Our Yarning events held next week in Canberra to support First Nations children’s literacy

Popular Save the Children program Library For All is inviting early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals along with others in the Canberra community to experience and celebrate aspects of its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s literacy program Our Yarning by attending events during a week of writers’ workshops and public lectures next week. 

 

Our Yarning is a free, digital library of culturally relevant books created by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Since its commencement in 2021 the program has grown to have nearly 160 books in its collection.

 

The events include three story time sessions at early childhood centres, a series of writers’ workshops, and a public lecture at Canberra University presented by Our Yarning’s Cultural Advisor Dr Julie Owen between 19-21 September.

 

An ‘In Conversation’ event will also be held with adventurer and Save the Children Ambassador Huw Kingston, who will be ‘fresh off the mountain’ from his 50-day trek across every ski resort in Australia raising funds for Our Yarning. 

 

Mr Kingston, who has embarked on several fundraising ventures for Save the Children, will discuss his expedition spanning 700 kilometres and his passion for Our Yarning.

 

 The ACT events build on the success of other writers’ workshops held in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia, with Our Yarning hoping to run workshops across 50 communities and have 500 books available by 2026.

 

“Over the past 18 months we have been working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from across Australia to turn their much-loved campfire stories into children’s books,” Library for All Cultural Advisor and Education Specialist Dr Julie Owen explained. 

 

“The workshops are an opportunity to gather stories for the Our Yarning collection but to also engage with adults on the value of literacy.” 

 

Our Yarning’s mission, she continued, is to address the disproportionate impact of illiteracy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait children by providing access to culturally relevant stories, as “we know children engage better when they can see themselves in the characters of the books they are reading.”

 

To register for the events, please visit the following links:

 

• A public lecture with Dr Julie Owen: Creating mirror books for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children.
• In Conversation with Adventurer Huw Kingston & Story Gatherer Dr Julie Owen: Books for an Adventurer.
• Children’s book writing workshop: Inviting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander story tellers

 

More information about Library for All is available here.