On Thursday, March 30th, Dr. Kirstin Squint, the 2023 Guest Feature Editor, gave a presentation at UNC-Pembroke’s Southeastern Native Studies Conference, “Inside North Carolina Literary Review 2023: Highlighting North Carolina’s Indigenous Voices,” overviewing the forthcoming issue and its evolution.
The other participants on her panel were Lumbee poet, Tonya Holy Elk, whose work will be included in both the print issue and the fall online issue and ECU M.A. graduate Jessica Cory, who discussed her NCLR essay, “The Politics of Recognition and the Power of Place in Lumbee Women’s Poetry.”
The conference also included a roundtable focused on another piece in NCLR, “Coming Home: Affirming Community through Lumbee Children’s Literature,” winner of the 2023 Kenan Prize for best essay on a new North Carolina writer. On the roundtable, the essay author, Dr. Jane Haladay, led a conversation with the authors of the Lumbee children’s books, Whoz Ya People? (Brittany Hunt) and It’s Lumbee Homecoming Y’all: Nakoma’s Greatest Tradition (Leslie Locklear and Christina Pacheco). These panels engaged with scholars and community members and stirred up much excitement for NCLR‘s 2023 issue.
(photo by Willis Glasgow/UNCP Photography)