GREAT Britain’s greatest Olympian of all time will be a guest author at the first staging of a new children’s literature festival in Skipton.

Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, who won six gold medals and one silver across three Olympics, including a double gold in the velodrome at London 2012, has hung up his helmet and Lycra and swapped them for pen and paper since his retirement.

He will be bringing his popular Flying Fergus children’s books to the Broughton Hall Children’s Literature Festival at Broughton Hall in Skipton, which runs from Thursday, September 27, until Sunday, September 30.

During the festival, authors will be visiting schools across Yorkshire to inspire children to read more.

Sir Chris will be launching the festival on a visit to Bradford Grammar School at 1.30pm on Thursday, September 27.

As well as Sir Chris, other notable authors who will be appearing at the festival include broadcaster Clare Balding and successful writes M.G. Leonard and G.P. Taylor.

Sir Chris, 42, has written eight books so far in the Flying Fergus series, which tell the story of nine-year-old Fergus Hamilton and his friends as he travels back and forth to a parallel universe called Nevermore, where cycling is banned and his dad is trapped by the evil king.

Sir Chris said: “I’ve been to a few literary festivals now and I’ve really enjoyed them.

“I love the honesty of the kids and their questions and their feedback about the books.

“As a child, I loved cycling and had all kinds of adventures and kids reading the Flying Fergus books will hopefully be inspired to do the same.”

More than 200 schools from Bradford and across Yorkshire will be involved in the festival, reaching more than 40,000 children.

More than 65 authors, poets, illustrators, storytellers and animators will be taking part in the festival, which is the brainchild of Bradford’s Trevor Wilson.

Former teacher Mr Wilson is from Oakworth, and started his teaching career in Shadwell, Leeds, before moving to the Bahamas in 1975 to teach maths and PE.

He then moved to the Cayman Islands to teach in 1979, before returning to Yorkshire in 1988.

Mr Wilson went on to teach at Malsis Hall near Skipton and Westville House School in Ilkley, before retiring in 2005.

He is currently the managing director of Authors Abroad, the leading organiser of authors’ visits to schools across the world, and the festival sees him fulfil a lifelong dream of bringing some of the biggest names in children’s literature to Broughton Hall, which has stood in Skipton since the 16th Century.

Mr Wilson said: “It is a real honour to have Sir Chris as part of our inaugural festival.

“He is a complete legend – and his Flying Fergus books have captured the imagination of many young readers.

“I would also like to thank Bradford Grammar School for hosting this event.

“I don’t just want to establish a new children’s literature festival in Yorkshire, exciting as that is. My ultimate aim is to make this the biggest festival of its kind in the UK.

“The line-up is very strong already and we will build on this, year on year, as news of the Broughton Hall Children’s Literature Festival spreads and our reputation grows.

“There has been nothing like this in the north of England, so we have entered uncharted territory, but we are proud of the substantial progress we have made to date.”

The festival is also raising money for mental health charity The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, which was formed by the Waller family after 28-year-old Charlie, a successful advertising executive, took his own life whilst suffering from depression.

To buy tickets for the festival, visit childrensliteraturefestival.org