Special Guest Northern Highlight - Syima Aslam, Bradford Literature Festival
SPECIAL GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT
SYIMA ASLAM,
SYIMA ASLAM,
Bradford Literature Festival
Tell us a bit about Bradford Literature Festival. What unique qualities does being in Bradford bring to the Festival?
Bradford Literature Festival is one of the “new kids on the block” in the British literature festival world but we do pack a punch! This year is our sixth year and, although we’re in ‘digital mode’ as a result of the pandemic, under normal circumstances we deliver around 500 live events annually, including a 10-day Schools Programme (Early Years to KS5) and a cross art form (but literature focused!) children’s programme which includes four themed Family Fun Days where we bring together families for theatre, poetry, storytelling and, of course, book events with some of the country’s best loved authors and illustrators.
Tell us a bit about Bradford Literature Festival. What unique qualities does being in Bradford bring to the Festival?
Bradford Literature Festival is one of the “new kids on the block” in the British literature festival world but we do pack a punch! This year is our sixth year and, although we’re in ‘digital mode’ as a result of the pandemic, under normal circumstances we deliver around 500 live events annually, including a 10-day Schools Programme (Early Years to KS5) and a cross art form (but literature focused!) children’s programme which includes four themed Family Fun Days where we bring together families for theatre, poetry, storytelling and, of course, book events with some of the country’s best loved authors and illustrators.
And did I mention that all of our schools and 90% of our children's and family content is free to attend? Our local family audiences are generally not wealthy; indeed a good proportion come from some of the most disadvantaged communities in the UK. But they COME. To BLF, they come because they know that this festival is for them, and we reflect that through our Ethical Ticketing Policy and by addressing the economic barriers to engagement, as well as through our programming.
This is partly why we’ve been called the “most diverse literature festival in the UK” and that’s not just about our programming - though our programming always works to centre voices, stories and concerns that perhaps are often overlooked – it's also about our audiences.
Without Bradford and our local audiences, who were here at the start six years ago and who have come on this journey with us, our festival wouldn’t be what it is today. We now get people flying in from America, Australia and Finland to attend our festival but we never forget our roots.
Do you have a favourite children's book event from the Festival across the years?
We’ve been so lucky to welcome some of the most talented authors and illustrators to the festival… it’s difficult to pick! There’s a unique magic that happens when you walk into a tent and see 40 or 50 very small people sitting very still (perhaps for the first time all day!), transfixed listening to Johnny Duddle reading from The Pirate Cruncher, or you walk across the centre of Bradford and everywhere you look there are kids clutching carrots with stuck on googly eyes and tin foil capes after a Supertato event and workshop with Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.
Onjali Rauf was at the festival in 2019 and the response she got was fantastic. The impact her stories make on children is extraordinary – she’s a brilliant writer and an inspiring speaker. Angie Thomas came to deliver some schools events on the Hate U Give tour and she got a rockstar’s welcome that really moved me. Seeing young people SO excited about reading always makes me feel emotional. It’s why we do what we do!
What are your favourite children's books set in the North?
I’m a real lover of the classics – The Secret Garden and The Railway Children definitely. And they’re not children’s books but I think it’s OK to include Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as many of us come to them as young adults. As a British Pakistani child growing up in Halifax, I was a voracious reader and the library was my second home. You name it, if it was published and in the children’s section before 1985, I’ve read probably read it!
If you could be transported to anywhere in the North right now, where would it be?
We’ve been in lockdown so long haven’t we… just anywhere would be a nice change! The views on Ilkley Moor on top of the Cow and Calf are sublime and, even on a hot day, the wind up there is a tonic – it wakes you up like nothing else! I’d pack a picnic, take a book, and wait for sunset. I can’t think of anything better.
Why is it so important that we continue to develop and support creative talent across the country?
It goes without saying that we’re at a crucial moment; we’re in real danger of seeing the creative sector decimated as the result of this pandemic and we could very well lose a generation of creative talent. And the first people we will lose will be those for whom a career in writing, illustration, publishing – has always been precarious. Working class artists. Diverse artists. Mostly freelancers. And we – our sector, readers, children - will be so much poorer for it.
Publishing hasn’t been interested enough in developing diverse talent - whether we’re talking about socio-economically or racially diverse writers and illustrators. When we talk about supporting and developing creative talent, we have to talk seriously. If we lose this generation of artists, they will not be easy to get back.
As a festival, we do everything we can to give a platform to diverse and under-represented voices. We give them parity of platform with our big names and we work with them, year-on -year, to develop their offering, to network and to build new audiences. However, we can only work with the artists that are out there – we need them to not just survive, but thrive. And that is a job for all of us – from funders, the big 5 publishers and indie publishers to agents, booksellers and festivals! It’s not just important – it’s critical.
We’ve been in lockdown so long haven’t we… just anywhere would be a nice change! The views on Ilkley Moor on top of the Cow and Calf are sublime and, even on a hot day, the wind up there is a tonic – it wakes you up like nothing else! I’d pack a picnic, take a book, and wait for sunset. I can’t think of anything better.
Why is it so important that we continue to develop and support creative talent across the country?
It goes without saying that we’re at a crucial moment; we’re in real danger of seeing the creative sector decimated as the result of this pandemic and we could very well lose a generation of creative talent. And the first people we will lose will be those for whom a career in writing, illustration, publishing – has always been precarious. Working class artists. Diverse artists. Mostly freelancers. And we – our sector, readers, children - will be so much poorer for it.
Publishing hasn’t been interested enough in developing diverse talent - whether we’re talking about socio-economically or racially diverse writers and illustrators. When we talk about supporting and developing creative talent, we have to talk seriously. If we lose this generation of artists, they will not be easy to get back.
As a festival, we do everything we can to give a platform to diverse and under-represented voices. We give them parity of platform with our big names and we work with them, year-on -year, to develop their offering, to network and to build new audiences. However, we can only work with the artists that are out there – we need them to not just survive, but thrive. And that is a job for all of us – from funders, the big 5 publishers and indie publishers to agents, booksellers and festivals! It’s not just important – it’s critical.
You can follow Bradford Literature Festival at:
https://www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/
Twitter: @BradfordLitFestival
Instagram: bradfordlitfest
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