5 Jun 2012

Focus in Bougainville shifting to literacy rates, says Mr Pip novellist

8:36 pm on 5 June 2012

The author of Mr Pip, Lloyd Jones, says with the building of a library in Bougainville going well, the focus is now shifting to creating community activities that will help raise literacy rates.

Lloyd Jones' Booker Prize nominated book Mr Pip is set in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville, and he heads the campaign to build a library there.

Mr Jones says building the library itself is expected to be completed towards the end of the year.

"Beyond just putting books in a library we have to think about all the kinds of community activities to do with raising literacy rates, getting people to read and write their own stories, all these kinds of things. We thought it would be a good idea to provide very short term residencies, eventually. Different people would go up there and spend some time with kids in classrooms."

Lloyd Jones says the two to four week residencies would aim to teach children how to develop their own interests in creative areas, and ultimately develop their own written story-telling.