Nordic Authors You Should Know at Scandinavia House continues with a focus on Sámi literature with Johanna Domokos and Saami poet, musician and scriptwriter Niillas Holmberg, moderated by Harald Gaski. The panelists will discuss Sámi literature and culture today.
Please send audience questions ahead of the discussion to info@amscan.org. Select questions will be chosen for a Q&A following the conversation. Registration is required; please sign up at the link above.
Media support for the series is provided by the journal EuropeNow, published by the Council for European Studies at Columbia University.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Niillas Holmberg (b. 1990, Utsjoki) is a Saami poet, musician and scriptwriter. He has published six books of poetry and has been translated into more than ten languages. As a musician he has worked as a vocalist, guitarist, composer and lyricist. He has performed with several internationally performing bands such as YLVA and Nordic Namgar with genres ranging from World Music to Electronic. Niillas has also worked as an actor on theatre and TV. For many years Holmberg has been involved in several movements against exploitation of nature, such as mining, in the traditional Saami areas. Environmental and cultural aspects are the core of his artistic expression and he is known as an upfront spokesman for Saami and indigenous rights.
Dr. Johanna Domokos obtained her MA degrees in Hungarian and English Studies at University of Cluj (1994), in Finno-Ugric Studies at University of Szeged (1994), and in Semiotics at Technical University Berlin, (2001), and earned her PhD in comparative literature at University of Szeged (1999) and “venia legendi” at Lorand Eötvös University, Budapest (2011). Her work focuses on multicultural literatures in North and East Europe, particularly. Finnish, Saami and Hungarian. She has published extensively on multicultural studies, translation theory and practice, and intersections of linguistics, poetics and semiotics. Dr. Domokos has taught at various European and American Universities before moving to University of Bielefeld. She is also active in organizing cultural events. She has published about a dozen books of Sámi and Nordic literature in German, English. In 2019, with Christine Schlosser and Michael Riessler, she published the first comprehensive anthology of Sami poetry translated into German.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Harald Gaski is Professor in Sámi Culture and Literature at Sámi allaskuvla / Sámi University of Applied Sciences. He was born in Deatnu (Tana) in North Norway. Gaski is the author and editor of several books on Sámi literature and culture and has also translated Sámi literature and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää’s poetry into Norwegian and English.
Gaski’s research specializes on Indigenous methodologies and Sámi oral and written culture. Gaski has been instrumental in establishing Sámi literature as an academic field and has been awarded for his research and writing.