Football fanatic and Puffin children’s author Tom Palmer is set to pitch up at the Henry Bloom Noble Library on Saturday September 29 for what’s being billed as a ‘football reading game’ - part football quiz, part penalty shoot-out.

The event will also provide an opportunity for the former bookshop then library worker - and Leeds United fan - to catch up with borough librarian Jan Macartney. He explained: ‘I am thrilled to be working with Jan again. My writing career started when she gave me the chance to work at Pudsey Library in Leeds, running a sports book festival and doing my first ever piece of writing. That led directly to my first book deal and my career as a writer kicking off. It'll be lovely to see her again.’

Mrs Macartney (pictured below) said: ‘At the risk of drawing on “beautiful game” metaphors too heavily, if you’re a football fan you’ll be scoring an own goal if you miss out on this action-packed session at the library. Tom’s a dear friend and fantastic author whose passion for the game – and for words – leaps off the page of every one of his books.’

Tom said: ‘It was reading about football that changed my life. I wasn’t keen on reading when I was young. My mum was worried about me because I didn’t do very well at school. She encouraged me to read about football in newspapers, magazines and books. Gradually I came to love books. And, from that point, my life changed. I wanted to know everything about books. I went to night school to do A levels when I was 21. Then I did a degree in European Literature when I was 24.’

Tom has written the Puffin ‘Football Academy’ series about the boys in an under-12 Premier League side and the Puffin ‘Foul Play’ series about a 14-year-old boy called Danny Harte who wants to solve football crimes. Tom’s latest Puffin series is called ‘The Squad’ where international espionage and football action combine when these teenage spies are sent to the world's toughest trouble spots, going undercover with the England youth team.

The library will be hosting two sessions with Tom, one from 10.30 to 11.30am, the other from 1.30 to 2.30pm. At each he will be launching White Fear, his second book in The Squad series which, together with a selection of his other books, will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Free tickets are available in advance from the ground floor counter at the library.

Tom will be in the Isle of Man as one of the authors taking part in Manx Litfest, taking place between September 27th - 30th and for which programmes are available at the library.