Bradford Literature Festival: Visitors praise the event 10 years on

A number of performances at the 10th annual Bradford Literature Festival have sold out as the event continues to bring the city together.

Visitors told the BBC that the festival’s growth had brought more “art and culture” to Bradford over the decade it had been running.

Tickets for talks by comedian Sara Pascoe, actress Miriam Margolyes and poet Lemn Sissay are already gone.

Festival founder and artistic director Syima Aslam described the strong sales as an “incredible start” to the event.

At the Festival Hub in City Park, visitors attended the exhibitions on offer while considering which events to book.

Arif Javid, 57, has performed at the Bradford Literature Festival in the past but enjoyed being in the audience this year.

“It’s a lot bigger now than it was in the beginning,” he said, reflecting on how the festival has changed over the years.

“There are a lot more notable people, more celebrity guests and more in terms of talks and lectures, which are really good.”

Mr Javid added: “You have people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, coming together to form an audience.

“You realize how multicultural it is and how harmonious it is.”

Mr Javid also praised the festival for showcasing the cultural and artistic side of Bradford, giving people a platform to perform and express themselves.

“I think before the literary festival, they probably thought there had to be some people who had that artistic bent and had those skills,” he said.

“But no one knew who I was.

“If the literature festival has done anything, it has exposed these people and given them a platform.”

Another local participant who has been to the festival several times over the past decade is Professor Anelofar Khan.

Ms Khan, 57, said the festival was “enriching” and “incredibly engaging”.

“The seats got bigger,” she said.

“And there are more people in them.”

However, she said there is still work to be done to spread the word about the festival.

She said: “I still think it could be advertised better because there are still so many people I know who don’t know about it.”

The strength of the festival, Ms Khan said, is its diversity and ability to bring people together.

“At one of the talks I went to, what I noticed was a lot of black, Asian and white people,” Ms Khan said.

“You can tell they’re just trying to bring people together.”

David Walker, 32, visiting from Wakefield, said: “It brings a lot of different people.

“It brought in people like Miriam Margolyes and it sold out instantly, so it’s pretty good to have big names like that.

“But there are also smaller people that people don’t know about.”

He added: “I think it shows that (Bradford) actually has a pretty good literary history and it brings people into the city and it shows that culture that you don’t normally think about.

“It shows the different aspects of the city and also its diversity.”

Over the years, Mr Walker said the festival had “become better and more diverse”.

He added: “I think they looked at what worked before and what didn’t and made it even bigger this year.”

The festival also attracted people from further afield.

Alvin Moyo, 27, who is visiting the UK from Zimbabwe, made sure to make Bradford one of his stops while staying in Manchester.

He said he expected the festival to be “in a big city but not Bradford”.

Mr Moyo added: “It’s good for the city.”

The Bradford Literature Festival has daily events throughout its duration. Tickets can be purchased from bradfordlitfest.co.uk.