Bradford Literature Festival, which has attracted names from Luke Goss to Kate Bush, will not go ahead in July

Since the festival was launched in 2014, over a weekend, it has become internationally-renowned, with funding from the Arts Council. Held at districtwide venues, the annual event is focussed on the written word but also encompasses theatre, film, music, education and wellbeing, with guests ranging from best-selling authors to sports legends.

Festival director Syima Aslam said although the 2020 event, planned for July, won’t take place in its usual format, the team is exploring ways of “bringing the spirit of the festival online”.

She said: “Bradford Literature Festival has always been, and will always be, about bringing people together; celebrating the culture, stories and shared history that unite us as a worldwide community, whilst serving the talented, diverse, resilient people that make up our community in Bradford. The coronavirus pandemic will change many things, but it will not change that.”

“Our team looked forward to bringing an outstanding programme of events featuring some of the most inspiring literary names from around the world. We hope that by July the situation will have improved, but even if it has, we are simply unable to spend the next three months creating the infrastructure required to deliver BLF as planned. However, the team is exploring how we can connect you to writers, artists and great literature, bringing the spirit of the festival alive online. We’re also looking ahead to our 2020 Words in the Winter, which we hope will be able to go ahead as planned.”

She added: “This may feel like a bleak and frightening time, but as an organisation with community at its core we’re filled with hope by the many stories we hear each day of people helping one another and finding new and creative ways to stay connected. Words are what bind us together, whether a story, poem, text or video call. Now more than ever we see the importance of language, communication and connection.”

The festival has attracted audiences of over 70,000 and in 2018 it was named Tourism Event of the Year by Yorkshire’s White Rose Awards. Previous guests have included Germaine Greer, Joanna Trollope, 80s pop star Luke Goss, Jeanette Winterson, former England footballer John Barnes and boxer Frank Bruno.

In 2018, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Emily Brontë’s birth, the festival installed four stones engraved with poems from four female writers - including Kate Bush - between Thornton and Haworth.