Beaulne, Sarah

Translator, throat singer and member of Puvirnituq's executive committee born in Rouyn-Noranda (Québec) in 1978.

Sarah Beaulne, also known as Sarah Arnaluk Beaulne was born in 1978 in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, in her mother’s hometown. Her mother, Carole Beaulne is a well-known nurse in Nunavik and her father, Paulusi Nuvalinga is the brother of historian, linguist and politician Taamusi Qumaq, from Puvirnituq, Nunavik. Sarah Beaulne grew up in Puvirnituq in a family of five children, learning to speak three languages: French, Inuktitut and English. During her high school studies, she participated in an exchange program to Greenland and this experience awakened a sense of kinship with all Inuit that has influenced all aspects of her professional career.

Sarah Beaulne’s work combines artistic and literary creation. It also focuses on transmission and exchange between the Qallunaat and Inuit cultures and has consistently served her Puvirnituq community.

During her studies at Cégep Marie-Victorin, in Montréal, Sarah Beaulne published two short texts, a story entitled “La vieille femme et l’ours polaire” and an essay entitled “Affaires de femmes inuites” in Sivunitsavut magazine in 1998. Through these two different literary forms, she celebrated the strength and resilience of Inuit women. She is part of this group. An accomplished throat-singer, she sang at the SuperMicMac Festival, a celebration of the contribution of avant-garde women musicians to the Canadian music scene held by the Montréal Museum of Contemporary Art in October and November of 2000. She also performed with Evie Mark in throat singing performances for the film Les seigneurs de l’Arctique = Lords of the Arctic (2003) by Caroline Underwood and Jean Lemire and in the documentary Tusarnituuq! Nagano in the land of the Inuit = Nagano in the land of the Inuit (2009). She also sang at international conferences and events, for example the transcultural concert of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, held in the Beijing Natural History Museum where she performed with Sylvia Cloutier in 2007. She also participated in the film Before tomorrow = Le jour avant le lendemain (2008) by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu, an adaptation in Nunavik of the novel Før morgendagen by the Danish writer Jørn Riel, and in its resulting publication, Ikuma. Carnet de tournage (2008). Sarah Beaulne has translated several children’s books from French to Inuktitut for Les Éditions du soleil de minuit publishers: she has prepared Inuktitut text for the bilingual, illustrated novels La grand-mère d'Aputik (2000), L'anniversaire d'Aputik (2003) by Diane Groulx, and La légende du corbeau (2002) by Isabelle Larouche, among others.

Sarah Beaulne’s work to create Inuktitut children’s reading and to improve education among Inuit youth has led to her involvement as an elected member of the Council of Commissioners of Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, the regional school board, since 2017, and in this role, she has encouraged the transmission of Inuit traditional culture and its sharing with Québec society. She is also the secretary treasurer of the municipal council of Puvirnituq since the end of 2000s, where she is dedicated to supporting her community sudden transition into modernity.

Mentioned in (*IN)

This biography is based on the available written material during a collective research carried out during 2018-2021. It is possible that mistakes and facts need to be corrected. If you notice an error, or if you wish to correct something in an author's biography, please write to us at imaginairedunord@uqam.ca and we will be happy to do so. This is how we will be able to have more precise presentations, and to better promote Inuit culture.

(c) International Laboratory for Research on Images of the North, Winter and the Arctic, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2018-2021, Daniel Chartier and al.