AUTHOR and anthropolgist Charlotte Austwick who has been working with indigenous people in Central America has been given a prestigious award by the British Dyslexia Association.

Monmouth-based Charlotte was presented with the Cadogan Award for Resilience by the association at its gala 50th anniversary dinner at Twickenham Stadium.

Charlotte, who is also a filmmaker and educator was awarded the Scientific Exploration Society’s River Foundation Award in 2019 for work protecting and preserving two endangered indigenious Maya languages.

She worked and lived with the Maya to preserve their heritage and she has since published and edited two books in the Q’eqchi’ and Mopan Maya languages, in a bid to preserve the language.

She said: ‘‘As a teenage girl, modern language lessons used to give me anxiety, French lessons made me feel illiterate.

“I couldn’t remember a thing. Yet, there was a glimmer of hope because as I grew older, I learnt a whole new way and purpose for learning languages – through my love of singing and also wanting to travel the world.

“Languages suddenly had more meaning.

“From a girl who hated learnings languages to now be working on saving two of the most endangered languages in the world, fills me with pride.”

Charlotte will soon be leading a further expedition back to the jungle of Belize and is also co-ordinating another project to protect other endangered indigenous languages of the South Pacific.

With the Resilience award, Charlotte hopes to use her recognition to inspire others with dyslexia

She says she wants to positively change negative attitudes towards seeing dyslexia as a ‘gift’ which should be celebrated.

Charlotte regularly gives talks about her journeys around the globe

She will be giving a talk about her work with the Maya in Central America at Tresseck campsite, Hoarwithy on Sunday July at 1pm, with an optional hike afterwards.

To order tickets visit www.eventbrite.co.uk and search for voices of the maya.