PERFORMANCE poets Nick Toczek and Paul Cookson were on stage at the Cleveland Centre shops in Middlesbrough, entertaining scores of school children with readings and verse, yesterday, to celebrate the Northern Children's Book Festival.

Their enthralled audience included pupils from Abingdon Road, Sacred Heart and Archibald primary schools in Middlesbrough. Nick and Paul are among several authors and illustrators to have visited the town and schools during the last fortnight