Matti Heikki Ilmari Morottaja eli Kuobžâ-Saammâl Matti, (b. December 28, 1942 in Sammuttijärvi, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

) is an Inari Sámi

Inari Sami (people)

Inari Sami are group of Sami people who inhabit the area around Lake Inari, Finland. They speak Inari Sami language, which belongs to eastern Sami languages. There are estimated 700 - 900 ethnic Inari Samis in Finland, of whom approximately 300 speak Inari Sami. They are the only group of Sami who...

 author, teacher and member of the Sami Parliament of Finland

Sami Parliament of Finland

The Sami Parliament of Finland is the representative body for people of Sami heritage in Finland. The parliament consists of 21 elected mandates...

, serving as president for six years. He has served as president of the Inari Sámi Language Association

Anarâškielâ servi

Anarâškielâ servi is a Sámi association from Inari, Finland. The association was founded in the auditorium of the Ivalo Hotel in Ivalo on December 4, 1986 by Veikko Aikio, Ilmari Mattus and Matti Morottaja....

 since its foundation. His sons, Petter

Petter Morottaja

Petter Jori Andaras Morottaja is an Inari Sámi who writes books in Inari Sámi. He published his first book at the age of 17. At the age of 25, he ran for the Sámi Parliament of Finland, but was not elected...

 and Mikkâl

Amoc (rapper)

Amoc is a Finnish rap musician. He is noted for rapping in the nearly extinct language of Inari Sami.-External links:* *-Produced by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland*...

, have also promoted the use of Inari Sámi in their own way: Petter as the editor-in-chief of Kierâš

Kierâš

Kierâš is an Inari Sámi-language on-line weekly that was published for the first time on September 6, 2007. It is published by Anarâškielâ servi and its editor-in-chief is Petter Morottaja. The newspaper is published once a week and offers news, announcements and current topics in Inari Sámi to its...

, a digital weekly in Inari Sámi and Mikkâl as the first rapper to rap in Inari Sámi in the world. Morottaja received the Mikael Agricola Prize from the Finnish Cultural Foundation on April 1, 2007.

Works

In 1996, Matti Morottaja was the editor for a book called Tovlááh mainâseh, which contains stories and tales from the publications Anarâš and Sábmelaš, from audiotapes made between 1968 and 1970 and from the anthology Aanaarkiela čájttuzeh.

Together with Ilmari Mattus, Morottaja has served as editor for the short-story anthology called Kyelisieidi maccâm já eres novelleh, which was published at Christmas 2005.

Translations

• Nieidâ kote šoodâi kollekuálsin (a translation of Samuli Aikio's book Nieida guhte šaddai gollegoalsin, originally in Northern Sámi
  Northern Sami
  Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland...
  
  ) 1982
• Rauna Paadar-Leivo
  Rauna Paadar-Leivo
  Rauna Paadar-Leivo is an Inari Sámi author who writes children's books, plays and novels in Northern Sámi. She currently lives in Inari and works at the Sami Parliament in Finland. Her books have been translated into Finnish, Norwegian, Russian and Inari Sámi...
  
  's book Halstemjeegi noaidi 1990
• Kirsti Paltto
  Kirsti Paltto
  Kirsti Paltto is a Sámi author who writes mainly in Northern Sámi. Her books have been translated into several languages, including Finnish, German, Norwegian, English , Inari Sámi and Hungarian...
  
  's book Tivgâ (Divgá) 1994
• Veikko Holmberg's book Tuuru-kuobžâ 1995