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Aanii / Boozhoo / Osiyo / Halito / Ya’at’eeh / Greetings!

Welcome to the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures (ASAIL). ASAIL is a professional academic organization created to promote the study, criticism, and research of American Indian written and oral literary traditions.

We hope that this digital space grants easy access to multiple resources and archives, such as sample syllabi, guides to Native American and Indigenous Studies programs, Studies in American Indian Literatures issues, and more! It will, of course, continue to be the space to gain access to our exciting new online SAIL Review, which includes incredible book reviews and association news.

ASAIL’s current membership includes leading scholars, writers, and activists committed to the interdisciplinary study and continuance of Native American and Indigenous languages, cultures, and aesthetic traditions. Whether you are a first-time visitor to our site or a long-term member of ASAIL, you will find resources here on teaching, researching, and writing about Native American and Indigenous literatures. We take pride in our history of mentorship and take it very seriously. We offer conference travel fellowships to offset expenses for graduate students to present their research. This past year we were able to offer a number of gratis graduate student memberships as a result of some generous donations. If you aren’t already a member, I welcome you to our website and encourage you to join ASAIL!

For the past two years, we have held a Virtual Conference to temporarily fill the gap that Covid-19 and the absence of the Native American Literature Symposium (NALS) has left us. It allowed those of us for working in and producing Native American literatures to meet one another, network, and share work. The Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures Executive Officers are grateful to the Native American Literature Symposium founders and organizers whose labor, vision, and dedication convened so many of us and our peers and colleagues for over 20 years. We appreciate the community they established: a scholarly and creative space guided by Indigenous principles of knowledge sharing and mentorship. I’m excited for what this next year will bring.

Please be in touch if you have ideas for the future of ASAIL.