The Festival was started by Syima Aslam and Irna Qureshi in 2014 for a weekend. By the time of the 2017 event, they had a full-time staff of seven besides themselves with funding from Bradford Council, the Arts Council and the National Lottery.^[3][4] After the short weekend festival in 2014, the event was lengthened to cover ten days which was held across late June/early July for the 2017 and 2018 and 2019 festivals. The 2016 event was held in late May of that year.^[5] The festival is a series of events held at different locations across the Bradford District including theatres such as the Alhambra, bookshops, schools, colleges, Bradford City Hall, bars and art galleries.^[6] Whilst the emphasis is on the written word, some parts of the event include the arts, theatre, film, music^[7] and talks by famous people such as the former boxer, Frank Bruno, hip-hop artist Akala, 80's icon Luke Goss and former footballer John Barnes.^[8]

In 2018, as a celebration of the 200 years since Emily Brontë's birth, the festival installed four stones engraved with specially commissioned poems from four contemporary female writers, at strategic points between Thornton and Haworth.^[9] Jeanette Winterson, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Kate Bush have each written a piece of poetry that will adorn the four stones. The stones form a walk which connects the Bronte birthplace at Thornton, with the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth.^[10]

In 2019, the festival attracted speakers such as Jeanette Winterson, Elif Shafak, John Barnes, Habib Ali al-Jifri, Luke Goss, Saul Williams, Lady Leshurr and Michael Rosen, attracting an audience of over 70,000 including a free Education Programme which reached over 18,000 young people.^[11] Approximately 15 of the 500+ booked speakers pulled out of the event when it was revealed that some of the sponsorship for the festival had come from the Home Office's Building a Stronger Britain Together programme. One of those who withdrew, journalist Hussein Kesvani, stated that if he had appeared at the festival, then it would have been a conflict of interest. Some of the young Muslims whom he had interviewed "expressed how the expansive counter-extremism programme had affected their ability to express their religious identity".^[12]

In 2020, the covid 19 pandemic had a drastic change to the festival programming. In response to the challenges of social distancing, BLF produced an all-digital festival and began a partnership with Reading is Magic Festival and Adab Festival Pakistan, increasing its international reach.^[13]

In 2021, the festival moved to a hybrid festival, programming 49 live event and 50 digital events, attracting an audience of 114,139 people, with 57% BAME visitors. In response to the COVID-19 climate, five Family Fun Days entitled ‘Literature Unlocked’ were held at public parks across the City. ^[14]

In 2022, the10-day literary and cultural celebration attracted 56,338 visitors in June/July 2022, an 81% return on pre-Covid audiences, and was heralded as the “Glastonbury of literature festivals”. In just eight years, Bradford Literature Festival established itself as one of the largest literature festivals in the UK and the industry leader for championing socio-economic and ethnic diversity of audiences and artists alike. Welcoming audiences from across the Bradford district, the breadth of the UK, and from overseas. ^[15]

In 2023, Bradford Literature Festival delivered an acclaimed programme to record-breaking audiences – hailed as our best year yet. Attendance doubled to 116,225 with 678 events and 63,350 engagements with children and young people. ^{[16] [17]}

• Full programme for 2018
• BBC video of pupil exchange between Bradford and Hay festivals