Vera Starbard
T’set Kwei yóo x̱at duwasáakw. Vera Starbard áyá ax̱ saayí. Dleit ḵáa x̱’éináx̱ Vera Marlene Bedard yóo x̱at duwasáakw. Leeneidi naax̱ x̱at sitee. T’akdeintaan yádi. Wooshkeetaan dachx̱án. Dena’ina dachx̱án. Takjik’ ḵwáan áwé uháan. Shaan Seetxʼ yéi x̱at ḵoowdiztee. Xʼáatʼ Tʼáakx’ ḵux̱aa.óo.
Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, is an editor, author, and playwright. She is a Tlingit Raven of the Leeneidi (Dog Salmon clan) after her mother, and a Child of T’akdeintaan. Her paternal grandfather is of the Wooshkeetaan Clan, and her maternal grandfather is Dena’ina Athabascan. Vera’s ancestors are from the village of Tuxecan on Prince of Wales Island, she was born in Shaan Seet (Craig,) and she’s lived in many communities throughout Alaska. She now makes her home on Xʼáatʼ Tʼáak – Douglas Island, Alaska - with her husband Joseph Bedard of the Inupiaq, Yup’ik, and Cree people, as well as an adopted Chookaneidi.
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 the Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award, Alaska Literary Award, and Governor’s Award for Arts and Humanities.
To find out more about Vera, you can follow her social media channels or visit her website:
Facebook: facebook.com/VeraStarbard
Instagram: @Vera_Starbard