THE woman behind 10 successful years of the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature will be starting a new chapter in her life when she retires next week.

Fiona Hardcastle, who has worked at Dorcan Academy for the last 30 years, has been at the helm of the popular event for almost a decade which has inspired thousands of Swindon’s schoolchildren to get into reading and writing.

The 63-year-old hopes she has created a lasting legacy for the future of the festival as she gets set to bid a fond farewell next Friday.

“I can honestly say I feel privileged to do a job I totally love,” Fiona said.

Describing her career as a “learning curve”, Fiona first joined Dorcan to help out in the library but as time went on, she was able to put her hand to a lot more including the festival which was first founded back in 2008.

Fiona took over the reins the following year, organising author visits as well as sourcing the funding to showcase the event which now includes every secondary school in the town.

“The festival takes the students out of their comfort zone of staying with the same author and it breaks the barrier by getting them in to talk about how and why they became an author,” she said.

“When I was young, there were lots of authors around but now I just think there are so many more out there to get kids into reading. I don’t remember seeing any authors coming into school but after this year’s festival I was swamped with students wanting books from the people who had visited because they were inspired to read.

“Quite often authors talk about the power of words and when I look at the figures to see 73,000 students have had that experience of being inspired by an author it is quite remarkable. Whilst I don’t expect to convert all of them, you would hope that some of them have become life-long readers. I hope they look back and remember their experience in Swindon with the literature festival and remember the authors they have seen.”

As well as author visits, the festival promotes healthy competition among pupils with a series of writing competitions of which have been supported by Bower and Bailey Solicitors and WHSmiths.

While Fiona will enjoy her retirement by spending more time with her family, she has said she will provide much-needed support to whoever steps into her shoes as coordinator for next year’s event.

Sherryl Bareham, headteacher at Dorcan, said: “I would like to say a special thank you to Fiona who has organised and co-ordinated the literature festival event on behalf of Swindon schools for the past 10 years. We are really going to miss her. Her passion and desire to promote a love of literature to children has been the driving force behind the festival – it is a huge organisational task which Fiona has always done with passion, great energy and attention to detail.

"She has really made a difference and has left a legacy of reading and love of literature amongst our young people.”