Heroes in Westbury’s first Literary Festival

WESTBURY schoolchildren are taking part in a first Westbury Literary Festival for children.

They have been working on their own pieces of creative writing in the run up to a showcase event, which will be held on 5th July.

It is hoped that the festival, organised by the Westbury Area Schools’ Partnership, will become an annual event to encourage Westbury children to enjoy writing.

Last week, children’s author Antony Lishak visited schools to read one of his stories and talk about his work. With the festival taking on the theme of “heroes”, Antony also talked to the children about the heroes in his life, and enthused children to start thinking and writing about their heroes. He also ran workshops for the children during his visits.

The aim is for every child in Westbury to produce a piece of writing such as a story, a newspaper report, a poem, a play, a biography, or a report.

The local schools taking part are Bitham Brook, Bratton, Dilton Marsh, Matravers, Westbury Infants, Westbury Juniors, and Westbury Leigh. Last week a session was also offered to parents to aid them in supporting their children’s writing expertise. The finale of the Westbury Literary Festival will be held on Thursday 5th July at Matravers School, where children from across the schools will be invited to come and showcase their finished piece of work. Selected pieces of work will be published in a book to celebrate Westbury’s writing success. Pictured: Antony leads a lively session at Westbury Leigh Primary School (right) and shares his books with children at Bratton Primary School (below)