YSU annual English Festival begins Wednesday

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown State University English Festival marks its 40th anniversary this week as middle- and high-school students from throughout the region converge on campus for the annual celebration of reading and writing Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

In four decades, more than 100,000 junior and senior high-school students from more than 300 school districts in at least eight states have read an estimated 750,000 books, written thousands of essays and have had the chance to meet dozens of the nation’s most prominent and successful authors of young adult literature as part of the three-day event that is one of the largest on the YSU campus every year.

This year, the Festival in Kilcawley Center on campus features three authors, Kekla Magoon, Chris Crutcher and Laurie Halse Anderson.