Trilingual children’s book Tamarra wins 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Award

A group of more than 30 artists, scientists and linguists created the illustrated science book that takes kids inside the life of termites through storytelling from the Gurindji People.

Tamarra authors: (clockwise from top left) linguist Felicity Meakins, Gurindji elder Violet Wadrill, Gurindji language worker Cassandra Algy, microbiologist Gregory Crocetti, artist Briony Barr, Gurindji elder Topsy Dodd, Gurindji language worker Cecelia Edwards and Gurindji woman Leah Leaman.

A group of elders and artists from remote Northern Territory have won one of Australia’s richest literary prizes for a kid’s book exploring the life of termites through storytelling of the Gurindji People.

Tamarra: A story of termites on Gurindji Country won the $80,000 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature.

The book was created at the Karungkarni Art Centre in the remote community Kalkarindji, 450km southwest of Katherine.

“There are layers of meaning and significance woven into the book: the importance of a small creature and its big impact on its own world and system, on Gurindji Country, generating waves of impact far and wide,” the judges said.

Tamarra (pronounced DAH-mah-rah), is written in three languages – Gurindji, Gurindji Kriol and English – and includes a QR code to hear the story spoken in Gurindji or Gurindji Kriol.

Tamarra has won the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Children's Literature.

“There’s a message of interconnectedness and harmony with Country that might seem small but are great, big termite mounds of significance.

“There’s a beautiful balance between the art, photography, scientific facts and storytelling with additional information in front matter and back matter that feels like a treasure trove.

“All this achieved while highlighting themes of family, tradition and caring for Country.”

Cecelia Edwards helped to translate Gurindji stories into English for the book.

Cecelia Edwards, one of the Gurindji language workers on the book, said the idea was born out of seeing how excited local kids were to learn about termites at a school outing.

She said the process of making the book helped share cultural knowledge with the younger generation – including teaching students how tamarra (termite mounds) were ground into paste and rubbed on babies as a bush medicine treatment.

“You put it on the soft spot of the baby’s head, their arms and legs, to keep their body strong,” Cecilia said.

“The kids didn’t know this had happened to them – they couldn’t believe it.”

Ms Edwards said the team was “so proud” to have received their award, and would reinvest the prizewinnings in the art centre to produce another book.

Arts Minister Tony Burke said all the authors short-listed for the award “show there is a place for every story, and a story for every place”.

“Through every form of the written word, they bring the Australian experience and the Australian imagination to life,” he said.

Creative Australia chief executive Adrian Collette AM said the awards recognised the “the outstanding talent and profound impact of our nation’s best writers and storytellers”.

“They celebrate the power of stories to connect us, across time, cultures and experiences, inviting us to imagine the world through a multitude of diverse perspectives, and deepening our understanding of who we are as a nation.”