The interior of the historic Mortlock Library, in the State Library of South Australia, Adelaide

© Ray Warren Creative/Alamy Stock Phot

A real page-turner. Celebrating Australian authors and illustrators

Today we’re taking a quiet stroll through the State Library of South Australia in honour of Book Week – a time where schools and public libraries across the country celebrate Australian literature. But it wasn’t always this way. Established in 1945, the Children’s Book Council of Australia was founded at a time when Australian children’s books were in low supply and homegrown authors and illustrators were largely unknown and unrecognised. A year later, the organisation created the Book Awards to shed some light on work that met a degree of high literacy or artistic quality.Nowadays, the CBCA Book Awards are of the highest regard, winners often placing the achievement on the cover of their stories like a badge of honour. Schools too honour this period by dressing up as their favourite literary characters for an annual book parade. In fact, we might take a leaf out of the children’s’ book and pick up a good read right now!