CHILDREN were 'utterly captivated' as authors and illustrators shared their stories.

Organised by Ormsgill School at Barrow, the book festival saw a number of authors brought to the school to talk to the children about their books.

Pupils also had the chance to learn what it is like to be an author and how they get ideas for their stories.

Children from Barrow Island Primary School and Cambridge Primary joined in the activities and they heard from a number of authors including Petr Horacek, Dan Worsley and Fay Evans.

The authors spoke about their careers, how they became authors and talked to the children about where they get their ideas for each of their stories.

Laura Reid, year two teacher at Ormsgill Primary, said: “We held a Book Festival to celebrate books and encourage children to have a love of reading for the rest of their lives.

“We want to give children in our area a chance to listen, meet and be inspired by the authors.

“The opportunity to engage with authors to enable them to see people who create amazing stories.

“To help change the view of those children who engage less with books, to help them see the value and the awesomeness of books and inspire future aspirations.

“My inspiration for organising the event was to give the children of our area access to authors they would not otherwise have.

“Opportunities that other children enjoy much more frequently.”

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock also visited the book festival.

He said: “It was a delight to see children utterly captivated by meeting authors and illustrators - you could immediately see how it brings the books alive for them and inspires them to be creative themselves.

“Laura Reid and the Ormsgill school team are building something really special with this festival and I would love to give them all the help I can to grow it into a truly area-wide event.”