Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2024

Maria Balshaw and Julie Finch talk to Katie Razzall

The Future of Arts

Thursday 28 November 2024, 5pm– Castle Marquee

The UK is lauded internationally for its vibrant art scene, from its literature to its acting and visual arts. Engagement is at an all-time high, and it’s clear that exposure to arts leads to healthier happier adults.

And yet it’s been a turbulent year in the world of arts funding, and access to the arts at a young age is uneven, often depending on geography and wealth. A systematic dismantling of arts in education over the last two decades coupled with a sharp decrease in the levels of funding has left us with a debate about the future of arts in the UK: can we enter a new age of creativity, and what does our future relationship with the arts look like?

Join BBC News Culture & Media Editor, Katie Razzall as she talks to Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch and Tate director Maria Balshaw, and share your opinions on one of the most crucial debates of our time.

There will be a collection after the event for Hay Festival Foundation

Kevin McCloud in conversation

Grand Designs at 25

Thursday 28 November 2024, 6.30pm– Castle Marquee

Grand Designs is one of the most popular lifestyle shows on television, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Join presenter Kevin McCloud as he discusses the impact the show has had on domestic architecture and design, and talks about some of the most impressive and game-changing self-build projects from the last 25 years.

McCloud is best known for the internationally acclaimed, Bafta award-winning series Grand Designs. It is now shown around the world along with spin-off series including Grand Designs: The Street and Grand Designs: House of the Year. He has also written several books on design and champions sustainable development, context, the historic environment, and ecological construction. He was awarded an MBE in 2014 for his services to architecture.
In conversation with BBC News Culture & Media Editor, Katie Razzall.

Sponsored by Fred's Yurts

Arun Ghosh and Cerys Matthews

On Dylan Thomas: Under Milk Wood and Music

Thursday 28 November 2024, 8pm – 9.15pm– Castle Marquee

Musicians Cerys Matthews and Arun Ghosh present an extraordinary exploration of the worlds and words of the late, great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Join Welsh singer-songwriter and Thomas fan Matthews – whose Sunday morning show is the biggest single show on Radio 6 – for a unique night out as she takes us on a tour of Llaregubb, the fictional seaside village of Under Milk Wood, joined on stage by acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Ghosh accompanying on clarinet and harmonium. In this magical evening, the pair bring to life characters including Captain Cat and Nogood Boyo from Under Milk Wood, celebrating one of Thomas’ best known works through a mix of storytelling and music.

Matthews is a musician, author and broadcaster who hosts and programmes award-winning radio shows across BBC 6, 2 and 4. A love of Thomas has infused her career; she composed music for Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas and among her books is Out of Chaos Come Bliss, a collection of Thomas’ poetry compiled and with notes by Matthews as well as a retelling of Under Milk Wood, illustrated by Kate Evans. Ghosh is a British-Asian clarinettist, bandleader and composer. Twice awarded Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards (UK), Ghosh leads his own ensembles, touring nationally and internationally.

Sponsored by The Old Black Lion

BBC Radio 4: Inside Science

The Science of Laughter

Friday 29 November 2024, 10am– Castle Marquee

Quentin Blake Exhibition & Hay Castle Entry Ticket

Friday 29 November 2024, 10am – 8pm– Hay Castle

Legend has it that Hay Castle was built in a day by a giantess called Matilda who hurled a stone across the Wye at the end of construction. Find out about this story and more with this entry ticket that also allows you to visit the castle as many times as you like in the year afterwards. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for the amazing views from the viewing platform.

This ticket also gives you entry into the Beasts, Battles & Books exhibition, a look at the work of one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake.

Jonathan Dimbleby talks to David Olusoga

Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War

Friday 29 November 2024, 11.30am– Castle Marquee

Prepare to be enthralled as historian Jonathan Dimbleby takes you on a journey through 1944, the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis. In conversation with fellow historian David Olusoga, Dimbleby discusses his new book Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War. The year is probably best known for the Allies’ triumph on the beaches of Normandy, but Dimbleby takes readers beyond this to the events on the Eastern Front in 1944 that delivered the knockout blow in the Second World War.

