A ROLL of the dice brought different insights into creative writing for young people when an author visited their school.

Writer Julia Golding was at Isambard Community School yesterday as part of the Swindon Youth Literature Festival.

Julia writes fiction, historical fiction and fantasy for children and young adults, and sometimes uses the pen names Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards.

Her debut novel, The Diamond of Drury Lane, won the Nestle Children’s Book prize in 2006.

Learning resources manager at Isambard, Stella Rogers, said pupils were enthralled by two creative writing workshops in the morning, before a talk to youngsters from Year 8.

And she said the author had a unique approach to a question-and-answer session, with children rolling a large dice, and depending on what they rolled, it meant they could ask a question, or the author would ask them a question.

“It was really interesting, the way she did it, and it kept the children engaged,” said Stella.

“If they rolled a six, she would ask them a question, if it was an odd number, they could ask her, that sort of thing.

“She is a very interesting author as she covers different genres. It was lively and really engaging.”

And she said the festival, which runs until Friday, had been a great success among the pupils.

“The children have really, really enjoyed it,” she added.

“We had the book quiz this week, which was great – the questions were really hard – and lots of other activities. It’s been really full-on but very good.”

Elsewhere yesterday Phil Earle, author of Heroic and Being Billy, visited Year 9 pupils at Kingsdown School for a writing workshop.

He spoke to the children about what inspired his work and also his early career working as a care worker.

Phil also gave advice about creative writing and how the aspiring writers could develop their ideas and storytelling.

He said: “It offered a chance to understand how and where I write, what inspired me to start in the first place, and how I put stories together.

“Hopefully, in years to come they’ll feel as enthusiastic about creative writing and literacy as I do.”