Composed in 48 episodes, Sanaaq recounts the daily life of its titular character, a strong and outspoken young widow, her daughter Qumaq, and their small semi-nomadic community in northern Quebec. Here they live their lives hunting seal, repairing their kayak, and gathering mussels under blue sea ice before the tide comes in.

These are ordinary, extraordinary lives: marriages are made and unmade, children are born and named, violence appears in the form of a fearful husband or a hungry polar bear. Here the spirit world is alive and relations with non-humans are never taken lightly. And under it all, the growing intrusion of the qallunaat Euro-Canadians and the battle for souls between the Catholic and Anglican missionaries threatens to forever change the way of life of Sanaaq and her young family.

MITIARJUK NAPPAALUK, born 1931 in Kangiqsujuaq, was an educator and author based in the northern Quebec territory of Nunavik. Dedicated to preserving Inuit culture, Nappaaluk authored over twenty books, including Sanaaq, the first novel written in Inuktitut syllabics. Among her many accomplishments, Nappaaluk also compiled an Inuktitut encyclopedia of Inuit traditional knowledge, translated the Catholic prayer book into Inuktitut, and helped to develop curriculum materials for the Kativik School Board.