Read and join the virtual book discussion of May's book ByThe Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends, Emilie Demant Hatt (compiler), 2019

Although versions of tales about wizards and magical reindeer from northern Scandinavia are found in European folk and fairytale collections, stories told by the indigenous Nordic Sami themselves are rare in English translation. Between 1907 and 1916 Danish artist and ethnographer Emilie Demant Hatt recorded tales of magic animals, otherworldly girls who marry Sami men, and cannibalistic ogres or Stallos. Many of her storytellers were women, and the memorable tales included in this collection tell of plucky girls and women who outfox their attackers (whether Russian bandits, mysterious Dog-Turks, or Swedish farmers) and save their people. 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.

Didn't have time to finish the book? We get it. Join us anyway to get inspired to finish the book!

Free/Swenson Center members and Augie students, $10/nonmember - RSVP to get the Zoom link www.augustana.edu/swenson/classes