InukBook

April 2016

Currently there are less than five children’s books written in the Labrador Inuktitut dialect, but the InukBook Children’s Literature Project is looking to change that, and soon.

Over the next few years, as part of the Tradition & Transition Partnership between Nunatsiavut and Memorial University, InukBook will create a series if children’s books in Labrador Inuktitut.

“The project is important for Nunatsiavut because more curriculum is needed in Inuktitut  to promote the language,” says committee member, Joan Dicker. “More books are needed in the schools that teach the native language, as there are rarely any made for the curriculum. InukBook will also benefit our everyone in our communities, not just in the school system.”

The goal of InukBook is to create a resource by, and for, Nunatsiavummiut. The project is looking for stories from Nunatsiavut of all kinds, from people of all ages. Stories can be original, or based on real life, the stories can be legends, or can be about traditions, it can be about modern life, or the past.

“There’s lots of people who have stories of all kinds kinds in Nunatsiavut,” says the Labrador Institute’s Martha MacDonald who sits on the organizing committee. “We’re going to develop different ways to look at these stories, and help the authors to write the stories in the format of a children’s book.”

Once the stories are selected a call out for illustrators will be issued, right now the project is looking to get as many storytellers as possible to contribute by June, 2016. For more information visit the InukBook Facebook page.