Best-selling author Bill Bryson was commissioned to write a new short story by Great North Run Culture.

Bill visited the Great North Run in 2007 and watched his daughter compete. In his story he reflects on his visit to the event and the magic of the big day. Bill tells the tale of celebrities and heroes, high fives and helicopters, Red Arrows and late night fire alarms, with his characteristic warmth, humour and affection.

You can read Bill's piece here.

Bryson’s witty, guileless and insightful books have been translated into dozens of languages and frequently top charts across the world, with his first book Notes From A Small Island selling 1.3 million in paperback alone. Bryson has a particular affinity with the North East, praising Durham as "a perfect little city” and becoming the Chancellor of Durham University in 2005.

"To read Bryson is to travel with a memoirist gifted with wry observation and keen insight that shed new light on things we mistake for commonplace....” Publishers Weekly