ORGANISERS of the epic 10-day Bradford Literature Festival hope the event gets more Bradfordians excited about reading and brings in visitors from across the country.

The festival, which runs from May 20 to 29, will include hundreds of events ranging from Harry Potter themed family days in City Park to discussions about the Bronte sisters with top historians.

Over 350 guests, including authors, artists and filmmakers, will take part in the different events, which are spread out over 20 venues including the National Media Museum, The Broadway Shopping Centre and City Library.

And dozens of celebrations of literature have been planned for the district's schools to inspire a love of reading in Bradford's young people.

The first full length Bradford Literature Festival was held last May and was organised by Syima Aslam and Irna Qureshi.

After the success of that festival, plans were put in place for a bigger, better festival to become part of Bradford's annual calendar.

Earlier this year, the Arts Council awarded £495,000 to the festival from its Ambition for Excellence Scheme, which has allowed it to massively expand.

Bradford-based Provident Financial Group is the partner for the festival.

The festival programme has now been released, and contains a mix of events for adults and young people.

Among the highlights are four major family events in City Park. On Saturday, May 21, there will be a Superhero Day in the park, that will include interactive performances by Shipley-based Q20 Theatre, workshops to help young people to learn how be a superhero and make their own costumes, as well as a screening of Pixar modern classic The Incredibles.

The following day, there will be a number of events in the park around the theme of fairy tales. There will be a screening of Disney's Peter Pan on the Big Screen and a live show based on the tale in the park, where the spectators will be asked to act as the Lost Boys.

The family event on Saturday, May 28 will be based around beloved author and illustrator Beatrix Potter and feature performances and workshops, and Harry Potter fans are invited to celebrate the boy wizard's adventures on Sunday May 29 for an event with live show's, workshops and a screening of the first Potter film.

Other events are based on a wide variety of themes, including a cosplay workshop, based on the increasingly popular subculture of dressing up as fictional characters, a discussion titled How to Be a Feminist, multiple sessions looking at the Bronte sisters and their impact on modern society, performances of extracts of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the grounds of Bradford Cathedral and a study of the secret history of Islam and coffee.

Guest speakers include Poet Laureate Dame Carol Ann Duffy, Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain and World War II veteran Harry Leslie Smith as well as scores of authors, historians and academic.

A hub will be based in City Park for the duration of the festival, with events taking place there each day.

Ms Aslam said there was a big focus on using the festival to get people of all ages throughout Bradford reading more.

She said: "As well as all the events there are going to be at least 56 events in schools, one of our goals has been to get schools engaged.

"Our approach is, as much as we can, to translate what is going on in the overall programme into our school's programme, and we've asked all the people in the festival if what they are going to be presenting can be used in our school sessions. We've been in touch with all Bradford's schools to ask how they want to get involved, and we've had some really amazing responses.

"An a lot of the events we've planned for adults will also have a lot of interest for young people too."

Imran Hafeez, is manager of the Bradford Literacy Hub, a collaboration of groups that aims to improve literacy levels in the district. He said: "We're working closely with the Literature Festival, and there is a real positive focus on putting on a wide range of events, going into schools and offering plenty of access to festival events for young people. There is a really diverse range of things going on.

"It is great that there will be such a focus on literature in the city."

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, executive for education, skills and culture at Bradford Council, said: "The organisers have put a great programme together which reflects the rich diversity of the district. The significant funding from Arts Council England also shows how seriously the festival is already being taken at a national level.

"It's a great opportunity for us to hear authors and speakers of national and international importance in our home city."

Any school that wants to get involved in the festival can email info@bradfordliteraturefestival.co.uk

Programmes are available from numerous venues throughout the district, including the Bradford Tourist Information Centre.

Check what events are running as part of Bradford Literature Festival here.