
18-21 Sep 2025
BBC Contains Strong Language
The UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival comes to Bradford.
The UK’s biggest poetry and performance festival for new writing is coming to Bradford for the first time.
Contains Strong Language is the BBC’s annual celebration of poetry, performance and spoken word – and this year, it’s coming to Bradford for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
There’ll be four days of performances, readings, events and activities at venues across the city, and a host of BBC radio programmes will be recorded or broadcast live from Bradford – including The Verb, BBC Radio 4’s ‘cabaret of the word’. Much of the weekend will be free.
What's on – 18 Sep

18 Sep 2025
Launch of the National Young Poet Laureate programme
In partnership with National Poetry Centre.

18 Sep 2025
The Archers Podcast recording
Join host Emma Freud and poet Rachel Bower to dig deep into the latest events in Ambridge.

18 Sep 2025
Bradford Open Mic Night
Bradford Open Mic is a space open to all to read, perform or just listen to poetry and spoken word.
What's on – 19 Sep

19 Sep 2025
BBC Radio 4 Start the Week
Tom Sutcliffe
Explore the history of Bradford and Britain through its poetry

19 Sep 2025
BBC Writers: who we are and what we do
Calling all aspiring writers!

19 Sep 2025
BBC Radio Club
A showcase of inspirational poetry performances by BBC Radio Club students from Keighley secondary schools.

19 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Mind & Body
Can poetry be a tool for healing both mind and body?

19 Sep 2025
Language is a Queer Thing: Workshop
Parth Rahatekar
Explore the emotional engine of your writing

19 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Poetic Justice
What is poetry’s role in social action movements, both historically and present day?

19 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Music & Lyrics
Explore the blurred lines between lyrics and spoken word, musicality and metre

19 Sep 2025
Laurel Prize Announcement
The announcement of the winner of the 2025 Laurel Prize.

19 Sep 2025
BBC Radio 4 The Adverb
Testament presents the very best in poetry and performance from across the country.
What's on – 20 Sep

20 Sep 2025
Make Yourself at Home: Family Poetry
A new exhibition sharing an archive of family photographs which celebrate the people who call Bradford home.

20 & 21 Sep 2025
National Literacy Trust Stories Bus
Once an American school bus, the Bradford Stories Bus has been transformed into an inspiring space for storytelling, reading, writing, and relaxing for children and families in Bradford.

20 & 21 Sep 2025
Public Art on City Park
Creativity hits the pavement in Bradford! Join in and put your mark on City Park.

21 Sep 2025
Bards of Bradford Installation (Doodlewall)
Discover the people's poetry of Bradford and add your own Doodles!

21 Sep 2025
BBC Radio 4 Beyond Belief
Giles Fraser
Explore the place and shape of faith in today's world.

20 Sep 2025
Laurel Prize workshop: Reading the Finalists
Explore the diverse ways this year’s finalists have written about nature, the more-than-human and the climate crisis.

20 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: The Power of the Women of Bradford
The voices of Bradford’s women, now and through history, are distinctive, strong and effective.

20 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Gala: Part I
A very special line up with our Core CSL Poets on the same bill for the first time.

20 Sep 2025
Sustainability Panel: The Present
What can a poem do that’s special, to connect us with the natural world day to day?

20 Sep 2025
Book of Bradford launch
Join Comma Press for the launch of The Book of Bradford, specially commissioned by Bradford 2025 to celebrate the City of Culture year.

20 Sep 2025
PLOT17 Performance
A hip-hop eco block party for audiences aged 7+.

20 Sep 2025
Laurel Prize workshop: Ecopoetry’s Cutting Edge
Daljit Nagra, celebrated poet and 2025 Laurel Prize Judge, walks us through the current landscape of ecopoetry.

20 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Migration and Belonging
The story of Bradford, like so much of the UK, is the story of migration.

20 Sep 2025
The Verb
Ian McMillan’s cabaret of the word welcomes guests Imtiaz Dharker, Keiron Higgins and Nabeela Ahmed.

20 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Words in the Wild
Explore the powerful connection between nature-connectedness, poems and wellbeing.

20 Sep 2025
BBC Introducing Panel
Come and get involved in the BBC's platform for emerging talent, meet fellow artists and get advice on submitting your own music.

20 Sep 2025
Word Out Sharing Event
Celebrating creativity, individuality, and pride.

20 Sep 2025
BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends
With Edith Bowman
Comedy, music and lively conversation with Radio 4’s Loose Ends programme.
What's on – 21 Sep

20 & 21 Sep 2025
National Literacy Trust Stories Bus
Once an American school bus, the Bradford Stories Bus has been transformed into an inspiring space for storytelling, reading, writing, and relaxing for children and families in Bradford.

20 & 21 Sep 2025
Public Art on City Park
Creativity hits the pavement in Bradford! Join in and put your mark on City Park.

21 Sep 2025
Bards of Bradford Installation (Doodlewall)
Discover the people's poetry of Bradford and add your own Doodles!

20 Sep 2025
Make Yourself at Home: Family Poetry
A new exhibition sharing an archive of family photographs which celebrate the people who call Bradford home.

21 Sep 2025
Peregrinations: Urban Nature Poetry Walk
Antony Dunn
Explore the heart of Bradford from an unusual new perspective, meandering along an urban nature walk with poet Antony Dunn.

21 Sep 2025
Yoga & Poetry Workshop
Emma Conally-Barklem
Join poet and yoga teacher Emma Conally-Barklem for a Sunday morning stretch.

21 Sep 2025
BBC Radio 4 Beyond Belief
Giles Fraser
Explore the place and shape of faith in today's world.

21 Sep 2025
Sustainability Panel: Shadows and Light
We live in a time in a time of great loss and great possibility. How can poetry help us balance the two?

21 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Gala: Part II
10 of the Core Poets
The second part of our very special events with the Core CSL Poets on the same bill for the first time.

21 Sep 2025
Sustainability Panel: Future
How do we want to live with nature in the future - and can a poem help us to get there?

21 Sep 2025
Language is a Queer Thing Showcase
Six queer poets from India and the UK take to the stage to explore how language can be reclaimed, refashioned, and made bigger, to hold queer lives and longings.

21 Sep 2025
Forward Prize Launch
Celebrating the 2025 Forward Book of Poetry with readings from Rommi Smith, J. R. Carpenter, Griot Gabriel and Isabelle Baafi.

21 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Mills & Hills
Emma Conally-Barklem, Testament, Saju Ahmed, Emily Zobel Marshall and Antony Dunn read work shaped by the North’s bricks and becks.

21 Sep 2025
Listen In: Nick Ahad
An exclusive chance to hear the Radio 4 comedy drama Blue Envelopes by Nick Ahad, presenter for BBC Radio Leeds and Radio 4’s Front Row followed by a Q&A.

21 Sep 2025
CSL Poetry Shorts: Love in the 21st Century
How do I love thee, let me 'swipe right' the ways?
BBC Contains Strong Language 2025 is a partnership between the BBC, Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture Trust and Word Up North. It is supported by Arts Council England.
Lead image: © BBC