Elin Anna Labba

Elin Anna Labba (Northern Sami: Joná Gusttu Elin Ánná; born November 30, 1980, Kiruna / Giron, Sweden) is a Sámi author and journalist. She has won multiple prizes for her first book Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige (English: The Gentlemen Put Us Here: About the Forced Relocations in Sweden), which describes the forced migration of the Sámi from Norway to Sweden from 1919 to 1920.

Elin Anna Labba
Native name	Joná Gusttu Elin Ánná
Born	Joná Gusttu Elin Ánná (1980-11-30) November 30, 1980 (age 44) Kiruna, Sweden
Occupation	author and journalist
Alma mater	University of Gothenburg
Notable awards	August Prize (2020) Norrland Literature Prize (2021) Hedevind Plaquette (2022)

Early years and education

Elin Anna Labba was born on November 30, 1980, in Kiruna, Sweden, where she also grew up.^[1] She moved to Gothenburg to study journalism at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg.^[2] At the same time she was studying, Labba was also working as a journalist for P4 Norrbotten, SR Sápmi, and the Sámi news magazine Samefolket.^[1] She graduated from the University of Gothenburg in 2008.^[2]

Career

Since she graduated, Labba worked as the editor-in-chief of Nuorat and as the director of communications at Laponiatjuottjudus. Currently, she is employed as a project manager at the writer's center Tjállegoahte in Jokkmokk, Sweden.

In 2020, she debuted as an author with the Swedish-language book Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige, which was translated and released the same year in Northern Sámi under the title Hearrát dat bidje min: bággojohtimiid birra. It was translated from Swedish to Norwegian Bokmål and published in 2021 as Herrene sendte oss hit: om tvangsflyttingen av samene.

Awards

In 2020, Labba was awarded the August Prize for her book Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige. In 2021, she won the Norrland Literature Prize for the same book. In 2022, she was awarded the Hedevind Plaquette.^[3]

Bibliography

Books

• Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige, Norstedts 2020, ISBN 9789113101682 (in Swedish)
  • Hearrát dat bidje min: bággojohtimiid birra, Norstedts 2020, ISBN 9789113102436 (translated from Swedish to Northern Sámi by Lea Simma)
  • Herrene sendte oss hit: om tvangsflyttingen av samene, Pax 2021, ISBN 9788253042480 (translated from Swedish to Norwegian Bokmål by Trude Marstein)
  • The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi, University of Minnesota Press 2023, ISBN (cloth/jacket edition) 9781517913304, ISBN 9781452970530 (translated from Swedish to English by Fiona Graham)

Anthologies

• Du blir vad du säger: om hatspråk, yttrandefrihet och vikten av ett demokratiskt samtal, Sjöberg, Henrik, Carlberg, Ingrid, and Bengtsson, Jesper. Norstedts 2021, ISBN 9789113117881 (in Swedish)
• Inifrån Sápmi: vittnesmål från stulet land, red. Patricia Fjellgren and Malin Nord, Verbal 2021, ISBN 9789189155497 (in Swedish)