Cricket debates at Bradford Literature Festival

This year’s Bradford Literature Festival takes place between 30 June and 9 July incorporating 400 writers and 300 events across ten days.

It promises to be a wonderful whirlwind of literature, debate and entertainment for all ages and I’m delighted to be a guest panellist on 1 July at 11am in Bradford’s City Hall Banqueting Suite.

The 75-minute event is: Yorkshire, The Cricketing County – it also includes sports writers Stuart Rayner and Anthony Clavane and is hosted by the Managing Editor of The Cricketer Magazine, Huw Turbervill.

I hope Cricket Yorkshire readers will come along – I’d like to meet those who take the time to click round and read the website.

The ticket price is £6 – though I have got four tickets to give away so don’t miss the competition at the end of this article…

What’s up for discussion?

A sift through Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s defining moments

Debate of the Yorkshire psyche and why that lends itself to cricket

Does ‘strong Yorkshire strong England’ stand up to scrutiny?

There’ll also be a chance to buy a signed copy of my book, All Wickets Great and Small, where I travel around Yorkshire and take the temperature of the amateur game as well as marvelling at grounds, volunteers and cricket teas along the way.

In fact, you could camp at the City Hall Banqueting Suite on this particular Saturday and feast on multiple cricket-themed discussions.

Following on from us will be Cricket: Empire’s Greatest Export with writers Rob Bagchi, Duncan Hamilton and journalist Boyd Ronkin at 12.30pm before The T20 Revolution at 2pm with Rob Bagchi, David Hopps and Tim Wigmore (chaired by Huw Turbervill).

But don’t limit yourself to cricket….

Have a good rummage around the Bradford Literature Festival website to see what appeals…

Interactive poetry? The magic of the Cottingley Fairies? Want to meet a literary agent? Have a photography masterclass?

Hear from politicians such as Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Harriet Harman and Rachel Reeve and the authors’ lineup features Germaine Greer and Bradford’s own crime writer A.A Dhand.

Where else could you immerse yourself in a celebration of the Brontes, discuss British Islam or playwright JB Priestley?

Of course, on 1 July in Bradford, cricket is front and centre in a city where Bradford Park Avenue’s development gathers pace and leagues such as the Quaid E Azam League are in action each week.

Visitors to the Bradford Literature Festival are in for a treat.

To pick your events and learn more, visit: http://www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/ and now…don’t miss a chance to get your hands on 2 x tickets!

COMPETITION TIME – TIME TO WIN TICKETS!

To be in with a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Yorkshire, The Cricketing County debate in Bradford on Saturday 1 July (11am):

EMAIL CRICKET YORKSHIRE with your name and why you want to win the tickets.

Two winners will be picked after the closing date of Sunday 18 June at midnight and they’ll each get two tickets to the event.

*Competition entrants will be added to Cricket Yorkshire’s email community who get a fortnightly newsletter – it’s free, packed with news and offers and you can unsubscribe if you like at any time.**