The readers' day has been organised by Tang Hall Library and Read-Write-York, City of York Council's literature development project. The celebration will feature a series of events, including appearances by a leading author and storyteller.

The day will begin at 10.30am with a talk by the popular poet, Pat Borthwick. Pat has lived in and around York for over 20 years and is an award-winning writer who has published several collections of verse. She is also an experienced creative writing tutor, who has worked in prisons, libraries, schools, museums, hospitals and hospices across the country. Her work has been broadcast regularly on BBC Radio.

Pat will be talking about her favourite books and the important role that reading has played in her development as a writer. After her talk, there will be an opportunity to chat to Pat about her reading over a cup of coffee.

The afternoon events will be aimed at attracting local children into the library and at 3.30pm there will be a special storytelling session. Mark Barnes, a teacher and storyteller from North Yorkshire, will tell a combination of traditional and modern stories in his own energetic style. The session will be targetted at seven to eleven year olds, but story-lovers of all ages are more than welcome!

Other special events taking place throughout the day including reading games and text-based arts workshops, arranged by Emily Harvey, arts officer at York East Arts. Local artist and tutor, Kirsty Briggs, will also be inviting people to come along to play with words.

Children from a nearby school will be making collages out of words lifted from both poetry and prose at 2.00pm and, alongside all this, the library staff will be on hand to discuss books and to invite users to consider new ways of approaching their reading.

Sue McCoey, principal library assistant at Tang Hall Library, said: "We hope people will enjoy the day and have some fun with the things we have on offer. Reading opens up such a wide range of experiences and we would like to give people the opportunity to share these with others and maybe consider books they would not normally read."

The Tang Hall Readers' Day will also act as a warm-up for the major reading event of the year - the York Readers' Day - which is taking place at the Theatre Royal on Saturday, March 22, 2003.

All events at the Tang Hall Readers' Day are free and refreshments will be served throughout the day. For more information please contact Tang Hall Library on 01904 416429. END