COVID-19 UPDATE: NALS 2020 CANCELLED

It is with deep regret that we announce the cancellation of this year’s conference due to the global pandemic of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, as part of the NALS Family, your health and safety must come first.

Thank you, all of you, for the loyalty, support, and enthusiasm you continually offer this organization and its mission. Please know that we are sending good thoughts in all directions for each of you.

If you are a NALS 2020 panelist/participant who has already paid and registered for the conference, then you should have received an email with information regarding refunds. If you did not receive this email, we sincerely apologize and ask that you contact Ashley at nativelitsymposium@gmail.com regarding refunds.

Thank you for you patience and understanding during this unprecedented situation in our conference history. Be sure to follow the preventive measures suggested by the CDC. Wash your hands. Be good to each other. Stay well.

Sincerely,

Gwen Westerman, Director of the Native American Literature Symposium

Ashley Richardson, Assistant to the Director

Our 2020 conference will be held April 2 – 4 at Mystic Lake Hotel and Casino.

The Native American Literature Symposium is organized by an independent group of Indigenous scholars committed to making a place where Native voices can be heard. Since 2001, we have brought together some of the most influential voices in Native America to share our stories—in art, prose, poetry, film, religion, history, politics, music, philosophy, and science—from our worldview. This year’s conference theme is 2020 HINDSIGHT!

NALS 2020 KEY NOTE SPEAKERS

Jill Scott Momaday is a mother, actor, writer, and filmmaker. Her documentary Return to Rainy Mountain (2017), not only tells the story of her father and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, N. Scott Momaday, but also reflects on her Kiowa heritage and life in the arts. The film premiered on PBS and was an official selection of the 2018 BZN Film Celebration. Jill served as the family advisor and archivist for the PBS American Masters episode, “N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear,” which premiered in 2019, and her film credits include: Tony Hillerman’s Coyote Waits, directed by Jan Egglesen; The Desperate Trail, directed by Paul Pesche; and Silent Tongue, written and directed by Sam Shepard. Jill studied theater at Santa Fe, NM.

More updates coming soon!

Download the NALS 2019 PROGRAM

See a mistake? Contact Ashley Richardson at nativelitsymposium@gmail.com.

Jennifer Foerster’s image, source , Tim Tingle’s image, source , Theo Van Alst’s image (edited), source

2019 KEY NOTE SPEAKERS

Author of poetry collections Bright Raft in the Afterweather (2018) and Leaving Tulsa (2013), Jennifer Elise Foerster. Author of debut poetry collection, You are enough: love poems for the end of the world, Smokii Sumac. Author of linked short story collection, Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr. Author of novels House Of Purple Cedar (2016) and How I Became a Ghost (2014), Tim Tingle.

Advertising

For inquiries regarding advertising rates in our 2020 program, as well as vendor and press table prices, please contact our Vendor Coordinator, Fantasia Painter, at fantasia.painter@gmail.com.