The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is the 2024 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) for children’s literature – a global award given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature.
With a prize of five million Swedish kronor (AUD $725,000) it is the largest award of its kind in the world and was established by the Swedish government in 2002 in honour of the Swedish children’s books writer Astrid Lindgren (the creator of Pippi Longstocking). The award’s aim is to increase interest in children’s and young people’s literature, and to promote children’s rights to culture on a global level.
“The importance of all people’s own languages and stories is the foundation for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s shining work among First Nations peoples in Australia. Their innovative activities, which build on respect, collaboration and sensitivity, are an inspiration for reading promotion work around the world,” said Boel Westin, chair of the jury for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
The announcement was made in a live program from Stockholm and at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on Tuesday 9 April. The winner was announced from 245 candidates from 68 countries and regions.
Author Sonya Hartnett (2008) and writer and artist Shaun Tan (2011) are the previous Australian winners of the prize.
Elevating important work
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is an Australian national charity working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia. The organisation’s Community-led approach responds to requests from remote Communities for culturally relevant books, including early learning board books, resources, and programs to support Communities to create and publish their stories in languages of their choice.
ILF CEO Ben Bowen told EducationDaily that, for a small organisation of 30 people, winning “this award on a global level just elevates the work we are doing”.
That work, he says, includes publishing Indigenous stories and “making them top-level commercial products”.
“And this is validation,” Mr Bowen says.
He told EducationDaily that, despite the fact that “severe passion” for what they do means the entire team “would do the work we do unpaid”, the monetary prize is a definite bonus that will go a long way in supporting the ILF’s endeavours.
What the award also does, Mr Bowen says, is provide a public acknowledgement of that passion and the achievements the team have made.
“We have a publishing team of just four people,” Mr Bowen told EducationDaily.
“And we have gone up against the biggest publishers and authors in the world.”
He thanked the ALMA Jury, adding that “we are deeply honoured to receive this award”.
“The achievement of being shortlisted, let alone being the winner of such a globally prestigious award speaks directly to the nature of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) being a Community-led organisation entrusted to support remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community literacy aspirations,” Mr Bowen says.
“Throughout the lifetime of the ILF, we have had the privilege of being invited into Community and entrusted to support their aspirations through providing culturally relevant books and literacy resources and publishing their stories in the language they choose.”
Helping remote Communities nurture deeper connections with the power of words
It’s a win, Mr Bowen says, that would not be possible “without the support of our donors, supporters, volunteers, ambassadors and Community partners that enable an organisation of around 30 staff to support literacy in over 400 remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities”.
“This award is a direct acknowledgement to Communities we partner with, corporate partners and supporters, donors, Ambassadors, our Board and volunteers that have all played a critical role in building the ILF. Thank you and congratulations.”
“This award could not have come about without the extraordinary work of many of Australia’s remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, who trust the ILF with the stories they choose to tell, told in multiple languages and illustrated in Community,” says ILF Head of Publishing Nicola Robinson.
“It would also never have come about without the generosity of the many, many thousands of Australians who have contributed to the ILF over the years. I am thinking of the many ‘ordinary’ people who make small monthly donations or organise fundraising events in their community groups or workplaces. I am thinking of the many, many people within my own industry – the book industry – who collect over the counter donations in bookshops, hold Great Book Swaps or bake sales, attend our trivia nights, collaborate on our projects, and assist in so many other ways. This award reflects the work of a great many people, who should all feel proud today.”
Recognition of proud storytelling history
The funds will be used to support the ongoing ambition of the ILF to support Community literacy aspiration through publishing and providing culturally relevant books and resources.
Mr Bowen told EducationDaily that, in addition to that important funding boost, he looks forward to the award raising greater awareness about the power of Indigeous stories.
“History has shown that our stories have been treated as bedtime stoiries, or less than they are,” he says.
“This award highloights that there is a place for these stories and that the global market is ready to recognise the knowledge, and lore and systems that are embedded in these stories.This is a great time for us.”
