Ellen Marie Vars was born Láhpoluoppal in Guovdageaidnu-Kautokeino, Norway, where her education and upbringing from the age of seven was very much coloured by her life at a boarding school where the Sami language was strictly forbidden, and the children were taught to look down on all things Sami. She now lives in Guovdageaidnu and works as an editor of the Sami youth magazine S. She has one child.
She made her debut with the teenage novel Kátjá, 1986, which was translated into Norwegian and the same year published the children’s book Oabbá. In the autumn of 1989, she published together with Inga Ravna and Kaia Nilsen the poetry collection Savdnjiluvvon nagir. Her teenage novel Ja idja ii galgga leat about religious belief, young love, and the conflicts it can entail was published in 1996.
Additions by the editorial team 2011:
The above biography was first published in 1998. Since then, Ellen Marie Vars has written Jaskatvuođas ii leat mihkke agiid, 2002, and Máilmmi láikkimus olmmos, 2006.
