Valkeapaa, Nils-Aslak

(1943-2001)

   ASami poet who wrote in both Sami and Finnish, Valkeapaa is as yet the only Sami awarded the Nordic Literary Prize. Valkeapaa had his literary debut with a book of essays in Finnish, Terveisia Lapista (1971; tr. Greetings from Lappland, 1984). A book in Sami bears the title Ruoktu vaimmus (1985; tr. Trekways of the Wind, 1994). The volume for which he received the Nordic Literary Prize in 1991, Beaivi, ahcazan (1991; tr. The Sun, My Father, 1997), contains poems and photographs and refers to a Sami myth that holds people to be the children of the sun. Valkeapaa's last book was Eanni, Eannazan (2001; The Earth, Our Mother). Valkeapaa was also recognized as a composer, musician, sculptor, painter, and actor.