25th SWFL Reading Festival helps young readers meet authors

Kids are learning how they can cultivate their knowledge in anticipation of the start of the Southwest Florida Reading Festival.

The students at Diplomat Elementary School got to meet and talk with authors at the festival.

For 25 years, the Southwest Reading Festival celebrates the power of reading.

“25 years, there’s people that have come to all the festivals from when they were younger, and now, they are all grown up and have their own little ones. It starts to become a generational tradition,” said Melissa Baker, the event coordinator.

From kids in kindergarten to fourth graders, every student got a chance to meet some of their favorite authors and see the faces behind the names.

“Love meeting with readers because they always ask the best questions. They will suggest story ideas that are amazing and … it’s very inspiring to see kids that are excited about stories and that want to meet the real person that made them because a lot of times kids think that books — just up here — and it’s really fun to connect and talk about how stories are made,” said Adrianna Cuevas, an author of children’s books.

The authors get a chance to share their creative writing process in hopes of showing young writers that they can do it too.

“When I was younger, we never had authors come to my school,” said Michalak, “so just to know that that’s an attainable career and also getting kids excited about reading and writing and sharing that love with them and hearing their ideas for stories.”

WINK News is a sponsor for the 25th SWFL Reading Festival. You can get a chance to meet the authors on Saturday too. The event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fort Myers Regional Library.