A DIFFERENT world was on offer to almost 70 young people from Queen Elizabeth's, Crediton, when they took part in a special event organised by a Devon Literature Festival.

The Year 10 and Year 12 Literature students joined pupils from five other Devon schools (St Peter's, St James and West Exe in Exeter along with Sidmouth and Exmouth) to hear the work of award winning poet Daljit Nagra.

The event, organised by the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival and hosted by St Peter's School in Exeter, showcased his latest work a re-working of the epic saga - The Retold Ramayana.

Daljit has just won acclaim for his modern version of the ancient stories of Rama – whose victory over the Lord of the Underworld is celebrated in the Hindu festival of light - Diwali.

The stories tell of wild monkey battles, tender love, jealousy, stoicism and crucially, the abduction of Rama’s wife, Sita, by the evil Raavana, Lord of the Underworld. Daljit’s story telling involved colourful animations, music and sound effects making it a unique poetry event.

Rich language and an imaginative approach meant that it was challenging at times, but according to Aelred Down, Head of English at QE, the students rose to the occasion.

He said he had never been to a poetry event like it before.

He said: "It was great - fantastic - a first class opportunity for our young people."

This was the latest in a series of poetry and other events offered by QE to bring writing to life for our pupils and follows on from a script writing workshops last term with Dan Jamieson from Theatre Alibi.