Auteur

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (1943-2001)was born in Enontekiö and lived in Beattet (Pättikkä) (Käsivarsi, Finland) and in Ivgobahta (Skibotn, Norway).

The Sami poet and artist, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, originally became known as a performer of Sami jojk (joiku-song) and a promoter of jojk tradition. He started his literary profession in 1971 with the pamphlet Terveisiä Lapista (Greetings from Lapland). Since that he has published collections of poems, composed music, appeared on the screen, made art exhibitions and taken part in different kinds of editorial work.

Primarily the poetry of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää has been published in the Sami language. He writes about nature which is near to the Sami people. In his Sami poetical works he uses all the possibilities and potentials provided by the Sami language, such as sounds, tones, accuracy, derived words and musicality of words, because the poems are primarily written to the Sami people.

The starting point of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's works is often a jojk, because in it some theme recurs in different forms, and can keep ringing in the ears for a long time after the singing of the jojk. In the same way his production aims to convey a special atmosphere or main theme. Technically this is highlighted in his works by omitting page numbers and headings. Instead, the poems are fused into each other, into the drawings and pictures.

The theme of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's poetry is nature, love and social justice. In his work, Beaivi, ahcazan (1988), the main theme is Sami people's relationship to the surrounding reality, that is, to their existence as human beings, to the means of livelihood, nature, states and the main populations of the states. Predominantly the picture material also deals with these same subjects. Also in his other poetical works he usually deals with the relationship between the Sami minority and the main population.(bron: website gemeente Rovaniemi)

--
Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa (1943-2001) does not write about nature, he writes nature; Valkeapaa is so much part of life as it truly is lived on the tundra that, in his writing, poetry and nature are one. There is an immediacy in his style of writing; its language and experiential qualities make the reader an active participant in the artistic process. Valkeapaa is the first Sami writer to win the prestigious Nordic Prize for Literature, given in recognition of his lyrical photographic work, Beaivi Ahcdtan [The Sun, My Father]. Valkeapaa has completed teacher’s training, but he has never taught school, per se. He made his literary debut in 1974 with a collection of poetry, and, in addition to several other collections of poetry, he has also released LP records and CDs with traditional yoik, often combined with jazz and other forms of music. He did this long before world music and ethno-sound became popular. Valkeapaa is also an internationally recognized artist, and he has had roles in feature films and TV-series. His poetical work Ruoktu váimmus, which he illustrated, has recently been published in English under the title Trekways of the Wind. (bron: Harald Gaski 1996)

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää kreeg in 1991 voor Beaivi, Áhcážan (de zon, mijn vader) de prijs van Noordse Raad. Beaivi, Áhcážan is tegelijk een fotoboek en dichtbundel. De foto's geven een indringend beeld van de historie en cultuur van de Samen.

Beaivi, Áhcážanem> is in alle Noordelijke talen vertaald (zonder de foto's) en ook in het Engels onder de titel The sun, my Father. Ook Ruoktu váimmus is vertaald in het Engels (Trekways of the wind). Deze bundel bevat drie eerdere dichtbundels (Gida ijat cuov'gadat, Lávllo vizár biellocizás, ádjaga silbasuonat).