• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library aims to inspire a love of reading in pre-School children
• More than 150k free books delivered to children in Scotland since 2011
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library attending the Scottish Learning Festival on 20/21 September
Edinburgh’s Kirsteen Watson is playing a key role in helping Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library inspire a love of reading in pre-school children across the UK. Kirsteen is one of two Regional Directors in the UK and is responsible for managing the literacy programme in communities across Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland.
More than 150,000 books have been sent out to children in Scotland alone since 2011, where 37 affiliates are part of the programme. This figure comprises of 32 Local Authorities and five Housing Associations who are enrolling children locally.
Next week, Kirsteen will be taking part in the Scottish Learning Festival (20 & 21 September) for the first time to share the benefits of the programme with over 4500 teaching professionals from across Scotland.
Kirsteen said: “I have worked for the Dollywood Foundation UK since 2014, which has been an amazing experience. I’ve supported programmes across the entire UK and seen first-hand the impact that giving families access to good quality age-appropriate books has on thousands of parents/carers and their children. It has been a privilege and a really exciting journey.”
Kirsteen’s role has taken her to Dollywood, Tennessee, to meet Dolly Parton (top) and her Imagination Library team, based near Dollywood in Pigeon Forge.
Kirsteen continued: “Meeting Dolly in her hometown was such a great experience. It was an honour to hear her speak, first-hand, about her father who inspired her to set up the Imagination Library. She is really committed to ensuring that the Imagination Library plays a key role in the development and education of children, by allowing them to create a home library of books which their parents/carers can read to them from the moment they are born”.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was officially launched in the UK in December 2007. More than 35,000 children in over 100 communities across the UK are receiving a free book every month thanks to the work of sponsors, partners, and local champions. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now a global programme operating in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK, with more than one million children receiving books every month.
Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1996 for children in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee. The Imagination Library provides a new, age appropriate book, free of charge, each month from birth until age five to registered children in participating communities. A local sponsor in each community funds the costs of the books and postage while Dolly Parton’s Dollywood Foundation of the UK covers the overheads, chooses the books (selected by a Committee of experts), and negotiates the cost. Dolly Parton created the Dollywood Foundation of the UK to manage the efforts on this side of the Atlantic and Kirsteen plays a key role in her UK team.
Kirsteen, originally from Fraserburgh, has lived in Edinburgh since 1997. Prior to working for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Kirsteen has worked in a variety of development work roles across Scotland, both in the public and voluntary sectors. Most of her work has been in Community Learning & Development, including literacy work pertaining to children, young people, and adults and involving family learning, parenting and early years. She has a strong interest in diversity and inclusion; supporting learners with dyslexia, visual stress, and other literacy difficulties.
Anyone wishing to find out more about how they can work with the Imagination Library and bring it to pre-school children in their area should contact Kirsteen via email kwatson@imaginationlibrary.co.
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