Events including a Regency style dance workshop and an evening of Romani music will be held Bradford Live’s ballroom as part of Bradford Literature Festival.
The venue’s grand ballroom will host 20 events during the 10-day literature festival that begins later this month.
Among those who will be appearing in the building’s Art Deco style ballroom are BBC broadcaster Mishal Husain and poet Lemn Sissay.
The grand space will join venues including Bradford City Hall, the University of Bradford, City Park, 2025 venue Loading Bay, Salts Mill and the Bradford branch of Waterstones.
The £50m Bradford Live development has been beset by delays in recent years, with original operators the NEC group pulling out last year.
But the venue is finally due to open this summer – operated by Trafalgar Entertainment.
As well as hosting major concerts and shows in the main auditorium, Trafalgar has said the ballroom and the building’s various bars would host stand-alone events once the venue opens.
Some of the standout Literature Festival events to be held in the ballroom include
- A Regency Dance Workshop on Saturday 5 July at 11am. The event allows people to “learn the steps, etiquette, and social customs that defined the world of Jane Austen.”
- The day that changed Britain: Twenty Years since 7/7 on Sunday 29 June at 4.45pm. The event looks at how the London terror attacks unfolded and how they continue to shape the country.
- An evening of Romani music on 28 June at 8.30pm. The evening will feature performances from three groups – the energetic young performers of Zor, the cross-European tradition bearers of the Ando Glaso Collective and the globally celebrated family ensemble Čilagos.
- An event with Mishal Husain, who will be discussing her memoir Broken Threads: My Family from Empire to Independence. The event will be held in the ballroom on Saturday 5 July at 1.30pm.
- An evening celebrating Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of Urdu’s greatest poets, featuring Adeel Hashmi and Mira Hashmi, distinguished actors and grandchildren of Faiz. The event takes place on 27 June at 7.30pm.
- Culture Wars and Cancel Culture – a debate on “the rise of cancel culture and wokeism to the increasing fragmentation of progressive movements.” The event on 5 July at 4.30pm will be hosted by Ash Sarkar and Michael Chessum.
- A one man show about Pride and Prejudice’s most roguish gentleman, George Wickham, performed by Adrian Lukis, who starred as Mr Wickham in the renowned BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It will be held on 5 July at 7.30pm.
For tickets visit: https://www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/
