Australian Children’s Laureate Boori Monty Pryor* kicks off his visit to South Australia on Sunday 26th May with two workshops at the State Library. Boori’s metro and regional tour was organised in collaboration with the Come Out Festival, South Australia’s preeminent arts festival for schools and families. It is the largest festival of its kind in the world! From workshops at the State Library of SA to an exhibition about his life and work, a Keynote Speech and visits to outer Metropolitan libraries (including Playford, Marion and Onkaparinga), it is going to be an inspiring visit.

To begin the Festival, Boori will share his love of stories, dancing and writing with children in a participatory program at the State Library of South Australia: this will include dance, playing his didgjeridoo and personal stories from his life. These workshops will coincide with the opening of the impressive ‘Shake a Leg’ touring exhibition.

The exhibition, curated by Trish Barnard, Senior Curator of Indigenous Studies at Queensland Museum, is showing between 20–31 May during the Come Out Festival. Included in the exhibition are Jan Ormerod's beautifully creative and original illustrations from her picture book collaboration with Boori, Shake a Leg. Boori's awards including his 'Laureate Magpie', Prime Minister's Award for Shake a Leg and other memorabilia are also on show to celebrate his achievements. Also in the exhibit are large images of Boori's life quilt, made for him by quilter Julie Morrison, depicting Boori's various interests and skills.

Monday 27th May and Tuesday 28th May see Boori whizzing off to libraries to work with school children from throughout the outer metropolitan area. He will be introducing them to his unique and memorable style of storytelling, including the ‘Shake a Leg’ and ‘crocodile’ dances.

Michael Hill, Creative Producer at the Come Out Festival, welcomes the opportunity to work with one of Australia’s premier storytellers:

“We are so thrilled to have Boori Monty Pryor at Come Out Festival this year. Teachers and children alike will be inspired by his passion for life and his skill and humour as a storyteller.”

The highlight of the tour will be Monday night’s Keynote Speech where Boori will engage the audience with stories from his eclectic career spanning film, television, modeling, sport, music and theatre-in- education, and how this influences the way he engages children in story today. Travelling all over the country, working with children every day, Boori has developed a powerful way to connect with their lives and bring them into the circle of the story and inspire them to want to tell their own.

Boori: "I'm really looking forward to sharing stories with the children of Adelaide, hearing their stories from their lives and telling my story too. I'd like to leave them with something from my life as a storyteller and performer, which is about finding strength within and having fun with life."

* A position Boori shares with co-Laureate Alison Lester.

Inaugural Children’s Laureate Alison Lester has been invited by Carclew Youth Arts (Aboriginal Arts Development) and the Anangu Education Services and Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Education Committee to conduct book making workshops on the APY Lands as part of the Tjitjiku Inma Project.

The aim the Tjitji Tjuta Inmaku Pakantjaku project is to promote the continued transmission of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language (an endangered Australian language) to children, in which elders and parents pass on children’s inma (stories sung and danced) aged 1-12 years.

Travelling with Alison to the APY Lands will be Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin Manager, Aboriginal Arts Development, and Joyce Louey, Manager, Community, for Carclew Youth Arts, Adelaide. Lee-Ann says: “It’s very exciting to have someone with Alison’s reputation join us on such an important and significant project. Alison will deliver book making workshops to young Anangu school students in remote South Australia at Ernabella and Kenmore Park Anangu Schools as part of the Tjitjiku Inma Language Project which has been funded by the Federal Government”.

Directors Makinti Minutjukur and Katrina Tjiljari from Anangu Education Services (AES & PYEC) are also thrilled that someone of Alison Lester’s calibre wants to share her talent and skills with the APY community.

Alison Lester: “I am really looking forward to travelling to the APY lands next week to work with children and adults at Kenmore Park and Ernabella. It's going to be wonderful to hear everybody’s stories and make some art together. I’m sure there will be a lot for me to learn and I can’t wait to see the red dirt of central Australia again.”

