The Australian Children’s Literature Alliance is a relatively new organisation that aims to promote all things reading.
From their website comes the following information:
The Australian Children’s Literature Alliance is an independent, not-for-profit organisation founded in 2008 to champion and promote the transformational power of reading in the lives of young Australians. ACLA is a collegial and inclusive organisation with representation from all children’s and young adult literature industry and community sectors.
ACLA’s mission is to:
- promote the value, importance and transformational nature of reading
- influence the reading habits of Australian families
- raise the profile of books in the lives of children and young adults
- champion the cause of young Australians’ reading in a consultative, collegial and inclusive way.
ACLA is currently in the process of establishing a Children’s Laureate for Australia. Read more about the Children’s Laureate project here.
The current ACLA Board members are:
- Bronwen Bennett (VIC) Chair
- Malcolm Neil (VIC) CEO, Australian Booksellers Association
- Paula Kelly (VIC) State Library of Victoria, representing the Centre for Youth Literature
- Damian Morgan (TAS) Independent Bookseller, Stories Bookshop Launceston
- Dyan Blacklock (SA) Convenor, Children’s Publishing Committee, Australian Publishers’ Association
- Libby O’Donnell (NSW) Australian Publishers’ Association
- Fiona Lange (SA) The Little Big Book Club
- Ann James (VIC) Australian Society of Authors
- Marj Kirkland (QLD) National President, Children’s Book Council of Australia
- Val Noake (NSW) e:lit – the Primary English Teaching Association
- Lesley Reece (WA) Director, Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre
ACLA and its projects are managed by Tina Lehnert, Project Officer.
A wonderful development and a useful resource for anyone interested in the power and value of reading.
Thanks for bringing this organization to my attention. Online literacy resources seem predominantly US, so it’s great to hear of another Aussie one!
Much needed organization, but why no teacher librarians?:-)
What a great organisation, especially here in Australia, keep hearing that our children’s literacy levels are quite low, but don’t really hear much about what people are doing to improve this. I also hope you promote new Australian Chldren’s authors.
I thoroughly support your mission statement.But I do have to ask this question.Where are the teacher librarians or their representatives? Primary school teacher librarians work so hard in their school communities to support the literacy teaching of their schools and to encourage recreational reading.I am sure that this very important could contribute much to this debate.
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Thanks for all the great comments! ACLA encompasses the entire children’s literature community and has representation from each sector on the Board – publishers, booksellers, creators and practitioners. Val Noake (from e:lit and working extensively with primary schools) and Marj Kirkland (representing CBCA but also a secondary school teacher librarian) are positioned to represent the interests of schools and teacher librarians. ACLA was established to have more than an educational focus. It is an umbrella organisation and has the interests of the broader children’s literature community at heart.