Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the North Carolina Language and Life Project. He has pioneered research on social and ethnic dialects since the 1960s and published 24 books, 8 edited collections, and more than 300 articles. Over the last two decades, he and his students have conducted more than 3,500 sociolinguistic interviews with residents of North Carolina and beyond, primarily under funding from the National Science Foundation. In addition to his research interests, Professor Wolfram is particularly interested in the application of sociolinguistic information to the public, as executive producer of 15 television documentaries, the construction of 6 museum exhibits, and the development of innovative formal and informal materials related to language diversity. He has received two Emmy awards for documentaries, and has received numerous awards, including the North Carolina Award (the highest award given to a citizen of North Carolina), Caldwell Humanities Laureate from the NC Humanities Council, the Holladay Medal at NC State, and the Linguistics, Language and the Public Award from the Linguistic Society of America. He has served as President of the Linguistic Society of America, the American Dialect Society, and the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics, and has been inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (https://chass.ncsu.edu/people/wolfram/)

Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz, MFA (she/her) is a 2012 UMass Amherst BDIC alumna. She has been learning her Inuttut language since 2020. Alkiewicz, a dual citizen and beneficiary of Nunatsiavut Government, is passionate about her first language and works really hard to make her family proud after the Residential Boarding Schools stole her parents’ language. Alkiewicz has taught at Mount Holyoke College, NAICOB, Smith College, University of Massachusetts, and more. She is a small business owner, visual artist, writer, and educator. Alkiewicz has been recognized by Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa for her work (2026) and is a Marquis' Who's Who in America (2025-26) along with an M.C.C. Cultural Sector Recovery Grant (2023). She serves on the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. 

Юрій Білінський – засновник програми Збережи Мову і Культуру Своєї Бабусі, яка покликана зберегти багатство регіональних українських говірок та усних традицій, спадщини, якій загрожують розрив між поколіннями, депопуляція села і, останнім часом, воєнні потрясіння. За підтримки Українсько-Канадської Фундації http://www.cufoundation.ca програма надає стипендії українській молоді за створення відео, які відтворюють говірки та фольклор у всіх їхніх первісних деталях, зокрема вимову, лексику та стилістичні особливості, що вже майже не передаються через сімейні зв’язки і в місцевих громадах. Ця робота покликана повернути джерельні говірки й народні традиції до активного вжитку серед молодших поколінь українців. Вебсайт програми: https://savelanguageandculture.org/ 

BR413 is a band based in the Pioneer Valley that brings Brazilian music to New England. Led by Flávia Terra (vocals), Luiz Alexandre (guitar and vocals), Mark Sims (bass), and Nico Meneses (percussion), they perform songs from renowned MPB artists such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Djavan, Chico Buarque, Luiz Gonzaga, and Alceu Valença, among many others. Their setlist showcases a wide variety of Brazilian rhythms, including samba, bossa nova, xaxado, carimbó, frevo, baião, xote, samba rock, and samba reggae. Instagram: www.instagram.com/br413music 

Brahim El Guabli is associate professor of Arabic Studies and Comparative Literature at Williams College. El Guabli's interdisciplinary works straddles Amazigh, Arabic, and Francophone literatures as well as memory, indigenous, and environmental studies. El Guabli is the author of the award-winning monograph Moroccan Other-Archives: History and Citizenship After State Violence (Fordham University Press, 2023), which examines the politics of archives and history writing in post-colonial Morocco. Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and Its Radical Consequences, his second book, was published by the University of California Press. His third book, Amazighitude: Living Amazigh Indigeneity in the World, is currently under review. El Guabli is co-founder and co-editor of the Amazigh Studies series with Georgetown University Press and of independent peer-reviewed Tamazgha Studies Journal.

Salma Khan holds a great regard for her language as a vital part of her identity. She has read several important literary works by scholars who explore the historical origins of the Pashto language and the tribes and sub-tribes of Pashto-speaking people inhabiting parts of South and Central Asia. It is the language of renowned poets such as Rahman Baba, Khushal Khan Khattak, and Ghani Khan. In recent times, Professor Siyal Kakar has given a new voice to the study of the language’s history and origins. The presentation Khan will deliver is based on the works of Ms. Saleha, a linguist specializing in Pashto, and in collaboration with her, Khan is honored to present this significant and engaging topic at the Festival of Languages and Dialects.

