"Our stories are ready for the world"

Already during the first hours of the Book Fair, the seminar "All roads lead to Sápmi" was arranged.

There, the authors Sara Lövenstam, Tina Harnesk and Mikael Berglund discussed how they approached Sápmi in their books from completely different starting points.

And several say that the feeling is that Sápmi is starting to interest more and more book readers.

"They know Sápmi now"

Lea Simma, at the Tjállegoahte author's center Sápmi, thinks it has to do with the fact that Swedes generally have a better grasp of Sápmi today than before.

- I think the Swedes now know about Sápmi and can immerse themselves more than before.

We have come a step further, she says.

The threshold for accepting a story about Sápmi is simply lower if the readers have a little more prior knowledge, she reasons.

"Appreciate the insight"

Tina Harnesk, who debuts with the book "Folk som sår i snø" this year, agrees with the reactions she has received to her book so far.

-- People seem to appreciate the insight they get into the Sami and the part of my Sápmi that I can show and portray, she says.

At the same time, she emphasizes the importance of continuing to spread Sami stories.

- The Sami storytelling tradition is so strong, we have so much of that stuff, but it's just that we may not have recorded ourselves for as long as other writers in the majority society.

But our stories are ready for the world, I think, she says.