Author, translator, ethnologist and journalist born on April 20th, 1917 in Frederiksdal (now Narsarmijit) (Greenland) - died in Søborg (Denmark) in 2012.
Mâliâraq Vebæk, also known as Mâliarâq Vabæk, Maaliaaraq Vebæk, and Malârâq Vebæk, was born in 1917 in the village of Frederiksdal (now Narsarmijit), located in the southern part of western Greenland and consisting, at the time, of 23 homes housing around one hundred people. At the time of Mâliâraq Vebæk’s birth, the village, formerly inhabited by German missionaries, was home to many pastors and catechists— including her father, Hans Hoseas Josva Kleist—who were charged with establising the Church of Greenland. Mâliâraq Vebæk was born into a learned family: her maternal grandfather, Jens Chemnitz, was educated in Denmark and was one of the first Greenlandic pastors. Her father was sat on the Nanortalik Communal Council and the Greenland National Council (Grønlands Landsråd). A commemorative plaque honouring him and his wife, Bolette Marie Ingeborg Chemnitz, was unveiled in 1979 in Narsarmijit. Education was very important to Mâliâraq Vebæk's family: they taught her to read and to write, and she also received traditional Inuit knowledge, such as leather tanning, from her mother.
As a teenager, Mâliâraq Vebæk was admitted to an efterskole (a secondary school for students aged fourteen to eighteen) in Aasiaat (formerly Egedesminde), in northern Greenland. This was a prestigious school whose admission was subject to an examination; before its founding in 1932, Greenlandic girls did not have access to a secondary education. Mâliâraq Vebæk graduated at the top of her class in 1934, thereby becoming one of the most educated women in Greenland at the time. Her academic excellence earned her a scholarship to attend the Theodora Lang Seminary in Silkeborg (Denmark); she enrolled in 1935. Despite the challenges posed for her by the Danish language, Mâliâraq Vebæk obtained a teaching diploma in 1939, becoming the first Greenlandic woman to achieve a university education. She then returned to Greenland after five years of absence.
In Greenland, Mâliâraq Vebæk worked as a teacher in Ilulissat (formerly Jakobshavn), Aasiaat (formerly Egedesminde) and Paamiut (formerly Frederikshåb). In 1939, she met Christen Leif Vebæk, an archaeologist and curator at the National Museum of Denmark. They were married on August 4th, 1945, after having been separated for the duration of the war; she had been living in Greenland and he in Denmark. Together, they had two daughters, Bolette, born in 1946, and Astrid, born in 1947. After the Second World War, the family moved to Denmark. They visited Greenland on a regular basis, particularly to carry out archaeological excavations. Mâliâraq Vebæk served as an interpreter for her husband in addition to raising their children. Over the years, she also compiled ethnological surveys in Greenlandic (Kalaallissut), which she then translated into Danish for researchers. She also collected traditional Greenlandic stories, songs, and legends. This first contact with ethnology and translation inspired Mâliâraq Vebæk, and she became increasingly interested in these founding elements of Greenlandic culture.
At the end of the 1950s, Mâliâraq Vebæk began to notice the loss of Greenlandic culture among young people. To counter this phenomenon, in 1957 she published a series of six Greenlandic stories and legends, including “Aqigsiaq” and “Narrâjît,” which were published in the newspaper Grønland. From 1958 onwards, she worked as a performer for the Copenhagen branch of the Greenlandic national radio (Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa, KNR). She read her own texts as well as Scandinavian novels on the air; her radio career spanned nearly 20 years. She also wrote radio plays, whose characters were played by other Greenlanders living in Denmark. Mâliâraq Vebæk also worked as a translator during this time, translating into Greenlandic the novels of Henrik Pontoppidan (Denmark), Halldór Laxness (Iceland), William Heinesen (Faroe Islands) and Per Lagerkvist (Sweden), among others.
