Katherine authors make their mark!

Written by David Lawrence, ILF Ambassador

What do you get when you combine the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, the Hawthorn Football Club, the Clontarf Foundation and seven talented young authors from Katherine?

A sensational, funny, and action packed AFL footy book called Damo Makes his Mark!

This wonderful joint literacy project was all about enabling a group of students at Katherine High School to create a fun book with a footy theme that would encourage other Indigenous kids to read and write their own stories.

I had the privilege last year of mentoring ‘The Katherine 7’ as they wrote this amazing book in less than a week! So it was very special to catch up with three of them (Damian, Brenton and Henry) as their book was launched with much fanfare in Katherine last week.

The launch took place at MacFarlane Primary School in front of a number of VIP guests including Hawthorn footballers, Clontarf staff and the Mayor of Katherine Fay Miller.

But it was Damian, Brenton and Henry who stole the show; receiving a rock star welcome from the students, in recognition of their wonderful achievement. 

The kids in the audience hung on every word as Hawk stars Jarman Impey, Conor Nash and Matt Walker read out a chapter of Damo Makes his Mark. And they were even happier shortly afterwards, when the players handed each of them their own copy!

The highlight for me was watching the three young authors, sporting the biggest grins imaginable, signing copies for their enthusiastic fans.

During the boys’ post launch interviews with TV and newspaper journalists, I overhead them all echo the same sentiment: ‘I am really proud.’ 

As they should be! This book is an absolute cracker, and these students have paved the way for others to become published authors, just like them.

Damo Makes his Mark is available for purchase via our shop.

• Posted 12 February, 2019