Last year during the Swindon Literature Festival, when I met Kate Cann, I left feeling optimistic and inspired. Today when I went to see Patrick Ness was no different. He was friendly, open and surprisingly normal which just goes to show that the names printed on book covers really do belong to essentially regular people.

I do quite a lot of writing myself, not only school work but I keep a diary and write stories too, so I agree with Patrick Ness that ideas come from everything but a lot of the time I stop writing because I doubt my own ability.

This is why meeting authors is so important to a student. Talking to and listening to people who are as normal as I am but have made names for themselves in the literary world, cannot help but inspire me to pick up my pen once more and see if I can succeed too!

Josephin Broad-Drake, Year 11, Nova Hreod