The Northern Irish author of the Will Gallows children's stories has stopped off at a Norwich primary school to talk about his exciting Hollywood hopes.

Derek Keilty had flown over from Belfast for a five-day tour to promote his latest in the popular series, Will Gallows and the Thunder Dragon's Roar, at schools around London.

But he decided to make the trip to Norfolk for one lucky school as well, coming in to talk to year five and six pupils at Catton Grove Primary School on Friday afternoon.

The new book is the second in the series, following the success of Will Galllows and the Snake-Bellied Troll, and crosses fantasy with the Wild West.

The lead character, Will, is a space cowboy and is caught up in a bitter land feud between the cowboy settlers and the elf braves.

The first book was chosen as the Blue Peter book of the month, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club and has seen film rights for the series been optioned by Sir Elton John's production company, Rocket Pictures.

The film company are hoping the Will Gallows books could fill the gap left behind by the Harry Potter films ending and could even feature new songs from Elton John.

The pupils at Catton Grove got an insight into the exciting Hollywood world that Derek and his books are about to be launched in to, revealing that Kelly Asbury - who directed recent animated hit Gnomeo and Juliet - is going to direct the film.

Catton Grove headteacher, Tim Lawes, said: 'We try and get access to authors and performers for our students and our librarian, Janice Breen, is very keen to ensure that our kids have access to authors, to encourage our pupils to read.

'Derek was very engaging. One of the things he does is very good accents and as soon as he started doing that the kids absolutely loved it and he held their attention.

'He talked at their level so that they could understand and then they asked him lots of questions.'

Is your school holding an event? Contact reporter David Freezer on 01603 772418 or david.freezer@archant.co.uk