Literary figures are put in the frame

The curator of visual art at Sheffield Millennium Galleries is showing me around the latest exhibition at the Graves Gallery, which opens to the public tomorrow.

We've been in this position before, with Briggs showing me around an exhibition, and I am always enthusiastic. The confession I have to make is that I might not always be as honest about my enthusiasm as I am today.

The latest exhibition at the Graves gallery is impossible not to get excited about.

With the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare at the centre of the exhibition, it is a wonderfully put together collection, with 61 pieces from the National Portrait Gallery making up the show.

Writers of Influence: Shakespeare to JK Rowling, features portraits – photography, painting and sculpture of famous writers.

Listing two of the best known writers in the exhibition – the Bard and the creator of Harry Potter – is supposed to give an idea of how diverse the portraits are, but there are a number of other portraits which could have been juxtaposed to the same effect.

Amy Winehouse and TS Eliot. Dizzee Rascal and George Eliot. Terry Pratchett and CS Lewis.

It is a dizzyingly eclectic collection and even though only half of it has been hung when I visit, it is mightily impressive.

The exhibition came about thanks to a partnership between the National Portrait Gallery and four galleries around the country: Sheffield Millennium Galleries, and venues in Plymouth, Southampton and Sunderland.

Briggs says: "When we heard that the Chandos portrait would be available on loan, we realised what a fantastic opportunity it was.

"I remember going to see it at the National Portrait Gallery when I was 17 and being amazed by it. To have it here in Sheffield in our gallery is incredible."

The Chandos portrait of Shakespeare (artist unknown) was the first ever acquisition by the National Portrait Gallery and it is listed as Number 1 in the gallery's collection. It is named after James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos, an early owner.

The portrait left London for the first time in 2007, on loan to an American gallery.

This is the first time it has travelled outside of London in the UK.

"You can't really overstate the significance of the painting. It really is a special occasion to have it here," says Briggs.

It is also quite significant that the Chandos portrait does not overshadow the other pieces in the exhibition. The other portraits had to be impressive enough to hold their own in a room which displays the only known painting of Shakespeare from life, and with other works including photographic portraits of Roald Dahl in his writing hut and JRR Tolkien sitting in the branches of a tree and a portrait of Virginia Woolf by her sister Vanessa Bell, they manage this feat.

What adds to the special nature of the exhibition is that it was co-curated by a group of three young people from Sheffield – Annie Korn-Morris, 15, Catherine Roberts, 16 and Charlotte Johnson, 19. The three of them, members of the Sheffield Galleries Youth forum, worked with a long list drawn up by young people from around the country. They then visited the National Portrait Gallery to look at the portraits they would be selecting. Briggs says: "I think that when they went to the National Portrait Gallery and saw the portraits hanging there, the three of them realised how significant an opportunity it was for them to be working on this exhibition and being given the chance to co-curate."

The young people have had a say in everything, from the way the exhibition is laid out, to the panels which will hang next to the portraits.

Charlotte, who spent the week helping with the hanging of the exhibition, says: "From the outset we wanted the exhibition to be intensely cross-chronological and make it about themes. So

in one section we look at writers and celebrity and we have Amy Winehouse next to Byron. Some people might think 'Byron's so boring, why is he next to Amy Winehouse?' but he was a far more outrageous celebrity than she is, and we wanted to look at ideas like that."

Charlotte is on a gap year between sixth form and university, where she will study history of art. She added: "The three of us working together has meant a really interesting exhibition.

"Annie is much more into lyricists and I'm more in to literature and Catherine is between the two of us, so I think bringing together our wide range of experience has made for a really interesting exhibition."

n Writers of Influence opens tomorrow at Sheffield Graves Gallery, until July 3.