AUTHOR Joanne Harris is on a mission to prove that its definitely not grim up North.

Joanne - who wrote best-selling novel Chocolat - is one of 25 new ambassadors who have been appointed to promote Huddersfield around the world.

The ambassadors were hand-picked by a partnership of Kirklees Council, the University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and the Creative Industries Development Agency.

The aim was to choose people who represented the strengths of Huddersfield.

Joanne, 42, from Almondbury, was chosen because of her links with the university and the Huddersfield Literature Festival.

She said she was flattered to have been asked.

She said: "They thought hard about what kind of people represented the values they wanted to push.

"They have got an interesting, broad spectrum of people who are successful, dynamic and creative in their own fields."

Joanne's job as an ambassador will be to promote Huddersfield to people she meets in the worlds of publishing, TV and media.

She said: "You can do so much more with word of mouth than with PR."

Joanne thinks the ambassadors scheme will help dispel the myth that nothing happens in the North.

She said: "There is a sort of ignorance, especially in the south, about what towns and cities in the north have to offer.

"I am sick of having to explain that I live somewhere between the city famous for The Full Monty and the place where Wuthering Heights was set.

"People need to know that Huddersfield has a lot to offer.

"Things are going on in Huddersfield, there is a lot of optimism and enthusiasm.

"The next few years are going to be very interesting."

Joanne has lived in Huddersfield for five years, since moving from her home town Barnsley.

She said: "The great thing about living in Huddersfield is that you are not in the city, but you have all the amenities you need.

"There is a sense of history and an incredible dynamic.

"People in Huddersfield know and love it already.

"They are very proud of the town. Now we need more people to realise that."

Joanne and the other 24 ambassadors were revealed to the public yesterday at the launch of the Festival of Light.

The 25 ambassadors - hand-picked to represent the town's strengths - gathered at the George Hotel to listen to a talk by Patrick Stewart, Huddersfield University chancellor and one of the ambassadors.

They then joined hundreds of invited business guests on a grandstand at St George's Square to watch French aerial trapeze artists Transe Express perform a daring suspended musical act.

The show, and its fireworks finale, was followed by a reception at the George Hotel where Kirklees Council leader Clr Robert Light and Graham McKenzie, chief executive of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, talked about the town's growing reputation for creative industries.

Andy Booth - 32-year-old Huddersfield Town football star.

Graham McKenzie - artistic director and chief executive of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Jon Palmer - artistic director of Full Body and The Voice, a Huddersfield theatre company which combines able-bodied and disabled performers at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

James Saunders - an experimental music composer. He leads the composition department at Huddersfield University.

Bryn Harrison - 37-year-old composer and lecturer in composition at Huddersfield University.

Ajaz Ahmed - founder of internet provider Freeserve, which is now owned by Orange. He is now chairman of Callserve, a company dealing in internet voice transmission technology and sits on the governing council at Huddersfield University.

Calvin Taylor - academic at the University of Leeds and board member at The Media Centre. He is involved with Creative Industries Development Agency and the Huddersfield Creative Town Initiative.

Ric Green - technical director of Opera North and founder member and chairman of Creative Industries Development Agency.

Lee Corner - a consultant in human resources. She co-founded Creative Industries Development Agency in 2000. She is on the board of The Media Centre.

Professor John Thompson - professor of entrepreneurship at Huddersfield University. He raised the initial funding for the Huddersfield Business Generator to help new creative businesses.

James Sommerville - co-founder of Huddersfield brand design company ATTIK.

Sir John Harman - chairman of the Environment Agency.

Joanne Harris - author.

Professor Xiangqian (Jane) Jiang - Huddersfield University. She is a professor of precision metrology at Huddersfield University.

David Blackburn - Huddersfield artist fame for his moorland scenes.

David Armitage - chairman of engineering company Sellers International.

Ken Davy - chairman of Simplybiz, which provides support for independent financial advisers. He is also owner of Huddersfield Town and Huddersfield Giants.

Jo Haigh - Institute of Directors Businesswoman of the Year. She is director of corporate finance at Goodband Viner Taylor in Sheffield.

John Denham - president of Huddersfield Choral Society.

Professor Robert Cwyinski - physicist and regional leader of the Spallation Source project, which aims to build a neutron facility for Europe.

Barry Sheerman - Huddersfield MP.

Roy Wright - editor of the Huddersfield Examiner.

Bill McBeth - director of the manufacturing leadership programme at the Huddersfield Textile Centre of Excellence.

Keith Hellawell - Holmfirth-born former chief constable of both West Yorkshire Police and Cleveland Police. He became Britain's anti-drugs co-ordinator and has held numerous Government advisory positions.

Victoria Minton - director of educational charitable trust Common Purpose. She has worked in publishing, as a collaborating playwright and copywriter.