Pupils at two York secondary schools will be taking in part in creative writing workshops with leading poets, thanks to City of York Council's Read-Write-York initiative.

York-based writer, Helen Burke will be leading a poetry workshop with a class of Year 8 pupils from Fulford School and Chris Firth - an award-winning prose writer from Whitby - will be taking a short story writing workshop at Canon Lee School.

The workshops form part of Read-Write-York's mission to develop links between the city's schools and local writers and celebrate the launch of the 11th issue of the city's literary magazine, Dream Catcher.

In addition to the school workshops, an evening of readings by leading writers will also be held to celebrate the latest issue of Dream Catcher. The event will feature appearances by celebrated poets Ian Parks and Kathryn Daszkiewicz. The headline act will be the award-winning poet and crime novelist, Joolz Denby.

Joolz is widely considered to be Britain's premier spoken-word artist and urban storyteller. An experienced poet and broadcaster, Joolz has recently turned her attention to crime fiction. Named New Crime Writer of the Year in 1998, she was recently commissioned to write the poem, 'Bradford', for her home-town's bid for 'Capital of Culture 2008'.

David Cooper, literature development officer, City of York Council, said: "Over the past few years, Dream Catcher has grown into one of the country's most important literary magazines, offering a rare chance for new writers to see their work published alongside that of more established and celebrated names.

"City of York Council and Read-Write-York are delighted to be supporting the work of Paul Sutherland (general editor) and the rest of the Dream Catcher team, and we are looking forward to a great evening of readings. We are also pleased to be working with Riding Lights Theatre Company as part of our programme to put on more literature events across the city."

The launch event is taking place at Friargate Theatre, Lower Friargate, on Friday, 24 January 2003, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets for the event are free and can be obtained by contacting David Cooper at York Central Library on 01904 552838 or by e-mailing david.cooper@york.gov.uk

The evening will be hosted by local poet, Antony Dunn, whose work has appeared in many previous issues of Dream Catcher.