Syima Aslam is the CEO and Artistic Director of the Bradford Literature Festival (BLF), a 10-day literary and cultural celebration hailed as one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK. She founded BLF in 2014 and, under her leadership, it has grown into the UK’s largest diverse-led cultural organisation, amassing a cumulative lifetime audience exceeding 908,000 visitors. She successfully led the 2026 Bradford Literature Festival, which expanded to more than 760 events over 10 days and drew a record-breaking 201,674 attendees. Aslam has been made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bradford. In 2022, she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her achievements to date for services to literature.