It’s Indigenous Literacy Day! and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is celebrating with a special livestream from the Sydney Opera House.
The main goal of the ILF is to help close the Indigenous Literacy gap by getting culturally relevant books into the hands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and remote communities, as well as offering the resources and programs to create and publish stories in-language.
The Foundation launched Indigenous Literacy Day 12 years ago as a way to platform and celebrate the stories, cultures, and languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This year, the ILF are showcasing three bilingual children’s books created in three remote communities in a free 15-minute film, followed by a star-studded 45-minute livestream from the Opera House with ILF ambassadors Jessica Mauboy, Justine Clarke, Gregg Dreise, Josh Pyle, and more.
The FREE showcase premieres at 10:30am AEST through the ILF website, but don’t worry if you miss it, the entire one-hour stream will be available to watch On Demand from 11:30am AEST on the same link.
Indigenous Literacy Foundation Ambassador Shelley Ware says not to worry if you can’t tune in though, there’s a lot going on within schools, homes, and workplaces this Indigenous Literacy Day.
“A really beautiful thing that a friend of mine has done for years is she goes to the local book shop, or she buys off the ILF a book written by a First Nations author, and she gives it to all of the children in her life and goes to her house and reads it to them.”
The proud Yankunytjatjara and Wirangu author, educator, and AFL commentator says Indigenous Literacy Day is all about sharing cultures, traditions, and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the wider community and to showcase all of the beauty within our culture as well celebrating it.
