Voices from Sápmi: Sámi Writing

October 2022

Image of The 47 Most Wanted Foremothers by artist Outi Pieski

Outi Pieski, "47 eanemus ohccojuvvon máttaráhkut - The 47 Most Wanted Foremothers," 2019, Courtesy: Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, The 13th Gwangju Biennale, Photo: Sang Tae Kim

Two log cabins, one with a grass roof, in a field next to the water

I, Argus fin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sharing Stories: A Brief Introduction to Sámi Literary History

By Mathilde Magga

For Sámi literature to continue playing its essential role in our culture and to expand its benefits, we need more writers, readers, and translators, which is impossible without support—both financially and through the education system.

A herd of reindeer attached to a sled at sunset

Photo by Hans-Jurgen Mager on Unsplash

Polar Fire

By Moa Backe Åstot

Are there homosexual reindeer herders?

Translated from Swedish by B. J. Woodstein

Photo by Sunbeam Photography on Unsplash

Throwing Voices

By Linnea Axelsson

With this needle she can create anew what would otherwise disappear.

Translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel

Vibrant green northern lights against a dark sky

Photo by Federico Bottos on Unsplash

Two Poems

By Rönn-Lisa Zakrisson

Show me to those southerners / Tell them about all the tongues that are mine / all the nature that’s mine

Translated from Swedish by Fiona Graham

Multilingual

Christian Pietzsch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Wolfskin

By Risten Sokki

“When the forested valleys in Russia start filling up with snow, the wolf begins its journey from the south toward the plains in the north.”

Translated from North Sámi by Olivia Lasky

Black and white photograph of Sámi people traveling with reindeer

Swedish National Heritage Board, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The Deportation of the Northern Sámi

By Elin Anna Labba

The children ask where they are going. They, too, have begun to grasp that they are not heading home.

Translated from Swedish by Fiona Graham

Two distant snowmobiles driving across a snowy field while the sun sets behind snowy mountains

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

The Ear

By Ann-Helén Laestadius

She had seen the man make the sign for death, so she knew this was serious.

Translated from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles

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