A RENOWNED screenwriter, graphic novelist and author's visit to Darwen bookworms proved to be a real page turner.

Andy Briggs, who has worked on movie projects such as Judge Dredd, Freddy vs Jason and Foreverman, went to meet pupils from three schools at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (DACA).

DACA also invited along pupils from Sudell Primary School and Belthorn Academy Primary School.

Mr Briggs has also worked on Warner Brothers' Aquaman and landed an eight-book deal with Oxford University Press for two series of books, Hero.com and Villain.net.

He said: "It’s always a pleasure to be invited into schools to talk to the pupils.

"When I was signing books at the end of the event I had pupils telling me they now want to write a film or song.

"Who knows if a future super-author was amongst those at Darwen?

"We shouldn’t forget that it is this generation that will be entertaining us in the future, or writing important articles on the state of the world.

"They are only going to be doing this if they find writing a pleasure so I think it’s vital to make sure children find reading and writing an enjoyable creative outlet, and not something they have to do just because they’re in school."

Recently, Mr Briggs has rebooted the classic character Tarzan with a series of contemporary books called Tarzan: The Greystroke Legacy, Tarzan: The Jungle Warrior and Tarzan: The Savage Lands.

He has also just finished writing a movie called Crowhurst, a true story about the around the world voyage of Donald Crowhurst, which will be out early next year.

Janet McCarthy, learning resource centre manager at DACA, said that Mr Briggs was 'fantastic' with the children.

She said: "He was so charismatic and by the end of the day I think he had really changed some children's minds about reading and being a writer.

"Some of them thought it would be a really boring job at first, but then Andy made them realise you can be much more than just an author, you can do graphic novels, films and tv programmes.

"He interacted with the students so well.

"We like to encourage children to read for pleasure at DACA, I think they can get lost in TV and video games these days and with that they lose something very special like losing yourself in a book."