Alison Lester

Alison Lester is one of the inaugural Children's Laureates for Australia, a job she shares with Boori Monty Pryor. I was very excited to hear her talk at the recent Children's Book Council of Australia Conference in Adelaide. Alison is a passionate advocate for reading and literacy, and she soon reminded us that once children learn to read they have a window into a world that's not their own.

Her presentation How to Turn Stories Into Books actually kicked off the first day. Alison spoke of her work with children all over Australia, but often in remote Aboriginal communities, how she spent time with the kids, and got them to tell their own stories, and then draw pictures. She then helps the kids turn these stories into actual books. And they were really amazing! I think this series of shots are all from a book she did with the children at Mornington Island (I didn't even know where that was!). Alison has been doing this work for many years, but is using the position as Children's Laureate to boost the profile of her activities. 

I suspect that I've photographed the colours a bit off. But you get the idea. These images were great! These kids should publish this book. I'd buy it.