This year, Paga Hill Development Company (PNG) Ltd had the honour of sponsoring the Award for Writing for Children, a category I feel very passionate about.

It gives storytellers an exciting opportunity to share tales with younger generations. It also has the ability to spark a greater interest in reading and learning from an early age.

Overwhelmed by the number of entries into the Writing for Children category, The Crocodile Prize Organisation, through Keith Jackson, invited us to publish a special edition children’s story book.

We gladly extended our sponsorship to assist in publishing and distributing this collection of 33 stories, edited pro bono by Ben Jackson, to local schools and libraries in Papua New Guinea. Trickery at the Crocodile Pool and other children’s stories from Papua New Guinea is now available for purchase from Amazon here.

I am privileged to have been invited to write the foreword for this wonderful collection of tales, and I’d like to share with you what I wrote:

FOREWORD:

I am proud to present this collection of short stories that have been specifically written for the children of Papua New Guinea by Papua New Guinean writers.

Each story is written from the heart and the book brings to life a unique collection of work to educate children and to ignite an interest in reading and writing from an early age.

This wonderful initiative of the Crocodile Prize Organisation supports written storytelling and contributes to Papua New Guinean culture and national identity.

All the stories in this collection were submitted as part of the Paga Hill Development Company Award for Writing for Children.

Not only does this award encourage writers in Papua New Guinea to cater for a young audience, it also inspires children exposed to their own literature to take a greater interest in reading and writing.

It is a special gift to share homegrown literature with younger generations.

Reading can change our sense of what is possible. It can open up a whole new world of imagination and realisation.

The storytellers in this book are in many ways educators, sharing experiences, cultural values, lessons and wisdom. Every story offers a child an opportunity to learn.

I would like to thank Keith Jackson and the Crocodile Prize Organisation for inviting Paga Hill Development Company to be part of this inspiring initiative.

My hope is that this collection of stories will be widely read in schools and homes, and contribute to existing homegrown literature which encourages children to develop a love of reading and writing.

Gudmundur (Gummi) Fridriksson, is the CEO of Paga Hill Development Company (PNG) Ltd