Tiwi Islands girls write a book in a week at Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s Create Initiative

Image: supplied, Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Retrieved from nit.com.au.

Eight Indigenous girls from the Tiwi Islands have written a picture book in just one week after visiting Sydney to participate in the Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s Create Initiative.

The Create Initiative partners young Indigenous women at Tiwi College with publishers and mentors to create (produce stories), cultivate (build knowledge) and motivate (grow self-esteem).

After participating in the intensive five-day workshop, the girls wrote, illustrated and published the book called Tiwi Girl Hunters, a story about two best friends going hunting together, in just a week.

Aged 15 to 17, the girls are students at Tiwi College, a residential school located on Melville Island located north of Darwin.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s (ILF) CEO Ben Bowen highlighted the importance of the partnership to support Indigenous students to tell their own stories.