A POET whose work will be published next year has just finished a tour of Cumbria. 

He was invited to Cumbria by the County Council to tour the libraries as part of its summer reading challenge. 

Simon Lamb started in Carlisle, then went to Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Barrow and finally Kendal. 

In each library, he lead workshops with 7-11-year-olds helping them create their own poetry, but he said that even the parents got involved. 

Simon Lamb will be a published author himself next year, with a collection of poetry released through Scallywag Press, and illustrated by Chris Riddell. 

Simon said: "I feel like this week I have been living a little dream, I have had my own chaperone driving me round. For me, it was super exciting and nice to see libraries are so universally adored.

"My approach to poetry is very much that poetry is playing with words. I think it is so important to see authors playing with words-the blank space of a piece of paper as a mini-universe." 

Simon has come down from Scotland to do this tour, and before becoming a full-time poet was himself a primary school teacher.