Video: Large black letters on a glass door read, "Indigenous Literacy Foundation". A woman's blue shirt is emblazoned "Reading Opens Doors". She passes huge bookcases in the shape of the word 'Read'. Each letter contains books of a different colour. Onscreen text reads, "Australia Post proudly supports the Indigenous Literacy Program's Create program." A dark-haired man is interviewed in front of book shelves. Text: Ben Bowen, Chief Executive Officer, Indigenous Literacy Foundation." Indigenous teens and adults wearing blue ILF shirts and hoodies work around a large table that's covered with books and documents. The meeting room looks out on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Audio: Ben: Create program's one of the premier programs. It's a really unique program for us and we bring young people or community elders into a space in Sydney or Melbourne with a big publisher. It's sometimes that one and only chance those kids will ever be in a big city like this and they get to do everything. All that experience, when they take it back to community, then grows the conversations about what else is out there for them.
Video: The participants work on laptops, have discussions, and draw illustrations. A woman wears her dark hair in a bun. Text: "Tictac Moore, Programs Manager, Indigenous Literacy Foundation." The covers of books in English and Language feature illustrations of Indigenous teens playing sports. Tictac holds a book titled 'Tiwi Girl Hunters'. The yellow cover shows two teens holding a three-pronged spear. Sea animals swim around them. Tictac leafs through the book, showing the illustrations and a long list titled 'Authors and Illustrators of Tiwi College'.
Audio: Tictac: It's a one-week intensive book-writing workshop. So it's five days to write, illustrate and publish a book. What's great about the process of Create is it's written exactly the way that they speak. 'Tiwi Girl Hunters' - this is the book that was done last year. Two besties, Tiwi girls, obviously, and they go hunting, and it's just about them and their lives. And the great thing about these stories are there's other girls in other remote communities who would be doing the exact same thing.
Video: Ben takes a book called 'This Book Thinks Ya Deadly' from a shelf. Some of the letters in the title feature portraits of famous Indigenous people.
Audio: Ben: Growing up in a community, you know everyone. You know all the stories, you know your country. Then suddenly a book pops up with a story from somewhere else, from someone else, who's telling a story that's familiar to you but elements aren't. Suddenly, you go from here to that radius has grown. That's the piece we're looking at. It's showing these kids that they've got a voice, they can talk to other kids in the communities around Australia and their stories are just as valid everywhere else. And they know to get their chance to do it, they have to commit to school, they've got to be there till Year 12, they've got to finish Year 12, they've got to be doing all the right things to have their chance to tell their story.
Video: About 20 teens and adults sit facing a podium on a small stage. Behind the podium are banners for ILF and Australia Post. Tictac shows them an illustration in 'Tiwi Girl Hunters'. Participants write in copies of the book.
Audio: Tictac: I would find that the weeks after the trip, they're just different. They can see in themselves the work that they've done and what they've created and they've got something to be proud of. This book, it's not ours, it's not ILF's, and it's not really the publisher's book, it's the kids' book. So it's everything that they want - from the story, the characters, the spelling, how much language, the colour of the cover, how they want to write their name as the authors, it's all theirs.
Video: The participants gather for a group photo. Many hold copies of the book. The Australia Post logo appears on a red screen above the words "Proudly supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation's Create program." The text fades. The white and blue ILF logo fills the right half of the screen, with the Australia Post logo on the left.
