Elin Anna Labba (; born November 30, 1980, Kiruna, Sweden) is a Sámi author and journalist. She has won multiple prizes for her first book (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.
Early years and education
Elin Anna Labba was born on November 30, 1980 in Kiruna, Sweden, where she also grew up. She moved to Gothenburg to study journalism at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg. 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. She graduated from the University of Gothenburg in 2008.
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 , which was translated and released the same year in Northern Sámi under the title . It was translated from Swedish to Norwegian Bokmål and published in 2021 as .
Awards
In 2020, Labba was awarded the August Prize for her book . In 2021, she won the Norrland Literature Prize for the same book. In 2022, she was awarded the Hedevind Plaquette.
Bibliography
Books
, Norstedts 2020, ISBN 9789113101682 (in Swedish) , Norstedts 2020, ISBN 9789113102436 (translated from Swedish to Northern Sámi by Lea Simma) , 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
, Sjöberg, Henrik, Carlberg, Ingrid, and Bengtsson, Jesper. Norstedts 2021, ISBN 9789113117881 (in Swedish) , red. Patricia Fjellgren and Malin Nord, Verbal 2021, ISBN 9789189155497 (in Swedish)