DECATUR - Jennifer Epstein, author of a critically acclaimed historical novel, told a group of aspiring young writers what it was like to see her first book in print.

"It wasn't quite up there with holding my children when they were first born, but it was very, very close," Epstein said, in response to a question from a student at the Millikin University Literary Festival.

The event, held Friday and Saturday, attracted 40 high school and college students from across the state, to learn the intricacies of the writing trade. They huddled in writing workshops, lectures and oral reading sessions with Epstein and poet Allison Joseph, creative writing program director at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Epstein, author of "The Painter from Shanghai," the story of a Parisian post-impressionist painter who had escaped prostitution, was impressed by the young writers.

"When they started reading what they had written on such short notice, it was really impressive to me," Epstein said. "They were really coherently planned out, articulate, solid writing pieces. A lot of them would have worked out well in a published novel."

She told them that a writer has to write "because you love the process," and not for the money.

When a student said she sometimes wrote scenes out of chronological order, Epstein advised, "I think when you get the urge to write something, you should just write it."

The former newspaper and television reporter, who had worked in China and Japan, said it was a struggle for her to write about the Chinese artist. She had been schooled on the exploitation of non-Western cultures, and was concerned about how her work would be perceived.

"I wasn't Chinese," she said. "I wasn't a sex-trade worker."

But Epstein, who first read the story of her protagonist, Pan Yuliang, when she saw her self-portrait at the Guggenheim Museum, felt compelled to write about her.

"It was so unlike anything I had ever seen," she said.

Her husband, a filmmaker, told her: "This is your book, what you should be writing about." Epstein later discovered that very little had been written about the accomplished artist.

"Being a writer means taking risks," Epstein said. "It means embracing story lines that may not be familiar to you."

Casey Kennett, a junior at Hartsburg-Emden High School, near Lincoln, said she enjoyed the festival because she learned new writing techniques and made friends of fellow literature lovers. She said she especially learned a lot from Epstein, who led the students in exercises on using various tenses and narrative voices.

"She's one of the greatest authors I've heard, and I can't wait to read her stuff," Kennett said.

Diana Zwinak, English teacher at Indian Creek High School in Shabbona, near DeKalb, has been bringing students to the literary festival for four years. She said it is unique in bringing together a community of young writers. It is especially attractive to students because it is free.

Zwinak said several students who attended the festival in previous years later registered to attend Millikin.

Stephen Frech, Millikin English professor and event organizer, said the students who attend the festival are amazingly attentive.

"There's such an appetite for some young people for literature, for culture, for books," Frech said. "Everyone here cares for those kinds of things. I hear that their appetite for those kinds of things are finally sated."

hfreeman@herald-review.com|421-6985