The Current - Remembering Dolly

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Dolly Parton's death on Tuesday left a hole in the hearts of adoring fans worldwide. The country music legend is being remembered for her songs and unmistakable voice, but also for her philanthropy. Through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library initiative, she put books in the hands of more than 130 million children. We speak with the director of Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Chaya Kulkarni, who was on the initiative's book selection committee for Canada about Dolly's legacy.

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The Mile Zero Murders, available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. I'm Susan Ormiston, and this is the current podcast. I hope you're tapping your toes. Dolly Parton will go down in history as one of country music's greatest stars. Her death yesterday at 80 leaves a hole in our culture and in the hearts of so many fans. while her songs and voice made her a big star. Dolly Parton was also a philanthropist.

In 1995, she launched something called Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is gifted more than 300 million books to young children around the world. I am as proud of the imagination library as I ever will be anything I ever do for the rest of my life. And I have told the story many times of how it came to be because of my own father, who couldn't read and write, grew up in a big family in the mountains. And so when I saw how crippled that had made my dad emotionally, I wanted to do something to help him. And so I got the idea to do this program where we gave books to children

from the time they were born. Once a month, they got a book in the mail, or they do still, to where they could learn to read at a very impressionable age. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, mails a book a month to children until they're five years old. And the first book each child receives is the little engine that could. The little train rumbled over the tracks. She was a happy little train, for she had such a jolly load to carry.

Her cars were filled full of good things for boys and girls. Just imagine if Dolly Parton was the first person to read you that book. Her early childhood literacy program launched in Canada 20 years ago. Chia Colcarney is on the Imagination Library's book selection committee. She's also the director of infant and early mental health promotion at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. And she joins me this morning from Tweed, Ontario. Good morning, Chia. Good morning.

Everybody's reflecting on Dolly today. But what was your first reaction when you heard she died yesterday? Oh, I was heartbroken. You know, every year I go to Tennessee for the book selection committee meeting. and every year we wonder is Dolly going to come this year? And of course this year we won't be wondering that. We will miss her. And I am though just so honored to be part of her legacy,

which is phenomenal, just phenomenal. I want to hear about that. But you did meet her several times. What was she like? Probably the most humblest soul I know. You know, she just was very kind. and really her desire to be a good person, to be kind, to inspire others on so many different platforms,

whether they were musicians or, you know, people working with young children, she was just a very kind and generous and humble person. And I really, when I look back at, you know, meeting her and just getting to know her through the program, I really think that for her, she would view the imagination library and her legacy as a privilege. I really think that. For her, it was a privilege to have the capacity and the resources to do this,

to create this program that has touched the lives of millions of children around the world, not just in the U.S., not just in Canada, but in Australia, the U.K., Ireland. So I just think that was, it came from a very deep place in her heart and in her own, from her own childhood. It's wonderful to listen to her songs and her speak today, you know, that sweetness, sometimes a rare commodity in our world today. Yeah, yeah, it really is. And her legacy, I can tell you right now that I have no doubt that she has put in place everything needed for this program to continue. for years to come. So what can you tell me about how this works and about the families who get the books from the imagination library in Canada and around the world?

Yeah. So essentially a community needs to join. This isn't a program that an individual parent can sign up for. So it could be a province like PEI has been part of this. Many indigenous communities have been part of this. So the community has to join, and they have to raise some of the funding to support the collection. But once the community has done that, they register, the kids can register, the families do that. There's a whole process in Canada for that.

And they start to receive a book every month from the time, like from when they're one month old, if they sign up that early. The books are addressed to the child as well. They arrive pretty much at the same time of the month. So, you know, we have heard so many stories and had letters from so many parents talking about how their child knows on the calendar, you know, that their book is coming today, right? And they look forward to that.

And the books, you know, I can remember going to my first meeting when Dolly's Imagination Library was in this really old list. house in Pigeon Forge and thinking, oh, this is going to be, you know, all the books that publishers don't want, like they're overruns, right? And what blew me away was, it was actually the opposite of that. These are award-winning books that come to the table. And it's just mind-boggling the quality of books that children receive through this program. My oldest, child my son was born in 1995 when the program was launched. So he grew up with watching this and me talking about Dolly and the work in Canada.

And the other thing I will say about the selection and the reason I sit at the table is they're very committed, I think, in each country to really make it, making it a Canadian collection. So they really try to, yes, yes, they try to include Canadian authors and Canadian illustrators. Canadian stories like Carson Crosses Canada, one of my favorite books is part of the collection. But there's also, you know, on the trap line or Métis like me, so highlighting the work of indigenous authors, indigenous peoples and their stories.

So there's a lot of time and effort that goes into even just the selection of the books from a developmental perspective, but also from a cultural perspective. And in Canada, as you know, this was very important to us. Indeed. Very interesting. So we did hear a little snippet of Dolly reading, the little engine that could. Wonderful narrator as well as a singer, not surprising. She is.

But what stands out to you about the way she connected with kids? Yeah. I mean, she's not a big person herself, right? So she is right down there on their level. I still vividly remember the launch in Canada and her sitting on one of those little chairs with the kids gathered around her. And, you know, the animation that she brings to every story that she reads. And I think that's what the children enjoy. I mean, her voice is just so engaging as a storyteller.

And the children just connect with that. You know, they love listening to that. And, you know, one of the things the program has done in the past is recorded her reading these stories and families can even access those and listen to her reading stories like the little engine that could and other stories. So I think she really connected with young children. It's probably the thing that inspired me the most about her is, you know, I run a team at sick kids, and we work really, really hard to try and convince many people how important the first five

years of a child's life are to their well-being and to their mental health. And right from day one, what impressed me about Dolly was that she got it. Like, I didn't have to have that conversation with her. She understood how important those foundational years were. And she had the resources to really do something about it, something that was going to be impactful. So in Canada, you know, more than 5 million books have been delivered to children under five. Over 60,000 children have benefited from this program. Well, you know, Dolly Part, everyone knows that she has, she came from very modest means. She has lived experience about this.

So just finally in a few seconds, what will you remember most about this amazing star? That she gave millions of children the gift of loving stories. It's a gift that lasts an entire lifetime for children. And for me, just such a privilege to be part of that legacy. We'll all miss her. Yes. for sure. Yeah, I was listening to a lot of her songs last night and even this morning. And yeah, she was an amazing person. Yeah. And people can donate if they go to the imagination library.com

website, they can actually donate to the Canadian imagination library if they wanted to. you know, and it just means that we just get to give more and more kids this gift of literacy and loving reading. And I have a whole shelf of books in my home. And I live on a tiny little lane in Tweed called Sun Smile Lane, but all of my neighbors know when their kids or grandkids come up, they can stop at my place and pick up books that are part of that collection and share them with their kids and grandkids. So it's an amazing gift. It seems kismet that you're on Sunshine Lane or Sun Smile Lane.

Sun Smile, yeah. And you worked with Dolly Parton. Thanks very much, Chaya. Thank you. Have a great day. You too. Bye-bye. Chaya Kolkarni is on the book selection committee of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, Canada.

She's also the director of infant and early mental health promotion at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. You've been listening to the current podcast. I'm Susan Ormiston. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.