namecheck a lot of books in this one! A non exhaustive list: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes.

Our Spirits of the Moomins are The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Stories by James Bruchac and Joseph Bruchac, and the songs of Regina Spektor. Our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is Song by Song.

The Podgoblins Hat Episode 16: The Spring Tune

This is the 3rd bonus episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

We're popping in with something a little different for you this week, it's a video game review! That's right, we're almost topical!

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is a beautiful, relaxing, not quite open world exploration of Moomin Valley through the eyes and musical instruments of Snufkin. We discuss the way it feels, the way it looks, the way it sounds. Dave has some nitpicks. We wonder how canon the good ship SnufMin is to these game developers. Did the Groke really break Nina's Switch?!

 Our Spirits of the Moomins this week are games. Nina's is Untitled Goose Game and Dave's is Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna). Our Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is The End of the World Book Club.


The Podgoblin's Hat Bonus Episode 3: Melody of Moominvalley

This is the 4th bonus episode of The Podgoblin's Hat, with Nina and Dave. You can find it on it's own feed wherever you get your podcasts.

This week we've got a special guest in to talk all about the music of Tove Jansson, and the game we talked about last week (Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley) AND the short story that kicked off this miniseason (the Spring Tune). Martin is a musician, a podcaster, a player of games, so he is ideal for all this!

 If you would like to listen along to the music, you'll want to start with this advert composed by Robert Farnon. Then visit this lovely Autumn Song by Tove Jansson and Erna Tauro. Henry Kathman's translation and cover of Snufkin's Spring Song can be found here. The video essay Dave was referring to is here. Finally, wrap your ears around the not unchallenging Moomin Voices album.

Martin's Spirit of the Moomins is The Wind by Fil Corbitt. His Spirit of the Podgoblin's Hat is Noah Caldwell-Gervais. You can find his own music at Pale Bird. His podcasts are Song by Song and Neutrino Watch. 


The Podgoblin's Hat Bonus Episode 4: Martin Zaltz Austwick

A weekly podcast: Join Dave Pickering on his journey to get better acquainted with the people he knows. Part interview show, part oral history project and part autobiography through conversation.

British Podcast Award 2017 winner (bronze in Best Interview category)

GBA was nominated for a 2012 Radio Production Award, aired for 3 seasons on Resonance 104.4 FM and was featured on BBC Radio 4's In Pod We Trust, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Helen and Olly's Required Listening and has been recommended by The Guardian, Time Out and the Financial Times