Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes (born 1945) belongs to the Kaagwaaataan clan, also known as the wolf house, representing the Eagle side of the Tlingit Nation. Hayes is a Tlingit author and an Emerita retired professor at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) in Juneau, Alaska. As an author, Hayes is a (Tlingit) memoirist, essayist, and poet. She was selected as the Alaska State Writer Laureate in 2016 and served in that position until 2018.