Dimbleby discusses with Olusoga how previously untranslated German and Russian sources, many from ‘ordinary’ soldiers, helped him tell the story of 1944, and gives an insight into some of the bloody battles along the Eastern front and the unusual roles played by deception, the partisans, and the war within a war in Ukraine. Dimbleby's previous books include the highly acclaimed Second World War histories The Battle of the Atlantic and Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and was followed by his BBC2 programme Churchill's Desert War.

Sponsored by FW Golesworthy & Sons

Caroline Quentin talks to Tamsin Westhorpe

Drawn to the Garden

Friday 29 November 2024, 1pm– Castle Marquee

The winter months don’t mean an outdoor space can’t be a source of comfort and solace, as Caroline Quentin argues in this event. The actress, drawing on her life-long passion for gardening, talks to Tamsin Westhorpe about the joy she gets from spending time in her garden, whether she’s grappling with the best way to grow plants and vegetables or raising seeds in her potting shed.

Quentin shares stories from her lifetime of gardening – from thieving blackbirds to singing to dragonflies – and shares tips and tricks that can be used all year round. Known for her roles in TV shows including Men Behaving Badly, Bridgerton and Jonathan Creek, Quentin is the author of Drawn to the Garden, a collection of stories, advice, recipes and poems about her love for gardening. Westhorpe is the editor of the Horticultural Trade Association magazine and curator and gardener of Stockton Bury Gardens, Herefordshire.

Sponsored by the Sinclair Group

Ali Smith talks to Sarah Wood

Gliff

Friday 29 November 2024, 2.30pm– Castle Marquee

Once upon a time not very far from now, two children come home to find a line of wet red paint encircling the outside of their house. But this is no predictable fairytale. Instead, it’s the start of the electrifying new novel Gliff by Ali Smith, one of Britain’s best contemporary writers.

Smith, the winner of awards including the Orwell Prize and the Women’s Prize, often plays with form and structure in her books, and continues her innovative storytelling in Gliff, which is the first of two new interconnected novels.

In the book, the question of what the red paint means leads to a discussion of a toxic world, hostile states, resistance and, above all, how humans make meaning. Join Smith for an insight into the world of Gliff, which nods to dystopian fiction and the Kafkaesque, and is a new take on the notion of classic. Smith talks to artist and filmmaker Sarah Wood.

David Spiegelhalter

The Art of Uncertainty

Friday 29 November 2024, 4pm– Castle Marquee

Using a crystal ball to see into the future may not be possible (or even reliable), but there are ways to work out what might happen in the coming years and decades. In this engaging event Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter takes us through how we can all use data to understand risks and assess the chances of what might happen in the future, informing us about how the principles of probability can be used to think about everything from medical advice and climate change forecasts to football results. Offering a path through at a time of uncertainty, Spiegelhalter presents an authoritative and accessible discussion of data.

Spiegelhalter is the author of The Art of Uncertainty and The Art of Statistics. He is Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge and was knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics. He served as president of the Royal Statistical Society and in 2020 became a non-executive director of the UK Statistics Authority.

Sponsored by Shepherds Ice-Cream

Hay Christmas Lights

Friday 29 November 2024, 5pm – 7pm– Memorial Square, Hay-on-Wye

There’s no better way to get into the festive spirit than by attending the Hay-on-Wye Christmas lights switch on. Take part in an evening of carol singing, grab a warming mulled wine and some food, and enjoy the festivities that kick off the Christmas season in our booktown. The lights will be switched on at 6.30 pm by Luke Evans, star of the West End and Hollywood.

The free switch-on event takes place in Memorial Square, and as well as food and drink stalls, visitors can enjoy the Hay School Christmas fete, a steam engine Santa drive-by, Hay Fire Brigade, Santa's Post Box, Window Spotting competition, and more. The event is co-hosted by Hay Town Council, Hay Chamber of Commerce and Hay Markets Ltd. Lighting up Hay for Christmas is made possible through the generous support of Hay's local businesses, individuals and funders.

