Jennifer Kwon Dobbs and Johanna Domokos present Underfoot

In Underfoot, Holmberg asks what prevents an industrialized nation-state from achieving its desire to extract maximum resources.

His answers are people and their connection with land. Writing in Northern Sámi, he creates a world of symbols to enact the challenges of maintaining an immediate relationship with land in the midst of ongoing settler colonialism and displacement.

Specifically, Underfoot summons readers to return to their feet because that’s where we’re constantly in contact with the ground. The book’s antagonist, the shoemaker, markets comfort and warmth. The moment that we put on the shoe is when we offer ourselves to capitalism and mechanization. That’s when we replace our values of sustainability and communality with egoism and individuality.

The poetry is interwoven with illustrations by Sami artist, Inga-Wiktoria Pave.

Niillas Holmberg is a Sámi poet, novelist, scriptwriter, and musician. Translated into several languages, he has published a novel and six books of poetry, won such prizes as the Kirsi Kunnas Poetry Award, and has been nominated twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. His debut novel, Halla Helle, is a Runeberg Prize nominee in Finland. Known as an upfront spokesman for Indigenous rights to self-determination, Holmberg has been involved in several movements against extractivism in Sámi areas. He lives in Ohcejohka, Sámiland.

Johanna Domokos is a poet, translator, and editor (hochroth Bielefeld, translingual and performative series) and has been an international promoter of the Sámi literary field for more than two decades.

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs is a poet, editor, and translator. Interrogation Room (White Pine Press) is her most recent book. The senior poetry editor at AGNI, she teaches at St. Olaf College.

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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