Monmouth Comprehensive School, Haberdashers' Monmouth School For Girls and Monmouth School are staging the first ever Literary Festival in Monmouth. The Festival has been organised by students from across the three schools and aims to share the talent and diversity of young people within the community. The Festival will be held from 23rd June 2014 to 27th June 2014 at different venues across the schools and town. The theme for this inaugural year is poetry, tying in with the celebrations of the centenary of Dylan Thomas, but some exciting new fiction writers are also included in a programme designed to appeal to a wide audience. The town itself is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, which has inspired many poets, works of art and literature. The Festival will draw on this rich heritage, which will form a back drop to the works created by our young people. Joining them to share their expertise and provide stimulus to develop creativity will be: •Leo Aylen; poet, author, actor, director, broadcaster and screenwriter. Leo's poems are miniature plays in a variety of settings and include riddles, puns, verbal acrobatics and audience participation. •C J Daugherty; making her third visit to Monmouth this year, this popular new author (whose books have already been translated into 21 languages) inspires her audiences and, together with her film-maker husband, Jack, they give a fascinating insight into the process of writing and film making. •Rhian Edwards; a poet, singer and songwriter. Her poems bristle with sensual wit, chronicling relationships young and old, personal portraits and the minutiae of life as we live it. •M R Hall; a screenwriter and best-selling author of crime fiction. Matthew wrote exclusively for the screen for ten years, producing more than 40 hours of prime-time drama for BBC1 and ITV before writing his first novel, The Coroner. The Coroner was nominated for the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger in the best novel category. •Daniel Morden; since 1989 Daniel Morden has travelled the world as a professional storyteller. He is one of the UK's most popular tellers of traditional stories, with a repertoire that ranges from The Iliad and The Odyssey performed with Hugh Lupton to his work for families fusing music and story with Oliver Wilson-Dickson. •Laura Powell; an exciting new teen author who has made a name for herself with her latest books: Burn Mark and Witch Fire. Laura originates from the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. •Cat Weatherill; an author and performance storyteller combining stories with action rhymes, music, singing, hand puppets and physical objects to create lively, interactive and entertaining sessions. We are also delighted that Phillip Wells will be joining us on Wednesday 25th June 2014 as part of his 'barefoot' walk to raise awareness of the plight of a billion children across the world who are living in poverty (http://www.barefootbillion.com">www.barefootbillion.com). He will be performing at Tintern Abbey and at Monmouth Comprehensive School's marquee. Poetry brings people together and reflects our shared humanity. The organisers are hoping that this inaugural festival will be the beginning of an annual Literary Festival that will showcase the town and its learners to the world. For further information, please contact either Mr Andy Williams or Mrs Karen Rollings at Monmouth Comprehensive School.