Teen writers, children's lit to 'ignite conversations' during festival

MILFORD — You're never too young to start reading.
Readers as young as one month old, and up through the teens, are in for a treat at the Pike County Public Library during the first-ever Milford Readers and Writers Festival this weekend. The library wanted to make sure young readers and writers were also engaged during the festival, which will bring headliners Gloria Steinem, John Berendt and MK Asante to town.
The library is offering free interactive storytelling sessions and film screenings of classic and new children’s literature. In the spirit of the festival's mission to “ignite conversations” around literature, these sessions will make stories come alive to inspire the next generation of readers and writers.
The event takes place fon Saturday, Oct. 1, with four separate sessions by age group:
Birth to age 3 at 10:30 a.m.
Ages 4 and 5 at 11:30 a.m.
Ages 6 to 8 at 12:30 p.m.
Ages 9 to 12 at 1:30 p.m.
All sessions will be conducted by the library director, Rose Chiocchi, and the library program coordinator, Pam Demeis, along with trained volunteers. Parents or guardians must accompany the children.
To inspire teen writers, the library is also sponsoring a Young Adult Readers and Writers’ Program, a free event planned for noon to 4 p.m. at the library on Sunday, Oct. 2. Students ages 13 to 18 are invited to participate in the afternoon, to include:
Roundtable discussion on how to be a writer, led by young adult and children's authors Lindsay Barrett George, Melinda Michaels, Jennifer Mann, Wendy Townsend, and others.
Design and build a “Little Free Library” to be placed around the community for book lending; and
Poetry and short story presentations by students.
The Pike County Public Library is located at 119 East Harford St., Milford. For more information call 570-296-8211 or visit http://pcpl.org.