Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) is a free, monthly book-gifting program for children ages 0-5. Each month age-appropriate book is sent directly to the mailboxes of registered children, personally addressed to the child. The program inspires a love of reading among families and has been warmly received in many communities across the territory.
Since 2012, The NWT Literacy Council has been working hard to be able to offer this program for every NWT child. We are very excited to announce that starting in October 2023; the program will now be offered in Yellowknife, the last outstanding community in the NWT!
“Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is an exciting way for the NWT Literacy Council to extend its mission of providing accessible early learning support to children throughout NWT,” said Katie Johnson, Program Director of NWTLC “having books of their own at home is a powerful way to inspire a lifelong love of reading.”
With a generous donation from TELUS, coordinated by The Dollywood Foundation of Canada, the NWT Literacy Council is thrilled to open Imagination Library enrollment for all children under five in Yellowknife.
To best serve Yellowknife’s large population, the NWT Literacy Council will open registration in phases. First, by partnering with family-serving organizations (childcare centers, parenting/family programs, prenatal programs, etc.), followed by public sign-up events that will be planned and hosted by the NWT Literacy Council where families can register in person. The information about dates, times, and locations of these events will be shared on our social media as they approach. Later this year, online enrollment will be opened for all postal codes across NWT.
As home libraries grow with books from the Imagination Library, the NWT Literacy Council remains committed to find ways of ensuring this program is sustainable for future years. You can help! We will continue to accept donations for the community cost portion of the program through our Canada Helps page by choosing Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Around the NWT here. With assistance from the great staff at the Yellowknife Bottle Shop, we have set up an account that allows container deposits to be donated towards the support of this program in Yellowknife (#bottlesforbooks). We will also host our Second Annual Dodgeball for Dolly fundraiser in the new year. Watch our social media for more information as we organize the event!
Jeanne Smitiuch, Senior Regional Director for The Dollywood Foundation of Canada remarked, “We are delighted that now ALL children in NWT are eligible to enroll and will join 405 other communities across Canada inspiring a lifelong love of books to more than 50,000 children each month.”
We are excited for the expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and appreciate your patience as we work to get families registered. If you have questions about the program, or how you can help to support it, please contact Nicole at the NWT Literacy Council (nicole@nwtliteracy.ca).
- Nicole Sharp, Project Specialist: Family and Community Literacy
