Lance X̱ʼunei Twitchell (born 1975) is an American scholar, poet, and language revitalization advocate. He works as an associate professor of Alaska Native Languages at the

University of Alaska Southeast The University of Alaska Southeast (UA Southeast, Alaska Southeast, or UAS) is a public university with its main campus in Juneau, Alaska and extended campuses in Sitka and Ketchikan. It is part of the University of Alaska System and was est ...

. He has written for "

Molly of Denali ''Molly of Denali'' (stylized in all caps) is an animated children's television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Kids and animated by Atomic Cartoons, created by Dorothea Gillim and Kathy Waugh for PBS Kids and CBC Kids.

". X̱'unei Lance Twitchell was granted tenure in the Department of Humanities, School of Arts & Sciences at the UAS Juneau Campus in 2018. He earned a Ph.D. in Hawaiian and indigenous language and culture revitalization from the Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani

College of Hawaiian Language Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani (KHUOK) College of Hawaiian Language is one of nine colleges and programs at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. KHUOK offers BA, MA and PhD programs in Hawaiian language and related topics including linguistics, lite ...

at the

University of Hawaii at Hilo A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, an M.F.A. in creative writing from the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...

, and a B.A. in English with a minor in American Indian studies from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Twin Cities. He serves on the state's Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council, appointed by the governor.

Early life

Twitchell is a citizen of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and is of

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...

Yup'ik The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik ( own name ''Yupʼik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an ...

, and

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

descent.

Awards and work

Awards

* Top Forty Under 40 award, Alaska Journal of Commerce (2013) * Judson L. Brown Leadership Award from Sealaska Heritage Institute (2016) * Contributions to Literacy in Alaska (CLIA) Awards, Alaska Center for the Book (2017) * First Alaskan Institute Young Native Leader Award (2020) *Emmy award for “Molly of Denali” episode in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Program (2025)

Poems

* "Nanook Sweats," "Release, Definition: Trickster," "Ode to Tlingit, Yellow Hair Takes the Fat and We Lament His Seedy Departure," and "Dark Skin and Betraying Uncle," published in Yellow Medicine Review (Spring, 2009) * "Shaawatkʼeʼs Birth", co-author, filmed by Alaska Quarterly Review (2016)

Books

* ''Haa Wsineix̲ Haa Yoo X̲'atángi (Our language Saved Us): A Guidebook for Learning the Tlingit Language'' * ''Beginning Tlingit Workbook'' (2017) * ''Tlingit Reference Guide: Verbs, Grammar, Location & Direction, Concepts'', Juneau, AK: Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, 2020

Chapters

*''Tlingit use of marine space: putting up fish'' by Caskey Russell and X̱'unei Lance Twitchell

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twitchell, Lance 1975 births Language activists Living people 21st-century Alaska Native people Tlingit writers University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo alumni University of Minnesota alumni American people of Yupik descent 21st-century Native American writers Haida people American people of Sámi descent Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes people