Poet Laureate Andrew Motion is the special guest of the Daily Echo next week at a major event to be held at Southampton University.

The event is open to the public and it is a chance for Echo readers to see and meet the nation's most famous and important poet.

The Poet Laureate is also a nationally-recognised biographer, and joins a distinguished panel of other biographers to discuss Fact and Fiction in Biography.

The discussion will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Night Waves and is the biggest event of its kind that the Daily Echo has sponsored.

Andrew Motion became Poet Laureate in 1999 and follows in a long line of distinguished poets to hold the title going back many hundreds of years.

Other Poets Laureate include Alfred, Lord Tennyson who made his home for many years in the Isle of Wight.

Andrew Motion is determined to show how poetry is relevant to the lives of ordinary people. He said: "People turn to poetry in times of trouble in their lives.

"It is universal and particular at the same time."

The deluge of poems received at the Daily Echo offices by writer-in-residence Polly Clark certainly testifies to the importance of poetry in the lives of many Echo readers.

Fact and Fiction in Biography: A Discussion with Andrew Motion, Michael Holroyd, Ray Monk and Miranda Seymour, Tuesday at 8pm. £5/£3 (concs) payable on the door, includes wine reception. Lecture Theatre A, Southampton University, Avenue Campus, Highfield Road, Southampton.