Watertown High School seniors received a visit from a well-known actress a high-profile author, who were on hand to get students excited about reading, writing and story telling.

Katherine Erbe, who stars in the television drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", and Tom Kelly, who wrote "Payback", "The Rackets" and "Empire Rising", helped launch the Actors and Writers Book Club Monday.

"We felt it was a good team to send a writer and an actor out to talk about a work of literature, to talk about the process," said Kelly.

During two assemblies, Erbe read a story to students, Kelly discussed the writer's perspective and then held a question and answer session.

"I hope that they can go on to see the importance of story-telling and hearing stories in their families and telling their own stories," said Erbe, who is known for her role as Detective Alexandra Eames on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

The Actors and Writers Book Club is a program which targets under-served areas in the country.

Watertown was selected fro the inaugural book club school district.