After going fully digital last year due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Bradford Literature Festival returns with both online and in-person events.
The ten-day event which runs from 25 June, to 4 July, features over 200 speakers and 100 events including comedian and author Tez Ilyas, Adeeba Malik, Tim Smith, and Professor Bonnie Choudry who are speaking on the Bradford Riots twenty years on, and Bradford-born natives Javaad Alipoor and Tanya Vital who are speaking on anti-racism, activism, and resistance.
Bradford Literature Festival is an annual arts event and year-round cultural outreach programme that hosts respected authors, poets, speakers, musicians and artists from Bradford, the UK and around the world. Founded in 2014, BLF is now a key event in the UK cultural calendar and the most diverse literature festival in the country.
Founder and director of BLF, Sayima Aslam said: “This has been a difficult and challenging year for the entire country and for our city of Bradford in particular. so to be able to bring a live festival back to the city is a great joy. The mission of the festival has always been to create a space where people can come together to share wisdom, seek mutual understanding, and explore new ideas.
“The festival this year is far smaller than any of our previous iterations, we are using a small number of venues whose capacity allows audiences to be socially distanced and plenty of time has been left between events to ensure thorough disinfection of the spaces. All audience members will need to wear face masks, unless medically exempt.”
The event has been made Covid-19 secure with socially distanced seating, enhanced cleaning, masks being made mandatory unless medically exempt, and hand sanitzier being provided at all events, with equipment being cleaned regularly.
Ms Aslam went on to say that: “This year’s festival brings together some of the most inspirational and enquiring minds from across the world of literature, poetry, politics, and history. We return with our ever-popular annual events, including ‘Poetry with a Punch’ with Sufiana Kalaam, while dialogue, debate, and refection will form the heart of panel discussions covering topics ranging from Black Lives Matter to the nature of grief; exploding myths of nutritional science to imaging a matriarchal global society.”
Key panels to look out for in the opening weekend are:
- An Evening of Comedy with Tez Ilyas, Jayde Adams, Janine Harouni, and Thanyia Moore at St. George’s Hall on Friday, 25 June from 7.30 pm to 9. pm with standard tickets costing just £10 with discounts for students and other concessions.
- Producers of the future: from Keighley to Karachi with Haleema Ahmed, Madiha Ansari, Dur Bibi, Sana Khoja, Wajiha Naqvi, Zaynab Rasul, Kirran Shah, Ishrat Shaheen, Nazhat Shakir, and Pakeezah Zahoor on Saturday, 26 June on demand from 9 am online with tickets for digital events being free.
- The Colour of Our Politics, a talk by Javaad Alipoor, Tanya Vital, and Samayya Afzal on Saturday, 26 June from 11.45 am to 1 pm at The Studio – Alhambra with tickets costing £7 with discounts for students and other concessions.
- The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4 – Tez Ilyas in Conversation on Saturday, 26 June from 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm at the Princes Ballroom in the Midland Hotel with standard tickets costing £7 with discounts for students and other concessions.
- Aamnah Rahman and Irna Qureshi discussing A Voyage from Kashmir on Sunday, 27 June from 11 am to 12 pm in the Banqueting Suite at Bradford City Hall. Tickets for this event are now sold out.
- In Conversation with Ellery Hanley and Ralph Rimmer on Sunday, 27 June at The Studio – Alhambra from 6 pm to 7 pm with standard tickets costing £9 with discounts for students and other concessions.
- Saima Mir and Ayisha Malik discussing Mir’s debut book The Khan on Sunday, 27 June from 7 pm to 8 pm in Waterstones, Bradford city centre. with standard tickets costing £7 with discounts for students and other concessions.
For tickets, you can visit Bradford Literature Festival here.
