JOANNE Harris’s novels trip along from the first page to the last.

They pull in the reader, stirring the imagination with their mystical twists and turns.

The author of Chocolate, Coastliners, Blackberry Wine and a host of other bestselling novels, is giving a special insight into the pages of her forthcoming book, Honeycomb, a collection of dark, captivating fairy tales.

Blackwell’s at the University of Bradford plays host to #Storytime, a musical storytelling show unwrapping the book of short stories in an uplifting, entertaining way. Seven stories have been chosen from the 100-story book; each has a song, incidental music and images to accompany it.

Yorkshire-based Joanne devised the show to explore the oral tradition of storytelling and how it encompasses not only the spoken word but musical and dramatic art forms.

“I've always been interested in the various ways in which stories expand and migrate from the page,” she says. “The oral tradition of storytelling is different and more volatile than the written word, moving into different forms; dance; music; theatre. I wanted to explore some of that for Honeycomb; itself a kind of homage to the traditions of fireside storytelling. Music seemed like the best way to take the stories to another level.”

Joanne’s #Storytime Band plays alongside her as she reads. “We write the music,” she says, “Paul (keyboards) is the primary composer. I send him the story and the lyrics; he sets them to a musical theme, then he, Kevin and I tend to work on finishing and developing it together.”

A classically trained flautist, Joanne met progressive rock drummer Kevin when the pair were students at Barnsley sixth form college. They have played in the same band ever since. #Storytime sees her singing, playing flute and bass.

“We're all from Yorkshire, and apart from Matt, who joined us last year, we've been playing and writing together since we were at school,” she says.

The daughter of a French mother and English father, Joanne has always been fascinated by fairy tales. “They're behind most of our greatest literature and tell the story of the hopes and dreams of the human race throughout history,” she says.

The 100 stories in the book awaken many different emotions. “Some are sad; some funny; some horrific; some happy,” says Joanne. “All are quite short and all are original.”

They are, as yet, unpublished, except for one, which managed to make its way into That Glimpse of Truth, an anthology of the 100 best stories ever written.

The #Storytime event had its roots on Twitter. Joanne was not convinced that she would enjoy social networking, but did. Sometimes she would tell stories there, making them up as she went along under the hashtag #Storytime.

“I wrote line by line, in exactly the same way the oral tradition works. People reading them said they felt as if they were listening to Jackanory,” she says.

As Honeycomb took shape Joanne asked illustrator Charles Vess to contribute to the project and went on to set some of them to music, ultimately combining storytelling with music, songs and images.

* #Storytime takes place on Thursday, February 18 at 7pm at The Small Hall, University of Bradford. For tickets visit eventbrite.com/e/blackwells-at-the-university-of-bradford-proudly-presentsjoanne-harris-storytime-tickets