“Ya aaní káa has du shkalneegí yaa nas.áx̱”
(On this land their stories are sounding off)North Words Writers Symposium • May 25-28, 2027
Emmy-winning Alaska Writer Laureate Vera Starbard to keynote North Words 2027
Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, is Tlingit and Dena’ina, and was appointed to be the Alaska State Writer Laureate in 2024. She is a four-time Emmy-nominee as a writer and story editor for the PBS Kids children’s program “Molly of Denali.” Vera was previously Playwright-in-Residence at Perseverance Theatre through the Andrew W. Mellon National Playwright Residency Program, and editor of First Alaskans Magazine for over a decade. In 2022-23 she was staffed as a writer on the ABC show “Alaska Daily,” and wrote the libretto for the first Tlingit opera – “Kutulagaw” – premiering in September 2026. Her middle-grade novel, “Park Survival: Lost in Alaska” will be published by Scholastic in November 2026.
Vera has won numerous individual local, statewide and national writing and editing awards, including numerous Alaska Press Club awards, Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, Alaska Literary Award, and Governor’s Award for Arts and Humanities.
Vera currently lives with her husband Joe Bedard (Inupiaq/Yup’ik/Cree) on Xʼáatʼ Tʼáak – Douglas Island, Alaska.
We are going to gather on the ancestral land of the Lḵoot peoples. From so very long ago they have been on these lands. Now they are here, and they will always be here. On this land, their stories are sounding off. Through the voices of the earth, rivers, and the Tree People sing the songs of the Lḵoot peoples. How much we want that you give respect to all things. Thank you.
— X̱'unei Lance Twitchell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Alaska Native Languages at University of Alaska Southeast and member of the North Words Organizing Faculty
UPDATES
April 9, 2026 – Register now! Still plenty of room! Registration closes May 15! Check Travel page for latest updates.
March 29, 2026 – Scholarship Winner Announced - Jamie Simpher, a second year student in the MFA program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been awarded the 2026 Alaska Creative Writing Student Scholarship. Simpher is primarily a fiction writer and is also the current managing editor of Permafrost, the UAF literary magazine. She will receive free entry and a $500 travel stipend to attend the North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway May 26-29.
February 23, 2026 – 2026 North Words SCHEDULE released.
February 12, 2026 – Panels & Writing Workshop Topics and 2026 Scholarships info released; Read the Press Release and view our 2026 Flyer.
November 3, 2025 – Registration now open for 2026 North Words! For more information see our Registration page. Check out our full 2026 faculty and watch for more panel and workshop topics and other announcements this winter.
Presented by the North Words Organizing Faculty under the fiscal sponsor Skagway Development Corporation - Community Development Services, with generous support from the Municipality of Skagway, Skagway Traditional Council, and additional Sponsors. Meet your writing community at the North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway, Alaska.