Our Yarning: How to Work with your Community to Make Children’s Books that Reflect their Language and Culture.

In this workshop, Dr. Julie Owen will talk through how she has built trust, developed authentic partnerships, and worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to deliver writer’s workshops to parents, educators and story tellers interested in supporting children’s literacy. These workshops have led to the development of the Our Yarning digital library collection, containing 500 children’s books written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The collection is available for their children and freely accessible across Australia. 

Dr. Owen will lead participants through the critical elements of a writer’s workshop. Through this 2-hour workshop, participants will gain an understanding of the process of working with community, identifying potential writers, and understanding of the core components of engaging early learning books to strengthen and promote first language literacy.

Dr Julie Owen

Cultural Advisor, Library for All

Author Bio

Dr Julie Owen is a Nurrunga / Ngarrindjeri woman and Cultural Advisor to Library For All (LFA). Dr. Owen’s contributions supported the development of Australia’s first digital library of children’s reader books made for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, ‘Our Yarning’. Dr. Owen is an experienced community development professional and a trusted member of the arts, festival and events community. She is a former teacher and health educator and holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Western Australia.