NORWICH – A group of fans gathered in the Holy Family cafeteria Tuesday, eagerly awaiting the chance to meet some of their favorite authors during a “Meet the Authors” event hosted by the parochial school.

You won’t find these local authors on the New York Times Best Seller list, yet anyway. But according to English teacher Leslie Linfante, they all have the potential.

“When they’re published, I hope they remember their middle school English teacher,” joked Linfante, as she introduced the sixth, seventh and eighth grade English students whose work is compiled in a volume entitled, “Holy Family School’s Scary Stories.”

Authors who contributed were Kate Cirello, Ethan French, Joshua Wilcox, Anastasia Tenney, Rebecca Johnson, Cameron Richardson, Pablo Rojas and Peter Kalin. All were present for the “Meet the Authors” event, with the exception of Kalin.

The students penned the spooky tales included in the book for The Evening Sun’s 2010 Ghastly Ghost Stories competition, as well as another writing contest.

According to Linfante, the students had written ghost stories for the competition last year, and were so eager to do so again that they began asking her even before she announced the assignment. In preparation, the class read Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Telltale Heart.”

As a long-time educator, Linfante said she was thrilled not only by the students’ enthusiasm, but by what they gained from the exercise.

“The students thoroughly enjoyed their experience, and the improvement in their writing as a result of their involvement was dramatic,” she reported, in an email to The Evening Sun. “It’s one thing to teach commas and quotations, story line, foreshadowing, imagery, etc. But to see the students really begin to grasp these concepts as they revised their writing was just wonderful.”