African Literature Development Program

African Australian Writers’ Group

This group has completed its cycle for 2022 and is now in the editing phase of its last publication for the year. Thank you to all the amazing emerging writers who participated in this program in 2022. A special thank you to our facilitators, the energy and vision that you have imparted to the participants of these programs has been well received.
If you have any queries about what is coming up, any comments or suggestions, please contact our program manager Chris Donoghue chris@westwords.com.au 

Program supported by

The African Australian Advocacy Centre (AAAC) 

The new peak body representing the interests of African Australian Communities by providing innovative research, advocacy and policy outcomes in collaboration with academic institutions, government and non-government agencies be Australia’s platform and channel for African Australians to communicate their vision, their cultural diversity and heritage, their energy, and their entrepreneurial innovation from an African-Australian perspective. The leadership team represents more than 15 African Australian communities.

The Adès Family Foundation

smile ‘cross the oceans

The African Literature Development program is designed to support, develop and promote African Australian writers from Western Sydney. It began when Noël Zihabamwe, founder and Chair of the African Australian Advocacy Centre approached WestWords with one clear aim – to provide the means by which members of the African Australian community could tell and celebrate their own stories, in their own voices.

In a year of difficulty where acts of community building and skills development have radically changed we moved a comprehensive program of intended workshops, events and writing groups online. This resulted in us facilitating four groups focusing on fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels and comics, writing for children, and poetry. This publication marks the culmination of the first of three years for the program.

from Noël Yandamutso Zihabamwe,
co-founder and Chair of the African Australian Advocacy Centre
Africans throughout the aeons have told stories to their young people about the land, culture, language and customs, and they in turn have passed it on to subsequent generations. This rich cultural vein can be lost if it is not passed on and recorded, especially if people move to other continents, far away from the traditional wisdom and teachings.

This program allows the expression of a rich tradition of storytelling for African Australians, giving them the opportunity to reach out to their communities, their neighbourhoods and their new homelands, and to show other Australians how richly imbued with energy, culture, sensitivity, wisdom, laughter and joy they truly are, as they seek to establish themselves in a new culture.

WestWords would like to thank Nöel Yandamutso Zihabamwe and Daniel Gobena and everyone from the African Australian Advocacy Centre for their knowledge, guidance and collaboration; Lesley, David and Julia from the Adès Family Foundation without whose ongoing support this program could not exist.

The African Australian Literature Development Program is proudly supported by the Adès Family Foundation