The Need to Read: Sally Rippin and Alan Dingley in conversation
Watch Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin and Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador Alan Dingley as they share their unique perspectives on the importance of reading for children and young people.
Inspiring and helping ensure young people become readers
On 16 September, Sally Rippin and Alan discussed the crucial role of reading in the lives and minds of young people. They also spoke about the impact and importance of libraries and reading role models in inspiring young readers and ways we can support a reading ecosystem to ensure every young person can become a reader.
The event was presented in partnership with the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation and Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador partner group.
Watch the discussion
Watch the discussion on The Wheeler Centre website
About the speakers
Sally Rippin is the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2024–2025.
Sally has written over 100 books for children and young adults, many of them award-winning, including Come Over to My House and the Billie B Brown and the Hey Jack! series. She has also written a book for parents Wild Things: How We Learn to Read and What Can Happen When We Don't.
Alan Dingley is the current Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador.
Alan has over 25 years of experience working with children and young people, almost 20 of those in school and public libraries. He is currently Library Manager at Freyberg High School in Palmerston North.
Alan has a deep knowledge of New Zealand children’s and young adult (YA) literature. In 2020, he was on the judging panel for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults (NZCYA), then Convenor of Judges in 2021.