A NEW annual event celebrating the very best of songwriting begins this evening.

The event will feature songwriters and musicians discussing their lives and work.

Rocker Suzi Quatro will feature in the event’s first edition on Tuesday, July 3, when she will discuss her life’s work and her influences as a poet, novelist and ground-breaking musician.

The Songbook with Suzi Quatro event, which is taking place at the Alhambra Theatre, will unpick how a female bass player, vocalist and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan, made it in the male-dominated 1970s rock music scene.

The release of a debut album in 1973 saw her propelled to international stardom, with hits such as Can the Can, and Devil Gate Drive.

According to the event organisers, Ms Quatro said she “played the boys at their own game”, and went on to become an inspiration to many a wannabe rocker in the decades that followed, selling over 50 million albums worldwide.

The Songbook with Suzi Quatro event will take place at 7.30pm at The Studio, Alhambra Theatre, tonight.

The event is part of the Bradford Literature Festival, which will also be presenting the Haunting Tales in City Hall tour this evening.

Local author and historian Les Vasey will be leading the tour through the Bradford Police Museum, alongside colleagues from City Hall.

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Visitors will follow Mr Vasey, a retired police chief, through the old courthouse, jail cells and police station on a candle-lit tour, discovering what happens when the police are being ‘haunted’.

Mr Vasey, who reached the rank of chief superintendent, spent six months in 2015 investigating strange phenomenons reported to him by serving officers at the police contact point in City Hall, where the museum is housed.

There were said to be cold spots in rooms, flying objects, and phantom figures caught on camera throughout the years in Bradford’s Victorian Gothic City Hall.

The investigation led by Mr Vasey, who worked as a police officer in Bradford for 35 years and still lives in the district, also uncovered a story about a character known as Chains Charlie, who is said to have come back to stalk the corridors.

The Haunting Tales in City Hall event will take place at 8pm at the Bradford Police Museum.

The Literature Festival runs until July 8 and features more than 500 speakers and 400 events.

Popular annual flagship events also include the return of the Bronte Heritage Tour.

For more information, visit bradfordlitfest.co.uk or call 01274 238 525.