TORFAEN already has a literary Mecca in the Blaenavon booktown project, and now it is set to become a force in the theatrical world, too.

The county borough is to get its very own playwrightin-residence from January to June next year as part of an Arts Council-funded project.

Cardiff-based Louise Osborn, 46, takes up the role in the new year and will be encouraging budding playwrights under 30 to get involved and start writing scripts.

Former actress Louise currently writes for Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks, and has written around a dozen plays, including Nelson's Touch and Lizard's Tale, which were staged by Gwent Theatre, in Abergavenny.

Although she has led drama groups before, this is the first such community project Louise has been involved in.

Louise said: "I'm very excited about the project. I'm looking forward to working with young people who didn't achieve through school but who have a burning passion for writing.

"It would be great to unearth some undiscovered talent and find some people who have an aspiration to have a voice.

"It's open to everybody. People shouldn't feel that they have to have done something similar before to take part. If it's new territory for them, don't worry. This is new territory for me, too. It's going to be challenging and fun."

The aim of the project, run by Sgript Cymru and Torfaen Education Department, aims to enable communities to express their own distinctive voices through creative writing, and to develop new audiences for contemporary drama.

The project will start with a series of taster sessions throughout Torfaen. From those sessions two groups of 15 will be formed, to meet Louise regularly. The project will end with a public event, with actors reading selected pieces in progress.

Bill Hill, Torfaen council's assistant director of education, said: "We are expecting this very exciting project to discover and nurture Torfaen's next generation of writing talent and invigorate interest in the theatre and performing arts. Importantly, this project is aimed at new writers who may want to use English or Welsh, or even a mixture of both languages.

"We are delighted to be involved with Sgript Cymru in this unique and innovative project."