Labba, Elin Anna

Labba, Elin Anna Image 1

© Hugo Thambert

Elin Anna Labba is a journalist and former editor of Nuorat magazine. She now works at Tjállegoahte, the Sápmi Writers’ Centre in Jokkmokk, Norrbotten, Sweden, with a mission to strengthen and emphasise Sámi literature.

In 2020 her book Sirdolaččat was awarded Sweden's most distinguished literary prize, the August Prize, for best non-fiction title. The book, a historical reportage with a lyrical tone, describes the deportation of Scandinavia's indigenous people, the Northern Sámi, during the early 20th century, thus highlighting a hidden part of Nordic history.  The settlement, a forced displacement – referred to as a “dislocation” by the authorities – initiated a long period of deportations of reindeer-keeping Northern Sámi from their homes in Norway to new lands in Sweden, and in Finland. Elin Anna Labba hails from a family that lived on a land that was seized by the authorities. This is her way to tell her own family’s story.