Matt Frei and Hay Festival Guests

US(A): Our Special Relationship

Friday 29 November 2024, 5.30pm– Castle Marquee

A year is a long time in US politics, and 2024 is a extraordinary demonstration of this adage; the year has been full of unexpected events and historic firsts, including the conviction of Donald Trump for the falsification of business records and Joe Biden stepping down as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after a disastrous debate performance.

As we enter 2025, the UK will have to forge a new kind of special relationship with the Oval Office. What will this look like with a vastly changed USA? How will international events, from wars to movements in trade and the shift to the political right, affect the way the UK and US stand together (or not)? And what does the shifting axis of world power and influence mean for us all? Join Matt Frei, lead presenter of Channel 4 News’ award-winning global coverage and a panel of experts and front row commentators to explore just what the UK’s place in the new world order could look like.

Sponsored by Partners&

Champagne and Christmas Lights from the Crow's Nest

Watch the Christmas lights from the viewing platform at Hay Castle

Friday 29 November 2024, 6.15pm – 7pm– Hay Castle

Get the best view of the Christmas lights from the viewing platform at the top of Hay Castle’s historic Norman tower, and watch the switching on with castle director Tom True.

Champagne and canapés included in the ticket price

Luke Evans talks to Carol Vorderman

Boy From the Valleys

Friday 29 November 2024, 7pm– Castle Marquee

In this intimate event, actor Luke Evans takes us from his humble beginnings in a quaint Welsh mining village to the dazzling lights of Hollywood, where he starred in some of the biggest films of recent years. Evans grew up in the Rhymney Valley, south Wales, in a Jehovah’s Witness family. He felt different from an early age, and as he came to terms with his sexuality, he faced a difficult and uncertain path that he knew could lead him away from his community.

With tenderness and courage, Evans shares how he decided to leave his home and his religion aged just 17, and gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his stage and screen career.

Evans has told his full story in his memoir Boy From the Valleys: My Unexpected Journey, which recounts in detail how he discovered his passion for singing, acting and performing. Starring first in the West End in productions including Miss Saigon, Avenue Q and Rent, he went on to secure roles in blockbuster films such as The Hobbit, Beauty and the Beast and Fast and Furious. He has also released music and recently starred in Echo 3 on Apple TV+. Evans is in conversation with Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer Carol Vorderman.

In association with Visit Seattle

Father Richard: Silent Film with Live Organ

Metropolis

Friday 29 November 2024, 7pm – 9.30pm– St Mary’s Church

Gifted organist and composer Father Richard Williams, former vicar of St Mary’s Church in Hay, performs a stunning live accompaniment to Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 silent film Metropolis, playing the outstanding Bevington organ. Metropolis is an early science fiction film which presents a highly stylised futuristic city where a cultured Utopian society exists above a bleak underworld populated by mistreated workers.

Sponsored by Origin Pizza

Jenny Eclair in conversation with John Mitchinson

Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir

Friday 29 November 2024, 8.30pm– Castle Marquee

Get ready for an evening of laughter with comedian Jenny Eclair, as she tells the story of how she elbowed her way into the male-dominated world of 1980s stand-up. Born little Jenny Hargreaves to Major Derek Hargreaves (maybe a spy, maybe not) and June Hargreaves, Eclair went on to become one of the UK’s most successful comedians. She shares tales of drama school, punk poetry and not really having a clue about anything, and gives an insight into the changing face of women in comedy. Whether she’s discussing the frivolous or the serious, Eclair does so with a sharp insight and, of course, a big helping of humour.

Eclair was the first woman to win the UK’s top comedy award, the Perrier Award. Since then, she has taken multiple shows on tour around the country, most recently Sixty! (FFS) which was extended twice due to its popularity. Eclair is also an actress, and is known for her starring role on BBC1’s Grumpy Old Women, which ran for three series and was then adapted into four live shows touring across the UK and Australia, all of which she co-wrote and starred in. She is the co-host of the Older and Wider podcast, and the critically acclaimed author of seven novels, a collection of short stories and a number of non-fiction books. Her latest book is Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir.

