THE POWER of the pen has been celebrated with the launch of Swindon’s first ever schools poetry and short story competition.

Joffre White, Swindon’s patron of reading and writing for 2014 to 2016, popped into Nova Hreod yesterday to announce The Patron’s Writing Ambassadors.

As part of the competition, students at the town’s secondary schools will be invited to submit poems or short stories by May 15.

School librarians will compile a shortlist. Joffre will then name his winner, or Writing Ambassador.

“I wanted to leave something as a legacy from my term as patron so I decided to set up this initiative,” he said.

“It’s about empowering young people to realise that they can look at a book, pick up a pen and have the power within them to go on a journey.”

The Frome author, who released his trilogy Frog in 2010, has spent recent years travelling the country to inspire pupils to write or simply rediscover the joys of reading for pleasure.

“I think as a writer I have a responsibility,” he said. “Not enough authors go out there and influence the next generation. And it’s about encouraging pupils to read for pleasure. In secondary schools, reading for pleasure trails off. They have so many academic pressures.”

The competition’s theme is tolerance. It is expected to become an annual initiative slotted between the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature and the Summer Reading Challenge.