Authors for Asylum Twitter campaign raises over $13,000

Australian writers have raised $13,143.84 for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) by auctioning off various items as part of the ‘Authors for Asylum’ Twitter campaign.

The campaign ran from 31 August to 7 September, with more than 45 writers, editors and librarians auctioning off items such as signed books, workshops, school talks, manuscript assessments and tours using the hashtag #authorsforasylum on Twitter. A list of all the auctioned items was compiled by Readings.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, ‘Authors for Asylum’ was started by YA author Zana Fraillon in response to reports the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will cut income and accommodation support for refugees who have been transferred to Australia from offshore detention, mostly for medical reasons.

Fraillon said it was ‘wonderful to see the book community come together in this way to support the ASRC’. ‘I am so proud and honoured to be part of such an incredibly supportive community, and this is definitely something I would love to do again in the future.’

Fraillon attributes some of the fundraising success to the connectivity of social media. ‘I wasn’t sure that Twitter would work as a fundraising platform, but it was brilliant. It allowed anyone to offer anything up for auction immediately and easily. We had people offering auction items with less than three hours to go.’

Category: Junior Local news