NAARCA News: The Second writing commission has been awarded to Hanna Ellen Guttorm

Image: Hannah Guttorm, provided by the artist. 

We are thrilled to announce that the second NAARCA writing commission has been awarded to Hanna Ellen Guttorm.

Hanna is a senior researcher at the University of Helsinki focusing on Indigenous Studies and is a member of Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Sciences. She is also an Associate Professor in Sámi Teacher Education at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Guovdageaidnu. Her current research on healing methodologies is funded by Kone Foundation. In her writing, she has revitalised the language and North Sámi culture of her father, and invites readers to think, feel, and act towards solidarity, reciprocity, and sustainability transition.

For the NAARCA writing commission, she writes with the 'sorrow, embarrassment, and hope of an Earthling, once again, to and with her own people(s) and other Earthly beings, multilingually and care-fully.' 

To learn more about the commissions and NAARCA visit the project's website. And you can now enjoy the audio version of the first writing commission, Seasickness/Cur na Mara by Mairi Macleod, which was recorded as a bonus episode for the NAARCA podcast, Testing Grounds. In Seasickness/Cur na Mara, Mairi draws on a traditional Scottish folk tale – the Selkie wife – and updates it for an age of climate crisis. The short story is read in both Gaelic and English.