Bedtime stories follow the Southern Sunset from Ōtepoti to Jakarta

By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature | Posted: Monday Sep 28, 2026

Ōtepoti City of Literature was proud to recently join our friends at Nipaluna (Hobart) City of Literature and fellow UNESCO Cities of Literature in Wonju and Jakarta for Follow the Southern Sunset, a unique five-hour global storytelling event celebrating International Literacy Month.

Organised by Nipaluna City of Literature and the University of Tasmania, the inaugural event followed the setting sun from Ōtepoti in Aotearoa New Zealand to Nipaluna in Australia, Wonju in South Korea and Jakarta in Indonesia, with each city sharing a bedtime story as evening fell.

Representing Ōtepoti, local writer and editor Lisa Dick read from her debut children's picture book, The Baby Sleeps, illustrated by Laura Bee and published by Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand. Lisa's reading marked the beginning of the five-hour online journey, opening the storytelling as audiences were invited to follow the sunset onwards from city to city.

The Baby Sleeps is a gentle and reassuring story that begins with a sleeping baby and gradually zooms out from the bustle of the city to an island, an ocean and ultimately the whole planet. Through lyrical text and warm illustrations, the book explores the vast world surrounding the baby, while returning to the comfort, love and security waiting when she wakes.

From one sunset to the next, Follow the Southern Sunset showed how stories can connect us across cities, countries and cultures — and how something as simple as a bedtime story can bring the world a little closer together. We're proud that Ōtepoti, and Lisa's story, helped set that journey in motion.

Watch Lisa's reading of The Baby Sleeps: on YouTube.

The Baby Sleeps, written by Lisa Dick and illustrated by Laura Bee, is available from Allen & Unwin.

Find this book and over 3000 others in the Dunedin City of Literature Collection at Dunedin Public Libraries.