WORLD renowned artists, poets and musicians have arrived in Bradford ahead of the city's first literature festival this weekend.

Poet Lemn Sissay and musician Inder Goldfinger are among those taking part in a spoken word, poetry and music evening - one of more than two dozen events being held over the three day festival, which organisers hope will be one of the most diverse literary festivals in the UK.

The festival begins tomorrow, and over three days there will be events at several different venues, and suited for different age groups.

It was set up by book lovers Syima Aslam and Irna Qureshi

The opening chapter will be held at the Media Museum and see two events held for school groups. For one event, young sleuth Julian from Enid Blyton's Famous Five series of books will offer children his mystery solving tips, while the other - the interactive Beast Quest event, will invite children to help wizard Aduro free mythical beasts.

Author Steve Antony will perform an interactive storytelling of his book The Queen's Hat at City Library on Saturday at 11am. There are also workshops to teach children how to blog, how to stay safe online and an anime tutorial.

Sissay and Goldfinger have been commissioned to write and perform a collaborative piece that will be performed at a "Lyrical Mehfil" held at 8pm on Saturday at Bradford University's Theatre at the Mill and styled around traditional entertainment events in South Asia. The same event features other writers and poets from a variety of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Sissay was the first poet to be commissioned foe the London Olympics, has seen numerous poems of his carved into sculptures and one of his "morning Tweets" in which he writes about the sunrise each day, has been turned into the world's first cafe made out of a Tweet.

Goldfinger is a percussionist who has played with artists including Annie Lennox and Ian Brown.

There will be a number of heritage tours over the weekend, with TV presenter Christa Ackroyd providing a bus tour of the district's Bronte family heritage sites on Sunday, and a tour of the new Police Museum based in City Hall takes place on the Saturday.

There are several readings and workshops by authors, as well as debates and discussions on issues ranging from the meaning of identity in modern Britain and the roots of conflict in the Middle East. Bradford Synagogue features a "Sacred Poetry" event featuring music and poetry from across the religious spectrum, including Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism.

On the diverse line up of the festival, Mrs Qureshi said: "That's how Bradford is, so a programme with that diversity in mind is a very natural thing to do."

The festival is a "taster" for a ten day festival planned for May.

For the full line up and ticket details visit bradfordliteraturefestival.co.uk