Indigenous Literacy Day

We support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation's annual Indigenous Literacy Day, to take place next week on Wednesday 7 September.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is an Australian not-for-profit founded in 2011 that provides access to books and literacy programs for Indigenous Australian youth. Donations help deliver books, books in First Languages, and learning resources to children and families living in remote communities across Australia.

From Ben Bowen, ILF Chief Executive Officer:

'Our Communities are vibrant, strong, and highly intelligent. We have this literacy around culture, Land and Community, but how Communities engage with a highly Western concept of literacy is different. I want to engage Communities in those conversations around literacy so they can redefine that space themselves. My vision for the ILF is for the organisation to support remote Communities to engage in literacy in the way they wish.'

ILF’s three programs, Book Supply, Book Buzz and Community Publishing Projects, focus on ensuring access to quality resources, including books in First Languages, publishing Community stories and supporting Communities and families to lead the entire process to ensure leadership, ownership, and authenticity is held with Community Elders and residents.

HachetteANZ CEO, Louise Stark, shares on our efforts in this space:

‘Hachette has been supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) since the very early days of the Indigenous Literacy Project.?Every Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD) in September we donate a portion of our sales for that day to the ILF.?This year will be no different on the donations front, but we will be more involved in ILD as several members of the Hachette team will be volunteering to help to make the Sydney Opera House event a great success.?

We are keen supporters of the ILF and their work to support community-led literacy programs in remote Australia. When our books are selected for inclusion in the Book Supply program, we are delighted that they have been found to be relevant to young First Nations readers, as this aligns with our mission to make it easy for everyone, everywhere to unlock new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.’

You can support the ILF by donating to the cause, partnering with ILF through business sponsorships, and volunteering in remote communities.

You can also register for the ILF's national digital event - Celebrating Stories, Cultures and Languages. It's a free digital event for all ages, premiering on Wednesday 7 September from 10.30am (AEST). Visit ild.org.au/ILD for details.