POPULAR fantasy writer GP Taylor pays a visit to the Artrix on October 13 as part of his mission to encourage children to get into reading.

The writer, who sprang to fame with adventure stories Shadowmancer and Wormwood, is currently on a 50 date tour of the UK, with the dual purpose of promoting new book Tersias and trying to get kids enthusiastic about books.

Mr Taylor is set to talk to the town's school children in an hour-long show, where he will dress up in 18th Century clothing and shares stories and tales.

He said: "It's all about trying to get children interested in books.

"On my travels I've noticed that kids don't seem as interested in books as they should be.

"So I took it upon myself to really try and get them interested and to spark their imaginations."

In the last three years he has shot to fame as children's writing hot new star.

He knocked Harry Potter creator JK Rowling off the top of the New York Times' best-seller list with Shadowmancer, which along with Wormwood, has sold millions of copies abroad.

It's an achievement for a man who only started writing in 2002, when as a middle age vicar he published Shadowmancer himself.

Now Mr Taylor is a genuine rising star in the literary world and has been mobbed by hundreds on the day of Tersias' release in a nine-hour long book signing

He said: "I seem to have won over adults and children. Sometimes hundreds of people can turn up for signings.

"But the children are my most important readers, they're who I write the books for."