Taking place from 2nd to 7th March at the Mitchell Library, Wee Write! aims to inspire a lifelong love of books by promoting the benefits of reading to youngsters and encouraging families to read together.

UKSE has donated £2,000 to Glasgow Life, organisers of Wee Write!, to enable Cambuslang children to attend the festival. The funding, which aims to remove barriers to accessing the festival, will be used to provide tickets to over 200 pupils from schools across the area.

The schools benefiting from this year’s funding include; Newton Farm, West Coats, Hallside and Park View primaries.

Throughout the 2020 edition of the festival, pupils will be able to see and hear from a variety of award-winning authors including former Blue Peter presenter Konni Huq, Muhammad Khan and Philip Ardagh.

The festival also plays host to World Book Day’s “Share a Story Live”, a fast-paced, interactive book extravaganza hosted by author and actor Steven Butler which will feature multiple authors.

Alongside their free entry to this year’s festival, pupils will also receive free books to take home.

The donation from UKSE is the second of its kind, with funding from the organisation enabling 200 school pupils to attend the Wee Write! Festival in 2018.

Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life and depute leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “Inspiring children to love books and reading is really important, and the Wee Write schools programme does exactly just that.

“By allowing more than 200 pupils from across Cambuslang attend festival events, the donation from UKSE is extremely welcome. Thanks to that support, those children will have the opportunity to engage with books in a new and fun way, which will hopefully inspire a love of reading.”

Scott Webb, regional executive at UKSE, said: “Reading can play such an integral part in the lives of young children, helping spark their imaginations and feed their creativity.

“After seeing the huge benefit our first donation in 2018 made to the lives of young people from Cambuslang, we had no hesitation in helping support this cause again.”