ONE of the country’s leading wordsmiths has been pencilled in to appear at a literary gathering in an East Lancashire library.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy already has a well-established connection with the area after she penned a 400th anniversary piece to mark the deaths of the Pendle Witches.

And Carol Ann will be performing the work, commissioned by arts organisation Green Close, during a gala night at Colne Library on March 7, from 7.30pm.

The poet will also be reading from ‘The Bees’, a collection of verse designed to promote libraries as the perfect setting for sonnets and suchlike.

A Lancashire Libraries spokesman said: “Carol Ann has achieved the rare feat of being both a critical and commecial success as a playwright, librettist and freelance writer as well as a poet.

“We hope that people will be able to come along and discover that libraries really are the perfect places for poetry.”

Recently the poet has also lent her talents to editing Jubilee Line — a collection of 60 works from 60 different contributors.

Carol Ann will be giving readings in ‘bite-sized chunks’, accompanied by versatile local musician John Sampson.

He is an expert on an array of recorders, horns and pipes and will be creating a series of suitable interludes between the performances.

Tickets for the event will be £5, including refreshments. There will be discounts for groups of 10, at £40.