Behind the Scenes with X’unei Lance Twitchell & T’set Kwei Vera Starbard

Explore Indigenous Storytelling with Molly of Denali^® Contributors Dr. X’unei Lance Twitchell and T’set Kwei Vera Starbard

Join Dr. X’unei Lance Twitchell (Lingít/Haida/Yup’ik/Sami) and T’set Kwei Vera Starbard (Tlingit/Dena’ina), Emmy-award winning contributors to the PBS KIDS^® series produced by GBH Kids, MOLLY OF DENALI^®, for a virtual conversation inspired by the Heard Museum’s interactive family experience, Molly of Denali: An Alaskan Adventure.

Learn how Twitchell and Starbard became part of the creative team, helped shape the fictional community of “Qyah,” and drew from their own cultures and lived experiences to create authentic Native representation on screen. They’ll also discuss the impact of Indigenous storytelling, what they hope audiences take away from the series, and the work they’re creating today.

About Our Speakers

Vera Starbard, T’set Kwei, (Tlingit/Dena’ina) 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 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.” Her novel, Park Survival: Lost in Alaska will be published by Scholastic in November 2026.

Xʼunei Lance Twitchell (Lingít/Haida/Yupʼik/Sami) is a Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, and lives in Juneau with his wife and children. He is an author, artist, and Emmy award-winning screenwriter for the PBS program Molly of Denali. His first book of poetry, G̱agaan Xʼusyee / Below the Foot of the Sun, is available from the University of Alaska Press and the University Press of Colorado. Dr. Twitchell holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, an MFA from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, and a doctorate in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization from Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.