The Podgoblin’s Hat

Dec 23 2023
The Podgoblin’s Hat Podcast artwork

The Podgoblin’s Hat is a Moomins read-through show. Tune in for weekly synopses, discussions, analysis and feelings by Dave, who has been reading Tove Jansson their whole life, and Nina, who’s just started. We’ll be wending our way through the peaks and troughs of the stories, discussing, thinking and feeling about Tove Jansson’s books for children. Listen in if you like stories about soft round creatures being brave and flawed. Write in if you’ve ever wondered, What Would Snufkin Do?

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The Fir Tree

Dec 23 2023 75 mins  
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 Moo

Moominland Midwinter (part 2)

Dec 18 2023 97 mins  
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 th

Moominland Midwinter (part 1)

Dec 11 2023 85 mins  
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 spa

The Dangerous Journey & Villain In The Moominhouse

Sep 25 2023 66 mins  
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 port

The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My & Who Will Comfort Toffle

Sep 18 2023 73 mins  
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 mor

Moominsummer Madness (part 2)

Sep 11 2023 72 mins  
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 pla

Moominsummer Madness (part 1)

Sep 04 2023 64 mins  
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

The Exploits (or Memoirs) of Moominpappa, part 2

Aug 28 2023 73 mins  
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

The Exploits (or Memoirs) of Moominpappa (part 1)

Aug 21 2023 76 mins  
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 chil

Bonus #2 Dr Eleanor Janega

Jun 26 2023 43 mins  
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