X̱’unei Lance Twitchell gets citation at Capitol for Native language revival efforts
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jun 29
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 30
UAS language professor, Emmy-winning "Molly of Denali" writer taking year-long sabbatical to explore further
"You have brought the voices of our ancestors back to this Earth and you are ensuring that the voices of our ancestors will always be heard."
That tribute to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell — who’s helped bring Alaska Native languages to the state’s official dialects, classrooms and cultural projects including the Emmy-winning children’s TV show "Molly of Denali" — was offered Saturday as he received a legislative citation at the Alaska State Capitol. About 20 friends and colleagues were at the presentation of the award sponsored by Juneau’s three-member legislative delegation.
Offering the accolade was Kaaháni Rosita Worl, who as president of Sealaska Heritage Institute since 1998 was herself presented with a National Humanities Medal last fall from President Joe Biden at the White House. She said during Saturday’s ceremony when she took over as SHI president "linguists were declaring Lingít moribund and we said ‘Never, never will that word be used to describe our language again.’"
"I know that you and other language learners have always credited the elders for the success that we are feeling and achieving at this moment, but I have always said were it not for you and other language learners who are teaching in the schools we would never have this kind of success," she told Twitchell.
Twitchell, after accepting the citation, told those gathered the ceremony was his second-favorite moment at the Capitol. The first, he said, was about a dozen years ago "when we won an argument." He said it occurred after a local lawmaker heard him give a presentation at a tribal assembly.
"We hatched an idea to make Alaska Native languages the co-official languages of Alaska and his staff went to look at how to do it," he said. "And it was the first time I was ever going to come into this building to give testimony."
"We encountered some serious resistance to trying to say languages should be equal," Twitchell said. "And there was one person in particular —well, probably two — that we had to defeat. And we defeated both of them and it was such a wonderful moment that some of our elders could see that."
The citation refers to Twitchell as "an outstanding Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, where he works tirelessly to bring the Tlingit language into everyday life through education, media, performance, and community engagement."
It also honors his efforts with numerous other entities ranging from Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School to Perseverance Theatre to chairing the state Council for Alaska Native Languages.
The primary sponsor of the citation, Rep. Andi Story (D-Juneau), highlighted his efforts to include Indigenous languages among those considered official by the state — an effort she championed last year with a bill passed by the Legislature expanding the list.
"I know you were here working on that, and I know because of your work with the Council for Alaska Native Languages that you've been up here with presentations and questions," Story said. She said not everyone at the Capitol was respectful about the effort "to have our Indigenous languages thrive — and all of our people thrive — so it's important we recognize the efforts of everyone in the room."
"I think what is so important is not only at the university — where you are growing teachers of the language, which is so important — but putting that passion, that feeling into the essence of who you are, and how language and teaching all people, Native and non-Native, how important it is to know the language and it helps you understand the people in the land," she said.
Twitchell, born in Skagway in 1975, is of Tlingit, Haida, Yup'ik and Sámi descent, and belongs to the Lukaax̱.ádi clan. He’s been an instructor since receiving his bachelor’s degree in English (with a minor in American Indian Studies) in 1987. The citation notes that, in addition to his work on behalf of tribal councils and organizations, "he currently works on films, plays, screenplays, novels, and a poetry book."
There were nods and murmurs of acknowledgment at Saturday’s ceremony when Story mentioned the local familiarity of his "Lingít Word of the Week" featured on local public media. Other cultural projects Twitchell is involved with include a Lingít version of William Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" and the lyrics for an original opera being crafted by fellow Alaska Native writer Vera Starbard.
Much more widespread recognition occurred in March when an episode of the PBS Kids show “Molly of Denali” that Twitchell co-wrote won the award for Writing for a Preschool Animated Series at the third annual 2025 Children’s and Family Emmy Awards. The episode "Not a Mascot" features Molly and her friends taking on the issue of a sports team at a competing school whose mascot is "a tomahawk-waving stereotype of an Indigenous person," according to a PBS summary.
But while it’s a period of peak recognition for Twitchell, he’s also at the start of a year-long sabbatical where he’ll be exploring well beyond Juneau while remaining involved in some of his ongoing projects.
Twitchell, in an interview after the ceremony, said part of the reason the presentation took place Saturday — more than a month after the Legislature adjourned — is because he’s been away from Juneau for a month.
"I'm in town today and then gone for (another) month," he said. "I’m going to Whitehorse and then I'll be back for a week in August, and then I'll be gone pretty long stretches, like we'll be out of town most of the next year."
Among his upcoming plans are being a featured presenter at a language conference in Ottawa, Canada, and then exploring the East Coast before heading across the country to "drive down the West Coast for a little bit." During all that, however, he’ll remain involved in local projects such as finishing translation work for the opera — which might be ready for staging next fall after his sabbatical is complete — as well as taking on another Shakespeare translation.
"It's going to probably be ‘Twelfth Night’ because we always do dramas and I wanted to do one of the romantic comedies," he said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
