Sir Lenny Henry speaks to Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic about his appearance at the the Reading for Smiles Children’s Book Festival in Birmingham, a ground-breaking new initiative, in partnership with the charity World Book Day and Midlands Arts Centre (MAC).

Sponsored by Pan Macmillan and funded by Arts Council England, the first-of-its-kind festival will welcome 210 children from schools with high free school meal eligibility and low literacy rates, offering many their first-ever experience of a literature festival.