Award-winning performance poet, playwright, and children’s author Joseph Coelho, will visit Stourbridge Library on Thursday 13 April as part of his nationwide Library Marathon.

The award-winning performance poet, playwright, and children’s author is set to visit and join a library in every local authority in the UK – more than 200 libraries in total – with the aim of encouraging people, young and old, to join their local library.

So far, Coelho has visited 157 libraries. At his visit to Stourbridge Library on 13 April at 10am he will register for a library card, borrow a book, as well as reading to and performing for the children in the library. Joseph said:

"Libraries made me a writer and make communities thrive. They have been a vital part of my life: from living on estates where I had a library next door, to my first Saturday job, to working at the British Library whilst studying at UCL, to touring theatre shows designed to be performed in libraries.

"I’m immensely grateful to libraries and the services they provide, so I want to use my platform as the Waterstones Children’s Laureate to champion these essential launchpads of learning.

"I want to hug every library, these miraculous institutions where new horizons line the shelves, where minds go to grow."

Stephanie Rhoden, Partnership Manager for Dudley Libraries, added: "We’re really excited about Joseph visiting us as part of his tour and can’t wait to see him read and perform for the children.

"We always have a really busy programme of activities for our younger visitors and it's great that Joseph is part of that, with a readership that ranges from tots to teens.

"We're looking forward to signing Joseph up as one of our members and it's a great reminder that anybody can become a member of our library, whatever their age and wherever they live. A library ticket is a pass to a whole new world."

Joseph is acclaimed for his work including the Luna Loves picture books, middle grade series Fairy Tales Gone Bad, YA verse novel The Girl Who Became a Tree, as well as poetry collections for all ages including Overheard in a Tower Block and Poems Aloud.

The ‘Library Marathon’ is one of three major initiatives announced by the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, which is managed by BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, as part of his two year tenure.