AFTER speaking at the festival's debut year in 2010, prolific author Cressida Cowell's LitFest return was hotly anticipated as Marlborough Town Hall was completely packed on Saturday with children and adults alike.

The current Children's Laureate, who grew up in London but was a student at Marlborough College, lit up the stage at the tenth annual Marlborough LitFest as she inspired, empowered and taught everyone in the room, especially the younger ones.

Author and illustrator of successful book series, How To Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell started her talk by sharing stories of her childhood, when she would spend weeks on an uninhabited island, off Scotland's coast, writing and drawing stories.

Addressing the children in the room, Cressida inspired children by saying: "Reading is magic, and magic is for everyone.

"For all the kids in here who enjoy writing, drawing or anything else creative, believe in the impossible this is something that could happen to you."

As Children's Laureate, Cressida is focussing on trying to give school children access to new books, as well as altering curriculums to allow for more creative writing.

Speaking to the Gazette, she said: "It's been lovely to come back to the place I studied at as a kid.

"I absolutely love the place, and the festival, it's so personal and community-based.

"What I enjoy about going to different literature festivals is they all offer something completely different, this one feels like such a nice local festival.

"Marlborough LitFest is a personal enough festival that children can come and meet their favourite authors, which I think is really important to encourage creativity."

Cressida's latest book franchise, The Wizards of Once, is into its third edition and was on sale at LitFest.

After her talk, Cressida hosted a signing table for youngsters to get their favourite titles autographed.