Renowned writer Anthony Horowitz urges schoolchildren to 'read anything'

London, May 16 (ANI): Britain's most successful male writer for children, Anthony Horowitz, urged 11,000 Scottish schoolchildren to "read anything" to "exercise their minds" during a question-and-answer session from Edinburgh, which was carried on schoolroom "smart boards" and computer screens.

He was speaking to classrooms in 215 schools across the country during the session.

The writer, acclaimed for multi-million book sales in 34 languages, asked his young audience to believe in themselves if they wanted to be writers, and above all keep reading.

"Don't just think you have to read good books. Read anything, because reading is a muscle that needs exercising," the Scotsman quoted him as saying.

He said that children could try the cartoon adventures of Tintin, the first books he himself read.

He answered a few of more than 500 questions e-mailed in by schools from Orkney to Glasgow.

The question-answer session was funded by the Scottish Arts Council as a pilot event.

Mark Lambert, the council's book trust director, said that other authors would also be invited to talk to children.

"This is one way in which we can get to huge amounts of kids, irrespective of geography and cost, bringing writers directly into their school," he said. (ANI)