“Exploring the Frontiers of Language”
North Words Writers Symposium • May 24-27, 2023Lḵoot Ḵwáan has du aaní káx̱ woosh kanax̱ gax̱tuda.áat. Tlax̱ ḵúnáx̱ chʼáakw áwe wé tlʼátk káa yéi has wootee. Yeedát tsú yéi has yatee, ḵa chʼa tleix̱ a káa yéi has gug̱watée. Yá tlʼátk káa áwé has du sh kalneekxʼí kei nas.áx̱. Yá tlʼátk, yá nadaayi héen, ḵa yá Aas Ḵwáani has du séínáx̱ aawashée Lḵoot Ḵwáan x̱ʼasheexʼí. Wáa sá haa tuwáa sigóo at yáa awuné ldakát át a jeex̱ yeeteeyí. Gunalchéesh.
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
July 27, 2022 – Our 2023 Keynote Author will be KAREN RUSSELL. Please see her bio below. We will have other faculty announcements as we venture into fall. Registration for North Words 2023 will open in November. Mark your calendars for coming to Skagway May 24-27, 2023.
Karen Russell
2023 Keynote Speaker Bio
Karen Russell, born and raised in Miami, FL, won the 2012 and 2018 National Magazine Award for fiction, and her first novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, the “5 under 35” prize from the National Book Foundation, the NYPL Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and is a former fellow of the Cullman Center and the American Academy in Berlin. Russell is also the author of St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories, Sleep Donation: A Novella, and most recently, Orange World. She currently holds the Endowed Chair at Texas State University’s MFA program, and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
July 20, 2022 – Our 2023 North Words dates will be May 24-27, 2023. Tommy Orange was a wonderful keynote for North Words 2022 when we gathered again in-person at the end of May for the first time since 2019. We had a great group of about 30 participants engaging with Tommy and our fabulous Alaska-NW faculty. You can review past conferences under The Experience tab and check out photos on Facebook.
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.
We are going to gather on the ancestral land of the Lḵoot peoples
Lḵoot Ḵwáan has du aaní káx̱ woosh kanax̱...