Sponsored by Festive Forestry - Christmas Tree Farm

Theresa Lola

Ceremony for the Nameless

Friday 29 November 2024, 8.30pm– North Books

In Yoruba culture, newborn babies are welcomed into the world, and ushered into the social fabric, through naming ceremonies filled with songs of praise. The names bestowed communicate where the baby has come from – the circumstances of its birth, the atmosphere in the home – and where its future will take it. Join poet Theresa Lola as she shares poems from her second collection, Ceremony for the Nameless, and discusses the act of naming and how it shapes us. Asking questions about the realities of being both Nigerian and British, tracing the lineages of names, and considering why some people deserve to be named while others are treated as though invisible, Lola conjures up a world of words conveying the diasporic experience.

Lola is a poet and writer from South London. She served as the Young People’s Laureate for London from 2019-20, and her poem ‘Equilibrium’ was added to OCR’s GCSE English Literature syllabus in 2022. Lola was featured in the ‘Forces for Change’ issue of British Vogue as a next generation talent.

Director's Breakfast Tour of Hay Castle

Tour and Continental Breakfast with Tom True

Saturday 30 November 2024, 9am – 10am– Hay Castle

Battles, borders, books and breakfast! Come and explore Hay Castle with its director Tom True, who will give an introduction to the history and invite you to get to know some of the characters from the castle’s past. He’ll also talk about running Hay Castle for the past two years.

Carol Vorderman in conversation with David Olusoga

The Mission To Fix Broken Britain

Saturday 30 November 2024, 10am– Castle Marquee

We’ll take three vowels and five consonants, please. And they form just one word: politics. Mathematics legend and former Countdown star Carol Vorderman has been using her platform to speak out against the political elite in recent years – describing herself as ‘an old bird with an iPhone’ – and has plenty of advice to offer on how we can all participate in politics.

Talking to broadcaster and historian David Olusoga, Vorderman discusses what happens now that the Conservatives are out of power, and how issues that plagued the Tories run deep and are still part of our political system.

She argues for a new age of accountability, and shares some of the tools needed to build a better and fairer Britain, as well as discussing her own political journey, the abuse she faces for speaking about politics, and why politics really is for us all. Vorderman is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer. In 2000 she was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting and has since turned her attention to maths education. She is the author of Now What?: On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain.

Sponsored by Tomatitos Tapas Bar

George Nash

Neolithic Tombs of Wales

Saturday 30 November 2024, 10am– St Mary’s Church

Travel 6,000 years into the past and explore the Neolithic period in Wales with Dr George Nash. The academic takes a look at chambered tombs and monuments across the country, and gives a greater understanding of these enigmatic and spiritual sites.

Nash is an associate professor at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and an honorary researcher within the department of archaeology, classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Nash has directed excavations at many Neolithic burial-ritual monuments and is the author of numerous books on the Neolithic and prehistoric and contemporary rock art, including Neolithic Tombs of Wales.

Quentin Blake Exhibition & Hay Castle Entry Ticket

Saturday 30 November 2024, 10am – 8pm– Hay Castle

Legend has it that Hay Castle was built in a day by a giantess called Matilda who hurled a stone across the Wye at the end of construction. Find out about this story and more with this entry ticket that also allows you to visit the castle as many times as you like in the year afterwards. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for the amazing views from the viewing platform.

This ticket also gives you entry into the Beasts, Battles & Books exhibition, a look at the work of one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake.

Grace Dent talks to Oliver Bullough

Comfort Eating

Saturday 30 November 2024, 11.30am– Castle Marquee

There’s no time of year better for a bit of comfort eating than the cold, dark days of winter. A simple dish of beans and toast recalls childhood memories. A hearty soup warms us from the inside out. A rich hot chocolate gives us a moment of calm. Restaurant critic Grace Dent knows the value of comfort food for our bodies and minds. Talking to writer Oliver Bullough, she looks at what makes great comfort food and the foods we like to eat when no one is watching. Sharing her own favourites, Dent discusses what food can tell us about our lives, memories and experiences, and why we can find such joy in eating by ourselves.