Nahla Khalil is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at UMass Amherst. She received her MA and PhD from Ain Shams University in Egypt. Before joining LLC at UMass, Nahla was a visiting PhD candidte in the Department of English at UMass and taught at Amherst College as a post-doctoral fellow. Nahla has received several awards including grants from the Institute of International Education, the Fulbright Foundation and the Five Colleges Inc. She is twice the recipient of Five College Innovative Language Teaching Award to develop teaching materials for blended language classes. She has served as a guest editor and is a contributing editor of Metamorphoses (The Five College Journal of Literary Translation).

UMass Kpop Dance Club is a student organization on campus that focuses on letting dancers of all levels experience their love for performing Kpop! Please welcome one of KDC's General Performance Groups: Hype Boy by New Jeans to the stage!

Dr. Yokaira López-Tifa is an Afro-Caribbean transnational educator and researcher-practitioner whose work centers on educational equity, bilingual education, and community-engaged scholarship. She recently earned her doctorate in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on Spanish bilingual educators' pathways into dual-language programs and how their trajectories shape instructional practices. Drawing from her K-12 and higher education background, she examines raciolinguistic ideologies and amplifies the voices of teachers navigating racialized identities within dual-language programs. Through storytelling, youth empowerment, and arts-based pedagogy, she bridges participatory research and culturally sustaining practices to advocate for equitable, transformative multilingual and multicultural education locally and internationally.

Char Nim is in their final semester of a graduate program with the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation as a trainer. They are most moved by language justice practices in movement and base-led spaces, popular education, storytelling, and music pedagogy. They want to learn more about embodied healing work and the ways language deepens healing for ourselves and communities.

Joe Pater is Professor of Linguistics at UMass Amherst. Since the early 2000s, he has been teaching a course on varieties of English in terms of their sound patterns, called Sounds of Englishes. He is currently involved in studying archival materials for the evidence of what Western Massachusetts speech sounded like in the past.

Kela Stewart is a first generation American and a second semester sophomore with a passion for writing and entertaining people with their words. Kela got the inspiration to write long nights. when they were in high school. The idea behind the poem was to capture the feeling of want and loneliness one feels for a loved one. They worked on the poem for a few years before the finished piece was published in an anthology for mOthertounge.

Musbah was born and raised in Syria and came to the U.S. to study in 2013. He is a professor of higher education with expertise in the impact of college on appreciative attitudes between groups. In his spare time, he dabbles in writing and poetry, often around issues related to identity and belonging.

Dex Veitch is a senior undergraduate at UMass majoring in Comparative Literature and Film who began learning French upon coming to college and has since taken an interest in Francophone studies. His academic practice primarily focuses on film and literary theory, explored in particular through the mode of videographic essays. Artistically, his practice is mainly concerned with filmmaking, poetry, and mixed media. His approach in both fields has a tendency to incorporate a deconstructive lens. Among many things, Dex likes body modification, harsh noise, and collecting wedding dresses. 

Umar Vorona is a multilingual journalist. Currently he interns at New England Public Media and freelances for different publications in Boston and California. With strong ties to the Karabakh culture, he aims to tell stories to preserve and celebrate such a rich dialect of the Armenian Language. 

The Yiddish Book Center recovers, preserves, teaches, and celebrates Yiddish literature and culture to advance a fuller understanding of Jewish history and identity. The Center engages diverse, worldwide audiences, generating enthusiasm, knowledge, and commitment to the history and future of Yiddish and Jewish culture (https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/about-us). Members of the Center will be running a letter press printing workshop and a dance workshop with live music at the Festival!

This annual event is dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity and promoting inclusivity within the community. The festival will feature a vibrant array of activities, including international food trucks offering cuisine from various cultures, live performances showcasing traditional music and dance, and local vendors representing diverse crafts and products. By fostering a welcoming atmosphere, the Amherst Global Village Festival aims to bring together individuals from all backgrounds, encouraging dialogue and understanding while highlighting the rich tapestry of global cultures in a fun and engaging environment. (https://www.amherstma.gov/3847/Global-Village-Festival)

The Amherst Global Village Festival is a separate event taking place on the same weekend as the Festival of Languages and Dialects. To help promote them, there will be two buses from the Festival of Languages and Dialects to the Amherst Global Village Festival.