Dolly Parton’s charity honours her with annual fundraising Give Like Dolly Day

The Dollywood Foundation UK has announced an annual fundraising Give Like Dolly Day in honour of the late country superstar.

The charity initiative will take place on September 25 each year to encourage people to give directly to her book-giving programme, The Imagination Library.

It is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading in children under the age of five by giving free, high-quality books directly to their homes each month.

The singer, known for 9 to 5, Jolene and I Will Always Love You, died last month aged 80 after suffering from cancer.

Dolly Parton at the Glastonbury Festival (Yui Mok/PA)

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Jeff Conyers, president of The Dollywood Foundation, said: “For Dolly, giving was always personal and from her heart.

“She believed deeply in helping people, especially children, and she always felt if you are in a position to help, you should help.

“Give Like Dolly Day is an opportunity for people everywhere to not only support their local Imagination Library partners but also putting books into the hands of children across the UK.”

With direct donations to local partners, the charity day hopes to take the programme to new communities and inspire children around the world to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 in honour of her father, who could not read or write, with the aim of supporting children in her home county in East Tennessee.

Dolly Parton launches her album Rockstar (Jonathan Brady/PA)

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The initiative has since grown into the largest, early-childhood book-giving programme in the world, helping children and families through local partnerships in five countries, the UK, US, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland.

It has given more than 300 million books to children.

A series of activities will also take place across the UK in the lead up to Give Like Dolly Day, including a special event at the British Library and Parton-inspired workshops at Hobbycraft stores.

Over the course of her career, which spanned more than 60 years, Parton sold more than 100 million records worldwide and wrote more than 3,000 songs, including hits Coat Of Many Colours and Joshua.

She was a savvy businesswoman with an empire that included a theme park, aptly named Dollywood, and a pioneering philanthropist.

Tributes poured in from around the world on her death, including from some of the biggest names in music like Miley Cyrus, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger, Taylor Swift and Beyonce.