Publishing Sámi Literature—from Christian Translations to Sámi Publishing Houses

Abstract

Publishing in the Sami languages has always been difficult. The Sami are currently spread across four countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. There are nine different Sami languages, some of them with only a few speakers. The Sami publishing industry is entirely dependent on government funding as we do not have our own funds nor is there a system of independent foundations as is the case, for example, in North America. Although the Sami language has been a language of instruction at some schools in the Sami area for a couple of decades, the number of Sami readers remains very small. Due to the various Nordic assimilation policies that were particularly harsh in the early twentieth century, many Sami have lost their mother tongue, and many of those who retained the language did not learn to read Sami at school. One would expect national governments to amend the situation by arranging Sami literacy courses for adults during their workdays. These courses would also offer muchneeded spaces for learning to read Sami literature. However, this has not proved to be the case. For every Sami word I have published, I have been forced to beg for money from the representatives of the government. Today, with the establishment of the Sami parliaments, much of the funding for the Sami people is now funneled through these bodies. However, especially in Finland, the annual allocation of funds is way below what is required to adequately run Sami affairs and advance “Sami cultural autonomy.” Despite the Sami Cultural Autonomy Act, the