News from the ILF
March 2022
Tiwi Islands, 2021. Photography by Tiffany Parker
Yamandhu marang Friend,
The ILF is proud to welcome Tshinta Morris-Fernando to the Marketing team as Junior Graphic Designer. Tshinta joins our team bringing a wealth of experience in working in Community organisations as well as her amazing skill set in art and graphic design. Our new Programs Manager, Zoe Cassim, also joined the ILF team in early March and has begun building meaningful
relationships with Community as well as the ILF team. We are very lucky to have Zoe on board.
This month we have some exciting news for families and organisations in remote Communities. Book Supply registrations are now open! There is almost 100,000 books available and orders are already coming in fast. There are packs suitable for all ages. Read more about Book Supply here.
ILF staff participated in a full day Cultural Policy and Protocols workshop facilitated by Leitha Assan, a Badhu ipikazz (woman) from the Torres Strait and consultant Bronwyn Jewell. It provided an invaluable opportunity for staff to share, listen and learn, especially from Indigenous staff who have firsthand experience in engaging with remote Communities. Leitha and Bronwyn shared their vast knowledge and insights and the workshop outputs will inform the development of two key documents. This is a critical process for ILF to continue to maintain long-term trusting and respectful relationships within Community. We warmly thank Leitha and Bronwyn and look forward to the next stage of this process.
Our signature fundraising event, the Great Book Swap is now open for registrations for schools and organisations. The Great Book Swap is an easy and fun way to promote a sense of social justice, learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and share a love of books and reading!
Our Foundation would like to send out a special consideration for those who have been affected by the New South Wales and Queensland floods. Our thoughts are with you.
Mandaang guwu,
Ben Bowen
Chief Executive Officer
ILF Welcomes a New Ambassador
Kirsten Banks is a Wiradjuri astrophysicist and science communicator who loves to share her passion for the
universe at public talks and by making short and fun educational videos on TikTok. She is a fantastic advocate for reading and education and is an incredible role model for aspiring scientists.
Launching Great Book Swap
The 2022 Great Book Swap officially launched at The International Grammar School on 15 March. ILF ambassador Kirsten Banks joined in the fun with more than 60 excited year five students and teachers. Read more about the day here.
Translation Rights Project
Just delivered into our warehouse are the first titles in our Translation Rights project. Through this project our Foundation supports remote Communities to translate popular children's books into Indigenous Languages.
The first two titles are Run Like a Rabbit by ILF Lifetime Ambassador Alison Lester, which has been translated into Garawa, and What's That Noise? by Sally Rippin with illustrations by Lorette Broekstra, which has been translated into Kriol and Garawa. These books will be available through our Book Buzz program.
Where's the Green Sheep?
We have just received advance copies of the next title in our Translation Rights - Where’s the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. The book has been translated into Kriol and Pitjantjatjara, and bulk stock is due into our warehouse next month. The books will be also be gifted to remote Communities through our Book Buzz program.
We would like to express our thanks to bestselling author Michael Connelly who made a generous donation in honour of the staff at Allen & Unwin Publishers.
We are indebted to our partner Australia Post for their support with the delivery of Book Supply packs to remote Communities and their ongoing fundraising. Learn more about how they supported ILF in 2021 here.
Isuzu UTE Australia is kindly supporting us with an Isuzu D-MAX – enabling our Regional Coordinator, Josie Lardy to access remote Aboriginal Communities to provide early learning programs and support children and adults to write and
illustrate their own books in languages of their choice.
A big thank you to the five staff members from Societe Generale who volunteered their time in helping box up our Reading Opens Doors Libraries in our Sydney office. Learn more about the library here.
This month we would like to thank Content Copywriting who are pledging 1% of their profits to support our Foundation. "We want to do whatever we can to support increasing literacy among First Nations peoples and to help reduce the loss of language. We'll also encourage our team and clients to donate too".
A big thank you to Australian Homeschooling Summit who have raised over $2000 by donating $1 from each ticket sale plus 10% of sponsorship income. "Most of us homeschoolers love books, and we know that literacy is the foundation of education. But in very remote Indigenous Communities books are scarce and literacy levels are much lower than anywhere else in Australia."
Thank you to the team at BendTech who are supporting our Foundation by donating $1 for every invoice issued and will promote the ILF through social media and other marketing mediums.
