Mayo, O’Brien donate The Voice to Parliament Handbook royalties to the ILF

Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien have donated royalties from The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Hardie Grant) to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF).

Totalling $30,080.66, the authors’ donation is from the royalties received so far from the sales of their book, which was published in May this year and had reached the top of the bestsellers chart ahead of the Voice referendum.

As a national charity working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia, the ILF focuses on supplying culturally relevant books, as well as supporting Communities to create and publish their stories in languages of their choice. ILF head of fundraising David Stewart said: ‘This donation is gratefully received as the ILF does not receive government funding and relies solely on donations such as this to carry out all ILF’s programs around Australia.’

ILF CEO Ben Bowen said: ‘Our Communities are strong. They do have the solutions and they are the experts at it. We work with Communities every single day to be Community-led. We work outside the government because our Communities are asking us to be able to do this sort of work. We are funded by everyday Australians and corporations. These donations allow us to do that work with Communities, to the point where we offer our Communities the information of where those donations come from so, they can say yes or no to it. This is the power of listening to what Communities want to say. They are experts.’

Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, who has published six books with Hardie Grant, while O’Brien is the former editor and host of ABC’s 7.30 Report and Four Corners. The duo wrote The Voice to Parliament Handbook as ‘an easy-to-follow guide for the millions of Australians who have expressed support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, but want to better understand what a Voice to Parliament actually means’.

The ILF said that the authors’ donation will be used to deliver 2000 more culturally relevant books to remote Indigenous Communities through the organisation’s Book Supply program, as well as supporting the translation of two children’s titles into First Nations languages.

Category: Local news