A Very Native Premiere Week

Nov 1, 2021

So… guess what? The MAJORITY of new Molly of Denali episodes being released this week are written by Native writers! This is a very good start to Native Heritage Month, and a very good premiere week. 🙂

Today was “Molly and Elizabeth” (written by me, Vera Starbard, Tlingit/Dena’ina) alongside “Uqiqug” by Waatsasdiyei Apayuk Yates (Haida.)

“Molly and Elizabeth” is about Molly confronting racism, and the iconic Tlingit civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich. “Uqiquq” is about Tooey’s difficulty learning Yup’ik to honor his grandma.

Wednesday will be “Every Meow and Again” by Frank Kaash Katasse (Tlingit.)

Thursday will be “Winter is Coming” by June Thiele (Athabascan/Yup’ik.)

“Every Meow and Again” is about finding a big lost cat in the village, and “Winter is Coming” is about the very important Alaskan task of preparing for winter.

And Friday will be “Trini’s Super Coop” by Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets’aii Gwich’in) alongside “Trini’s Winter Warm Up” by Aaluk Edwardson (Inupiaq.)

“Trini’s Super Coop” is about Trini wanting to make her mom’s first morning back home perfect, and the need to winterize the chicken coop. And in “Trini’s Warm Up,” Molly and Tooey are afraid Trini wants to move back to Texas so they show her all the fun things to do in Alaska.

Not to mention every single episode, no matter who wrote it, is worked on by dozens of Native professionals – actors, producers, editors, consultants, musicians, linguists, Elders, Youth – so many brilliant Native minds and hearts touch this show! ❤️

Bonus – if you don’t want to wait for these to air, you can download the PBS KIDS app and all the new episodes are available NOW, for free! Or you can go to the website.

But of course you can also just look up when it’s airing nationally on your local public television station! The episodes will air repeatedly over the next several weeks and months.

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Copyright 2021 Vera Starbard