Words of the Real People ─ Alaska Native Literature in Translation

Words of the Real People collects the life stories, poetry, and oral literature of the Yupik, Inupiaq, and Alutiiq peoples of Alaska, making them widely available to readers in English for the first time. Accompanied by background essays on each Native group, the literature in this collection embraces Native Alaskan life in all its rich variety. From tales of malevolent shamans to the unexpected poetry of the urban experience, and from ancient tales passed down for generations to contemporary stories being woven into a new tradition, Words of the Real People stakes out an important place for Native Alaskan literature as a vibrant, living tradition and will be essential to folklorists, anthropologists, and anyone interested in the storied past of our continent's most forbidding reaches.

Ann Fienup-Riordan is an anthropologist and author of numerous books on the people of Alaska.

Lawrence D. Kaplan is director of the Alaska Native Language Center and professor of linguistics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is coauthor of The Comparative Eskimo Dictionary.