The first English publication of Sami folktales from Scandinavia collected and illustrated in the early twentieth century
These stories, collected by the Danish artist and ethnographer Emilie Demant Hatt (1873–1958) during her travels in the early twentieth century among the nomadic Sami in Swedish Sápmi, grant entry to a fascinating world of wonder and peril, of nature imbued with spirits, and strangers to be outwitted with gumption and craft. This first English publication of By the Fire is at once a significant contribution to the canon of world literature, a unique glimpse into Sami culture, and a testament to the enduring art of storytelling.
By the Fire, first published in Danish in 1922, features Demant Hatt’s original linoleum prints, incorporating and transforming her visual memories of Sápmi in a style influenced by the northern European Expressionists after World War I.
Barbara Sjoholm is a writer, editor, and translator of Danish and Norwegian literature. She has written fiction and nonfiction, including Black Fox: A Life of Emilie Demant Hatt, Artist and Ethnographer.