March 25, 2022
The All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development Challenge Management Group joins with SIL LEAD in recognizing the contributions and life of long time literacy advocate Hazel Large, who passed away late last year.
Large, who had a background in graphic arts, did her master’s research on digital media in literacy and joined SIL Niger in 2004, where she served as the Zarma Literacy Coordinator for 10 years. In 2016, she joined SIL West Africa’s Mali team as a literacy consultant, recently serving as the local project manager for the SIL’s Begin with Books project, which aims to create 200 books in two Malian languages and 20 in Malian sign language.
As part of that project, she created several books, including Aminata and the Red Spiky Ball, an original story from the point of view of a child trying to understand the pandemic.
Below is an excerpt from “In Memory of Hazel Large (1961-2021),” a tribute to Large by SIL LEAD:
It was on the All Children Reading – Begin With Books project that our path at SIL LEAD intersected with Hazel’s. And although it would be impossible to quantify the impact Hazel had on the project as a whole, we’d love for you to take a look at a few of the books that Hazel directly created:
- an informative book on Covid that Hazel illustrated
- a book Hazel wrote, which was illustrated by a local artist in Mali
- a book Hazel wrote and illustrated about emotions
Each of these books is a piece of Hazel.
Each book is a mark she leaves behind, on a platform that will continue to be accessible to people not just in Mali, but all over the world. Her books are available to be translated and repurposed by other language communities.
We invite you to read the entire post as we join SIL LEAD in saying, “Iri saabu, Hazel. We thank you.”
