Who is Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk, the author of the first novel written in Inuit language?
She holds the title of the first novelist in this language with her novel, which she started writing in 1950, when she was only 22 years old, in an Inuit settlement at the northernmost tip of the province of Quebec.
Of course, their language has folk tales and fairy tales that they tell to slanty-eyed babies in the ice houses we know as igloos during the short polar nights. However, as they gradually shifted to English, children's fairy tales started to be in English as well. The Ministry of Culture is now making an effort to keep the disappearing Inuit language alive.
THE FIRST NOVELIST OF THE LANGUAGE
Among these works, an Inuit woman who wrote a novel about her own life is remembered today as the author of the first novel written in this language, and her books are republished again and again to inspire new writers. Her name is Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk; she holds the title of the first novelist in this language with her novel, which she started writing in 1950, when she was only 22 years old, in an Inuit settlement at the northernmost tip of the province of Quebec.
Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk CM (1931–April 30, 2007) was an Inuk author, educator, and sculptor from Kangiqsujuaq, in northern Quebec. She was most noted for Sanaaq, one of the first Inuktitut language novels; although written earlier, it was published later than Markoosie Patsauq's Harpoon of the Hunter. She authored a total of 22 books on traditional Inuit language and culture for use in schools, and her soapstone sculptures are held in collections at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, the Musée de la Civilisation, and the British Museum.
Around the same time, another novel by the male writer Markoosie Patsauq was published: The Hunter's Harpoon! Of course, the story of the ice people who had to hunt will be under this title. A few more books later and that's it! Now the language is gone and hope revives Inuit literature again.
Nappaaluk's novel "Sanaaq" also has a reputation as the first Inuit literary work to be translated into English and French. It is noteworthy that Norma Dunning, one of the contemporary literary Inuik women and an academic in the field of literature at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, honored the first female literary figure of her people with the words, "For me, she is a unique writer who introduced us to the whole world."
Nappauluk died fifteen years ago, and throughout her life, she wrote nearly twenty works, most of them children's books. Let's see if there will be new writers who will keep the warm language of this cold world alive through novels, all expectations are in this direction. It seems unbelievable, but according to UNESCO's statement, there are around 7 thousand languages in the world, so it is impossible not to be surprised by the "sapiens" of homo sapiens and this richness. However, approximately 2,500 of these languages are subject to erosion and are disappearing due to the invasion of other languages and the decrease in the number of people.