<
https://theconversation.com/teens-came-first-at-australias-world-leading-centre-for-youth-literature-until-it-was-axed-277756>
"In 2019, the State Library Victoria announced it was retiring the “brand” of
its groundbreaking Centre for Youth Literature.
The centre ran – among other things – Australia’s first and only national
teen-voted awards for teen literature, the Inkys; a lively online youth
literature community; and a two-day program that brought together everyone from
readers and authors to teachers to celebrate youth literature.
Then director of library services, Justine Hyde, told the
Age the library was
not “axing it and we’re not closing it, we’re simply changing the name”. But
despite this, the library quietly retired these core programs. Five years
later, amid controversy, they also retired their creative writing workshops,
Teen Bootcamp, in which major authors like Nova Weetman and Jared Thomas worked
with teens.
Founded in 1991 by educator and youth literature advocate Agnes Nieuwenhuizen
as the Youth Literature Project, the centre’s absence is still widely felt.
Award-winning author and former staffer at the centre, Lili Wilkinson, visits a
lot of schools, where she says, teachers and librarians “regularly bemoan the
loss of the centre”.
Zhana Maticevski-Shumack was a Year 12 student and on the centre’s advisory
board when it closed. “The decision has been made for youth rather than with
youth,” she wrote in 2019. “It’s our community and we deserve a say.”
And this, sadly, brings us back to the disappointing reality. That all too
often, and despite national anxiety about Australia’s “reading slump”, when it
comes to engaging teen readers, we’re still not giving them a say. Even though,
experts say, getting teens involved in teen reading programs is vitally
important."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
