Indigenous Literacy Day 2021

Celebrating Stories and Language

September 1st is Indigenous Literacy Day.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) was founded by former teacher and education consultant, Suzy Wilson. The ILF is a not-for-profit charity which “respects the unique place of Australia’s first people and draws on the expertise of the Australian book industry.”

The ability to read provides so many opportunities, but books can be scarce and literacy levels low in very remote Indigenous communities.  The ILF works in over 400 remote communities where their purpose is to “make a difference to the lives of Indigenous families by not only gifting thousands of new, culturally appropriate books – with a focus on early literacy and first language – but also by running programs to inspire the communities to tell and publish their own stories, in the languages they choose.”

This year, the school library is supporting the ILF by donating over 1,000 books that have been removed from our library collection to the James Bennett Sustainability Project.  The Sustainability Project takes books no longer needed by libraries and either sells them, donates them to communities in need, or recycles them. Any money made from selling the books is donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

To read more about the ILF and the important work they do, visit the Indigenous Literacy Day LearnPath page.

 

[source: The Indigenous Literacy Foundation]