CRITICALLY acclaimed author Alex Wheatle MBE delivered a memorable author session to schoolchildren to inspire the next generation of writers.

Organised by Stockton Borough Council’s Libraries service, Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize award winner, Alex Wheatle, captivated the imagination of pupils from North Shore Academy, Northfield School and Sports College, Ian Ramsey Academy and Grangefield Academy.

The children were treated to excerpts from his new young adult novel, ‘Straight Outta Crongton’, which uses the streets of London as a literary backdrop.

Councillor Norma Wilburn, the council’s cabinet member for arts, leisure and culture, said: “This was another wonderful session organised by our Libraries service that always strive to put on events that will stoke the imagination of our schoolchildren and hopefully inspire them to continue a lifelong love of literature. Alex is a very accomplished author, so it was a real privilege to have a writer of such standing holding such an intimate session and signing of his new novel in the Borough.”