AN award-winning author and former Children's Laureate will be joining a host of delegates and children at a conference to boost a town's literacy.

The event will highlight the reading and writing initiatives that are taking place in Middlesbrough, a town with high deprivation that could be forced to close several of its libraries to cut £13.8m from its council budget next year.

One of the most anticipated speakers will be Anne Fine, who has written more than 40 books for children and has won the Whitbread Award and Carnegie Medal for her work. Her back catalogue includes Madame Doubtfire, which was made into the blockbuster film starring Robin Williams as Mrs Doubtfire.

Other high-profile delegates at the conference include author Gervase Phinn, educational psychologist Dr Madeleine Portwood, Jonathan Douglas, director of The National Literacy Trust and Dr Brian Male, director of the Curriculum Foundation.

More than 30 workshops will be held, covering a range of topics, including the art of storytelling, a punctuation show, developing language through drama and using digital media to inspire literacy.

Pupils from The Avenue Primary School, who won the Middlesbrough City Bid poetry "slamming" competition, will also be performing.

The two-day event , which will be addressed by Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon, is part of a wider push to improve literacy levels in the town, where 16 out of its 23 wards are classed as deprived and in September there were 18.1 Jobseeker's Allowance claimants for each unfilled vacancy.

Councillor Mike Carr, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for children, families and learning, said: "This major conference shows Middlesbrough is passionate and serious about promoting literacy among its school pupils and wider communities.

"The ability to read and write is essential to playing an active role in society, seizing career opportunities and enjoying the pleasures that reading and writing can bring."

George Dugdale, policy advisor at the National Literacy Trust, said: "We know that poor literacy has a range of negative affects on an individual's life.

"The National Literacy Trust believes that literacy transforms lives, and that with better literacy, everyone can succeed in life."