To maximise Alison’s time on the APY Lands the team have planned a lively, interactive and powerful series of workshops based around Alison’s ‘This is My Place’ Laureate project which will also draw upon her book-making expertise. By taking quality art materials and a printer with them on tour Alison and the team will make books written and illustrated by the children in Kenmore Park Anangu School, Ernabella Anangu School and the Anangu Education staff.

The Tjitji Tjuta Inmaku Pakantjaku project uses ancient cultural practices and traditions through oral storytelling and generational family stories, Inma (performance), imagery and designs on the body to engage and interact with children, young people, young parents, elders and the wider community.

The aim the Tjitji Tjuta Inmaku Pakantjaku project is to promote the continued transmission of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language (an endangered Australian language) to children, in which elders and parents pass on children’s inma (stories sung and danced) aged 1-12 years.  The stories will be shared, developed and used as resource and teaching tool by all Anangu in the eleven APY Lands communities in the far North West of South Australia as well as the Oak Valley and Yalata communities on Maralinga Tjarutja Lands in the South of the state. This project is driven and implemented by the community for the community.

AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S LAUREATES FLY IN TO SHARE HOW READING CHANGES LIVES
The very first visit by the Australian Children’s Laureates to the island of Ireland takes place between the 1 and 3 April. This is a unique event that will bring together children, writers and practitioners with the common purpose of nurturing creativity, literacy, a love of books and storytelling among our children and young people.

Arriving in Belfast (from the Bologna Children’s Book Fair) for a series of free workshops at the Crescent Arts Centre on Easter Monday, the Laureates will  then travel to the Verbal Arts Centre Derry/Londonderry on Tuesday for further workshops and  interview session hosted by Joe Mahon of Lesser Spotted Culture.  The final day of events on Wednesday will be hosted by Children’s Books Ireland at the National Library in Dublin. The workshops delivered by the Laureates will include storytelling, book making and a master class for practitioners and writers  looking at best practice in working with children and young people.

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland said ‘I am delighted the Laureates have generously accepted the Arts Council’s invitation to extend their visit and will be joining us for the first time in Northern Ireland followed by a visit to Dublin. As world leaders in child development through the arts, the Australians have much to teach us, especially about recognising and nurturing the stories of our own communities, both old and new. We are looking forward to their contribution to our cultural calendar which we are sure will leave a legacy from which our children can only benefit.’

Research by Book Trust UK has revealed that 64% of mums and dads never share books with their babies and that nearly as many (57%) don't own a single baby book. Additional research by Professor Yvonne Kelly of the Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex  (2011) suggests that the strongest predictors of childhood development, ( including  socio emotional development and cognitive skills), was reading to children on a daily basis. Findings such as these highlight further the need for the introduction of literature at an early age as part of the growth of a healthy culture and shared society.

As the Australian Children’s Laureates for 2012 and 2013, Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor are national and international ambassadors for Australian children’s literature, inspiring young people to tell their own stories and be part of an active literary culture for enjoyment, wellbeing and success in life. The Laureates represent all children of Australia embracing their multi-cultural society.

Children’s Laureate Alison Lester said; ‘I can’t wait to come to Ireland. I’ve wanted to visit for as long as I’ve been able to read, I guess, because so many of the books I love are set in Ireland. It’s going to be wonderful to meet the Irish laureate and I hope to make some books with Irish children.’

During their visit Boori and Alison will also meet with Laureate na nÓg,  Niamh Sharkey. Laureate na nÓg is an initiative of the Arts Council Ireland, with the support of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Children’s Books Ireland, Poetry Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The honour has been established to engage young people with high quality children’s literature and to underline the importance of children’s literature in our cultural and imaginative life.

As with the Australian Children’s Literature Alliance, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland champions the transformational power of reading in the lives of young people, believing the results of exposure to literature and the arts offers an inspiring platform for creativity and communication for younger generations.
Information on the programme of events running from the 1- 3 April is available in PDF format from www.artscouncil-ni.org

Contact 
For more information, photography or to discuss interview opportunities, contact 
Esther Haller- Clarke,  ehaller-clarke@artscouncil-ni.org  tel: 02890 385 226