AS PART of the Appledore Book Festival, three well-known authors visited Holsworthy Community College to talk about their work to students from Years 8, 9 and 10, last week recently.

On the Monday, Steve Voake explained what had inspired him to write his critically acclaimed first novel 'The Dream­walker's Child' published in 2005, which established his reputation.

He read extracts from his other books and answered questions from the students: who were his favourite authors when a child, why he wrote about strong female characters and how to get a book published. He explained how he had had discussions with Hollywood about making a film of his first novel.

The visit on the Tuesday of playwright, author, actor and director Terrence Frisby was particularly poignant as some of the students had already been to the Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple, to see a musical based on his latest book 'Kisses on a Postcard', a true story of how he and his brother were evacuated to a small West Country village from war-torn London.

For the full story, and a round-up of this week's area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.