The Gwich’in Tribal Council says eight illustrated Gwich’in children’s storybooks in two dialects are now available on the web and as physical copies.
The GTC’s Department of Culture and Heritage said Gwich’in language teachers AnnaLee McLeod, Annabelle Tetlichi and Gladys Alexie selected Elders’ stories for the storybooks from a compilation published in 2020.
Leslie McCartney, who worked on that compilation, then created drafts for the storybooks based on the teachers’ selections. Lisa Andre, Agnes Mitchell and Eleanor Mitchell-Firth acted as translators.
“Aimed at 6-12-year-old students, these books are being used by Gwich’in teachers as language learning materials,” the Gwich’in Tribal Council stated in a news release.
“An audio track accompanies each book so language learners can ‘hear’ the language. The beautiful illustrations were done by Gwich’in artist Linda Wright.”
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Four of the books are in the Teetł’it Gwich’in dialect, with the other four in the Gwichya Gwich’in dialect.
You can access online versions from the GTC’s website. Click on any title for a PDF and accompanying mp3 audio file.
The GTC said hard copies are available at no cost by calling 867-777-7900 or visiting the tribal council at 1-3 Council Crescent, Inuvik.
