Bradford Literature Festival 2024 is set to take place 28 June – 7 July, celebrating ten years with special events and exhibitions alongside an eclectic programme.
Bradford Literature Festival, Europe’s most extensive and diverse festival, will return this summer with a stellar programme, including events, exhibitions, debates, comedy nights and walking tours, designed to spark dialogue and delight audiences of all ages. The festival is renowned globally for its innovative approach, forging international partnerships and curating inclusive programmes which mirror the pulse of modern Britain and the global community.
This year, the festival will be delivering over 500 events across 10 days, its programming setting out to cement Bradford Literature Festival as one of the UK’s top three largest literature festivals.
Confirmed authors and speakers for 2024 include comedians Ruby Wax, Shaparak Khorsandi and Sara Pascoe; singer Corinne Bailey Rae, author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, national treasure Miriam Margolyes, historian Mary Beard, vicar and journalist Kate Bottley and poet Joelle Taylor. With discussions on world affairs, the myth of social mobility, homelessness, faith, the Israel-Palestine conflict, global futures and much more, the festival will deliver illuminating debates from a balanced historical perspective.
Syima Aslam, Founder, CEO & Artistic Director, said: “From the outset, Bradford Literature Festival’s aim was to create a tangible change; to raise aspirations and literacy levels, in Europe’s youngest city, by creating an international destination literature festival that would inspire the next generation both across Yorkshire and across the UK. A space for nuanced conversation about issues that affect us all, Bradford Literature Festival has been called innovative and disruptive, and is now recognised as Europe’s most diverse and eclectic literature festival. We call our approach the common-sense way to engage the audiences we care about passionately.”
Syima Aslam, first established the ten-day literary and cultural celebration in 2014. A Yorkshire native who grew up in Halifax, the Bradford Literature Festival was Aslam’s first foray into the arts and culture sector having had a more corporate background focused on regeneration, retails and data-led marketing strategies. Using her expertise in social regeneration, Aslam launched the Bradford Literature Festival as she believed a cultural renaissance was needed to support the economic regeneration the city was going through. In those ten years, the festival has gone from strength to strength, promoting intercultural fluency and providing a platform for marginalised voices. It brings together literature from all genres, and has been hailed as ‘one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK.’
Popular annual events of the festival return for 2024, including Sacred Music – a celebration of devotional music from across the religious spectrum, Lyrical Mehfil – an annual event exploring lyrical poetry, a Health and Wellbeing event featuring yoga sessions and EFT, and Northern Noir at the Bar. A special exhibition will commemorate ten years of the Bradford Literature Festival, and the festival will also welcome back the world-famous Orchestral Qawwali Project fresh from their sold-out performance at the Royal Albert Hall, having made their debut at the festival in 2021.
As part of our programme, Bradford Literature Festival have developed an expansive, free Education Programme – the largest Education Programme of any UK festival – that provides children and young people access to leading writers, performance poets, illustrators, scientists, historians, journalists who share their skills through live shows, performances, and interactive workshops. This year’s themes range from Ancient Egypt to Shakespeare, Gothic Literature to Climate Change, as well as events on Fairy Tales, Activism, and more. The Education Programme is selling out quickly, with children from across Bradford and Yorkshire expected to attend throughout the festival.
As well as running the literature programme, the Bradford Literature Festival will run an all-day Creative Economic Conference (CEC) on 27 June 2024 at the University of Bradford which is set to gather influential minds from the realms of business, politics and creative industries. This year, global management consulting firm McKinsey will be presenting their ‘The Arts in the UK: Seeing the Big Picture’ report. CEC speakers will explore how the business and creative sectors can work together to drive innovation, inspire visionary thinking, and grow the economy regionally and nationally in a variety of talks and panel discussions. Last year, their 2023 line-up of world-class speakers, renowned business icons, influential politicians, and inspiring international figures included Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves; US Attorney General Keith Ellison; CEO of the Royal Society of Arts, Andy Haldane; National Chair of Federation of Small Businesses, Martin McTague; Co-Founder of WeTransfer, Damian Bradfield; CEO of Creative UK, Caroline Norbury; and Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin.
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