In Copenhagen, Mâliâraq Vebæk was also involved in several Greenlandic associations, including The Greenlandic House (Det Grønlandske Hus). This involvement brought her into contact with disadvantaged Greenlanders, particularly women. In 1971, she participated in the preparation of the Grønlændere i Danmark report, edited by Pie Barfod, which analyzed the living conditions of Greenlanders living in Denmark. The following year, she translated this report into Greenlandic under the title Kalâtdlit Danmarkime. Mâliâraq Vebæk was particularly interested in the conditions of Greenlandic women married to Danish men, which was a source of inspiration for her writing. She also dedicated herself to journalism as well as to artistic and literary criticism.
In 1981, Mâliâraq Vebæk published her first novel, Bussimi naapinneq (literally: “Meeting on the Bus”). This novel recounts the destinies of two Greenlandic women living in Denmark, one of whom, Katrine, meets a tragic end. Bussimi naapinneq had a significant impact on the Scandinavian literary scene: in 1982, Mâliâraq Vebæk was awarded, among other prizes, the Greenland Writers’ Association Prize (Grønlands Forfatterforenings Pris). Mâliâraq Vebæk translated the novel into Danish herself under the title Historien om Katrine (literally: “The Story of Katrine”); it was also translated into Russian (1988), Sami (1988), and French (2026). This novel, which gained a widespread audience, particularly through its serialized publication in the newspaper Atuagagdliutit/Grønlandsposten in 1993 and 1994, has as an important feminist significance: the main characters are women with active and complex roles. Both Greenlandic women represented in the novel followed their Danish husbands to Denmark, as did Mâliâraq Vebæk. Unlike their author, the protagonists in this story experience a profound sense of disillusionment. Mâliâraq Vebæk's novel includes reflections on gender and racial inequalities. In 1992, she published a sequel, titled Ukiut trettenit qaangiummata (literally: “Thirteen years later”), which follows Emilie, Katrine’s daughter, as she confronts Danish racism and sets off in search of her Greenlandic roots. The novel was translated into Danish under the title Tretten år efter (literally: “Thirteen years later”) in 1997.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Mâliâraq Vebæk published several short stories and poems in Danish and in Greenlandic. In 1990, Mâliâraq Vebæk published an important anthology in Danish, Navaranaaq og andre: de grønlandske kvinders historie (literally: “Navaranaaq and others: History of Greenlandic women from the origins to the present day”). This collection, which is based on her collected ethnographic material, recounts the lives of prominent Greenlandic women, beginning with the legend of Sedna, the sea goddess, and ending with profiles of contemporary politicians. The book was translated into Greenlandic in 1996, under the title Navaranaaq allallu: Kalaallit arnat oqaluttuassartaat. In 1995, Mâliâraq Vebæk collaborated with the Greenlandic artist Aka Høegh to create a children's book depicting a variant of the legend of Sedna. Sassuma Arnaanut pulaarneq was published in 1995 and reprinted in 1999; subsequent editions were published in 2015 and in 2018. The book was translated into Danish under the title Besøg hos havets moder in 1995 and into English under the title A Journey to the Mother of the Sea in 1999.
Over the course of her career, Mâliâraq Vebæk participated in several conferences in Denmark, Greenland, and abroad, where she read excerpts of her works and gave lectures on various topics relating to Greenlandic culture and traditions. The last years of Mâliâraq Vebæk's life were dedicated to the transcription and editing of her voluminous collection of tape recordings of the folk tales of southern Greenland. These transcriptions were published in various anthologies such as The Southernmost People of Greenland (2006), published in the dialect of southern Greenland and in English.
In 2001, Mâliâraq Vebæk was awarded the Greenlandic Culture Prize (Grønlandske Kulturpris) for her life’s work. In 2007, she received the Greenland Medal for Meritorious Service (Nersornaat), awarded by the Greenland Home Rule government, for her contributions to Greenlandic society.
Mâliâraq Vebæk died in Søborg (Denmark) on February 25th, 2012.