Bradford Literature Festival drew to a close this weekend, having welcomed a record 201,674 visitors across ten days of eclectic and inclusive cultural programming, with sold-out events and audiences from across the UK and internationally.
With 762 events in total across their main festival programme, the education programme and their family events, the 2026 edition reinforced the festival’s reputation for challenging discussions from a balanced, historical perspective, building bridges across communities, and shaping national conversations around culture.
Commenting on the 2026 festival, Founder and Artistic Director Syima Aslam said: “Culture is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Bradford Literature Festival began with a simple idea: that a literature festival in this city should be more than a series of events. It should be a place of encounter. A place of ambition. A place where people who are too often spoken about could speak for themselves. A place where stories that had lived for generations in families, in communities, in music, in poetry, in memory, and in silence, could be brought into the centre of cultural life. We are very purposefully a literature festival, even though our programme is across arts, music, theatre, film and visual art. We are a literature festival because literature is language, imagination, memory, argument, beauty and truth. Literature is how we understand ourselves, and how we begin to understand each other.”
Staying true to the spirit of Bradford Literature Festival, the themes of community, collaboration, family, hope, peace and storytelling were echoed throughout headline events with Fatima Bhutto, David Larbi, Prue Leith and Misan Harriman. Lemn Sissay closed the festival on Sunday night with a special event reflecting on stories gathered through his ‘Tell Me Something About Family’ project, which was also an exhibition during the festival. In a moving talk, he spoke about ‘the dark and the light of families’, and how we are all unique.
In another highly anticipated, sold-out event, Jeremy Corbyn spoke with Professor Paul Rogers about his new book The Gaza Tribunal Britain’s Complicity in Genocide, and the growing debate around accountability, international law and the humanitarian consequences of conflict. Closing the talk, Corbyn spoke about the importance of Bradford Literature Festival, noting that “solidarity should be cultural as well as political and economic”.
Appearing for a third time at the festival, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, opened the festival on the first Friday evening with Humza Yousaf, the former First Minister of Scotland, and spoke about his childhood growing up in a refugee camp. He described it not only as a place of hardship but also “the definition of communal living”. Discussing Sir Keir Starmer’s legacy, Zomlot acknowledged he would “be remembered as the man who recognised the state of Palestine” but also acknowledged the reasons behind his resignation.
Bradford’s own A.A. Dhand also launched his new crime novel The Kingpin at the festival. The follow up to his Sunday Times bestseller The Chemist, Dhand spoke with fellow crime writer Abir Mukherjee about writing 1.1 million words before being published, and drawing inspiration from his time working as an actual chemist during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following the success of 2026, the festival has announced that it will take place between Friday 11th June – Sunday 20th June in 2027, with further details to follow. For updates on the 2027 programme, please visit: www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk