Indigenous Literacy Day

A Media Release has arrived in the mail promoting the upcoming Indigenous Literacy Day, an extremely worthwhile cause that deserves support. The release explains:

All Australians can help raise $100,000 for remote Indigenous communities by buying a book on the inaugural Indigenous Literacy Day on September 5th.

Over 200 booksellers and publishers will donate 5% or more of their day's profits as part of the major new campaign.

Working in partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation and with the support of the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Booksellers Association, Indigenous Literacy Day aims to raise funds to buy books and resources for remote Indigenous communities.

Raising awareness of illiteracy in these areas is critical, as many Indigenous Australians struggle to read everyday items like newspapers, medication labels and bank statements, and literacy rates in these communities have been found to be worse than in many third world countries.

The idea for Indigenous Literacy Day grew from the success of the 2006 Australian Reader's Challenge (ARC) in which over 14,000 participants, including schools, libraries, booksellers and publishers raised $80,000.

For a list of participating publishers and booksellers and more infromation on Indigenous Literacy Day please visit:

www.worldwithoutbooks.org