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Projects

#1

Callout: Writers Wanted for Anthology

Together, and building on five years of partnership programs, WestWords and the AAAC are thrilled to invite all writers from an African background to submit their work for consideration in an anthology, responding to the themes of LOSS and BELONGING. This will be a professionally produced collection of writing available as hard copy and online.
#2

African Literature Development Program

In collaboration with WestWords, the AAAC ran an African Literature Development program consisting of a comprehensive program of intended workshops, events and writing groups online. 

The African Australian Literature Development Program (AALDP) is an initiative to support, develop, share and celebrate the richness of the stories of African Australians within the multi-cultural context of Western Sydney.

The program is run by African Australian Advocacy Centre and the WestWords and supported by the Adès Family Foundation. It uses stories to create a bridge of understanding and empathy between communities and generations, and to create a sense of belonging and pride for people aged 8 years and above.

Due to COVID-19, 2020/2021 was a year of difficulty where acts of community building and skills development radically changed. We moved a comprehensive program of intended workshops, events and writing groups online. This resulted in us facilitating four focus groups on fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels and comics, writing for children, and poetry. This first publication called “smile cross the oceans” marks the culmination of the first of three years for the program.

We are presently recruiting the second round of participants of the three rounds in this project and the current round of participants have completed the anthology of works which was released in December 2020.

#3

Translation of Children's Book 'Where Happiness Hides'

The AAAC provided translations for the children’s book “Where Happiness Hides”. This book by Anthony Bertini, is a gift to the children of the worlds during social isolation for the duration of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. It was translated into multiple languages, with the AAAC participating in the project by translating the book into six (6) African languages including;

On behalf of the AAAC, I would like to thank Westwords and Adès Family Foundation for this incredible project and partnership and wish all current and future participants well with their creations.