Mr Dilly Meets – Free Virtual Author Events for Primary Schools
Inspiring Reading, Writing, and Creativity in Classrooms Nationwide
Over 600,000 primary school children in more than 7,000 schools have already experienced the magic of Mr Dilly Meets — fun, free, and inspirational live virtual author visits beamed straight into classrooms across the UK.
These exciting online events bring the wonderful world of children’s books, authors, poets, and illustrators to life through lively chat, engaging read-alouds, draw-alongs, and more. Each live stream event celebrates creativity in a colourful, energetic way that encourages reading for pleasure, inspires curiosity, and supports literacy learning — with a huge burst of laughter and fun along the way.
All events stream via the Mr Dilly website, embedded via YouTube — no downloads, sign-ins, or special software required.
For over four years, Mr Dilly Meets has been an integral part of many schools’ reading and literacy programmes, making Mr Dilly Meets a perfect partner in the nationwide drive to encourage and celebrate reading through the National Year of Reading 2026 and beyond.
With a packed calendar of new events each term, Mr Dilly Meets continues to grow as one of the the UK’s leading free virtual author programme for schools.
Why Schools Love Mr Dilly Meets
FREE to join – accessible for all schools, no matter the budget
Live interaction with celebrated children’s authors, poets, and illustrators
Inspires reading for pleasure and supports creative writing in the classroom
Curriculum-linked – from literacy to cross-curricular themes like myths, STEM, and the environment
Flexible and easy to access – join live from your classroom with a single link
Memorable experiences – lively, funny, and packed with ideas children remember long after the session
Replay available – most events include replay access for flexible classroom use
🎥 Want to catch up on past Mr Dilly Meets? See the full archive on our Past Events page (updating - coming soon)— watch author live streams anytime, on demand.
Upcoming Mr Dilly Meets – Free, Fun & Inspirational Virtual Author Visits for Primary School
Mr Dilly Meets: Gill Sims| Upper KS2 and Lower KS3
📅 Available from: Monday 6 July
📺 Watch anytime until: Friday 17 July
👩🏫 Best for: Ages 11–14 / Upper KS2 & Lower KS3
⏱️ Run time: approx. 40–45 minutes
Join Mr Dilly and bestselling comic author Gill Sims for a funny, honest and inspiring author event about writing, comedy, character voice and turning awkward everyday moments into stories.
Best known for her sharp humour and relatable writing, Gill is now bringing that warmth and wit to younger readers with the Lila Mackay books — stories about friendship, family, embarrassment, misunderstandings, growing up and feeling completely misunderstood.
What to Expect
In this special Mr Dilly Meets event, pupils will hear Gill talk about:
• becoming an author
• writing funny, honest fiction
• creating believable characters
• finding a character’s voice
• comedy, embarrassment and real-life drama
• friendship, family and feeling misunderstood
• turning awkward or unfair moments into creative writing ideas
The event will also include short readings from the Lila Mackay books and a simple writing prompt pupils can try afterwards.
Why Watch?
This author event is a great way to encourage pupils to see their own lives, feelings and everyday experiences as possible starting points for writing.
Rather than focusing on big fantasy worlds or huge adventures, Gill shows how stories can begin with something very real: feeling embarrassed, feeling misunderstood, thinking something is unfair, falling out with a friend, saying the wrong thing, or wishing adults understood what life is actually like.
Perfect for sparking discussion and writing around character, voice, humour and growing up.
How to Watch
This is an on-demand event, so schools can watch at any time that suits them between Monday 6 July and Friday 17 July.