Wordfest is sponsoring three authors to visit schools in Morley Oct. 15.
“The feedback is tremendous,” said Sandra Paire, manager of the youth program for Wordfest.
“It seems to have a strong impact in terms of making memories and demystifying the process of reading – which is a very solitary activity – (the students) see it is not just difficult, you just need to find the right book and they see they can do it.”
Author visits to Morley is becoming an annual event, as Wordfest also sponsored authors to visit the Nakoda Elementary School last year.
“The librarians see an increase in the number of books borrowed from the library, especially knowing the kids don’t have those books for themselves,” Paire said.
The three authors are geared towards different age groups; Montreal artist Anne Villeneuve will be presenting her children’s books for children in kindergarten to Grade 2; award-winning Bill Slavin will be presenting from Grades 3 to 6; and award-winning Manitoba artist David Alexander Robertson can presents to any age group from Grade 4 to the high school level with his various graphic novels.
Robertson comes from a Cree heritage and uses Aboriginal history as inspiration for his novels.
“We pick the authors based on various criteria of course, but we’ve heard from teachers in the Bow Valley area – they are craving authors the kids can relate to,” Paire explained. “And you relate to the author that has something in common with you, so we try every time to find authors who relate to the kids in a meaningful manner.”
Wordfest organizers will also bringing close to 200 students from Nakoda and Morley Community High School for a presentation form David Robertson and Richard Van Camp at Calgary Public Library Oct. 16.
“We’ve been doing this thanks to sponsors and private donators – their sponsorship allows us to go out into the community,” Paire said.
