STUDENTS have celebrated the penultimate day of the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature with visits from horror author AG Smith and historical fiction writer Sam Angus.

Now in its seventh year, the annual festival celebrates reading and aims to inspire more children to do more of it.

Much of the week centres around talks from authors and various workshops which showcase the life of an author, how ideas spring to the pen and how reading can help youngsters achieve similar ends.

Swindon Advertiser:

Shock, horror and fascinating facts were provided in a talk from author AG Smith at St Joseph’s Catholic College

Yesterday pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic College welcomed popular fantasy fiction writer AG Smith, while Sam Angus spoke to students at The Ridgeway School.

Year 9 students Bhavisha Patel and Taylor Devine, both 13 and from Eldene, were among the students who heard the talk from Sam.

Taylor said: “It was very interesting and there was lots of stuff about how they operated and how she came up with ideas and how the process worked.

“I think the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature is a really good way to get people to find out about books and it encourages people who maybe don’t like reading to give it a go Bhavisha said: “It was very informative.

“She explained how she had ideas and how they ended up in the books and it was really interesting to find out more about them.

“It’s a great way to find out more about other books and it’s always interesting to be able to meet the author.”

Sam, who has written three novels exploring the impact of both world wars on animals, including Soldier Dog, Captain and A Horse Called Hero, said visiting schools offered her a rare opportunity to break the loneliness of being an author.

She said: “I think it’s very important for children to be able to meet the authors of the books they are reading.

“I didn’t meet any authors when I was growing up and I just think it’s a way to show the children that we are human, we’re not a rare breed.

“Some children enjoy reading and they grow up surrounded by books and parents who read, but really these kinds of talks are not for them but for the children who don’t have books.

“I do think that these books also offer a way into thinking about the First World War, which is particularly important in this centenary year.”

The visit was well received by the school, with Sam keeping the children enraptured for the whole hour.

Sarah Day, LRC manager at the Ridgeway, said: “The students were completely captivated by the tales of Airedale Jack and Captain, and everyone was silent; you could hear a pin drop.

“It was particularly interesting that Sam explained the process behind her books and the importance of historical accuracy with historical literature, and gave our budding writers some tips about how to research.”

COMING UP

In tomorrow’s Adver, we’ll have pictures from the final day of the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature.

Illustrator Fred Blunt will be at Swindon Academy, while poet Ash Dickinson will visit Kingsdown School, Highworth Warneford and Dorcan Academy.

Joffre White, Swindon’s patron of reading, will also visit Nova Hreod Academy. The children’s adventure author said he was honoured to be named patron for the festival. “I think it is really important that every child should have the opportunity to meet an author so they can see the person behind the books,” he said.

“Authors are ordinary people who got lucky enough to be doing something they love. It is very important they have access to authors, not enough authors get out there. They forget who they are writing for. I have done over 260 school visits but it keeps me grounded, meeting children who are still enthusiastic about reading and writing.”