Dent’s latest book Comfort Eating is inspired by the award-winning podcast of the same name, and is an intimate collection about the food we turn to behind closed doors, featuring interviews with people including Jo Brand, who loves fried bread sandwiches, and Scarlett Moffat, whose go-to snack is Wotsits-topped beans on toast. Dent is a columnist, broadcaster and author and the Guardian’s restaurant critic. Her memoir Hungry won the 2021 Fortnums Debut Book Award.

Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston

Can We Live Forever?

Saturday 30 November 2024, 11.30am– St Mary’s Church

Can we live forever? What would it mean for our bodies and minds if we did? How would society be affected if we just gave up death? And if the science is available, what is really stopping us? Join neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston as he explores these questions and more with expertise and compassion, drawing on his book The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death.

Zeleznikow-Johnston argues that preserving a person in stasis for future revitalisation and repair could be the logical extension of our current medical practices, and shows us that credible procedures already exist for storing not just the body but the self. He also takes a look at the philosophical and social questions around living forever, addressing worries about overpopulation and social stagnation as well as the meaning of life. Dr Zeleznikow-Johnston is a neuroscientist at Monash University, Australia, where he investigates methods for characterising the nature of conscious experiences.

The Brothers McLeod Drawing Adventure

Kids Fun Packed Session with Childrens’ Authors & Illustrators Myles and Greg

Saturday 30 November 2024, 11.30am – 12.30pm– Hay Castle - Clore Space

Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.

Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.

The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.

Hay Community Choir

Saturday 30 November 2024, 12.35pm – 12.55pm– Hay Castle grounds

Singing is good for our mental health and this half-hour open air performance between events will make you feel like you’re part of a whole. Come along and have a listen as Hay Community Choir share their joy in music.

Tom Mustill talks to Marnie Chesterton

How To Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication

Saturday 30 November 2024, 1pm– Castle Marquee

Have you ever wanted to talk to animals? In this entertaining and original event, wildlife filmmaker Tom Mustill reveals how conversing with whales – and understanding what they’re saying – might not be such a crazy notion. Mustill was whale watching in 2015 when a humpback breached onto his kayak and nearly killed him. He became obsessed with trying to work out what the whale had been thinking, and while making a film about his experience discovered that cutting-edge developments and discoveries mean asking the whale what happened might not be beyond the realm of possibility. Mustill discusses the technologies and scientists who are working to turn the fantasy of Dr Dolittle into a reality, and looks ahead to how making contact could change our approach to the natural world.

Mustill is a biologist turned filmmaker and writer. His film collaborations, many with Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, have received numerous international awards.

He talks to presenter of Inside Science and co-host of the Science in Action podcast Marnie Chesterton.

In association with Whale and Dolphin Conservation

Alex McCarthy talks to Caryl Lewis

Debut Discoveries: The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone

Saturday 30 November 2024, 1pm– St Mary’s Church

Tucked into the Welsh valleys and encircled by silver birch and pine is the village of Cwmcysgod, a quiet and sleepy place. But all is not as it seems in Alex McCarthy’s novella The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone: there are simmering tensions in Cwmcysgod, where a unique cast of characters gives voice to their version of the truth, and of the story of Rosalind Bone. McCarthy introduces the world of Cwmcysgod and characters including 16-year-old Catrin Bone and her embittered and reclusive mother, Mary, whose sister disappeared from the village in a shroud of shame years before.

McCarthy was born in Cardiff and grew up in South Wales. An alumna of London Contemporary Dance School, she worked as a dancer and choreographer for a number of years on stage, TV and film. The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone won Wales Fiction Book of the Year 2024.

She talks to author and previous Wales Book of the Year winner Caryl Lewis.

Cantorion-Y-Gelli

Saturday 30 November 2024, 2.05pm – 2.25pm– Hay Castle grounds

Come along and join Cantorion-Y-Gelli for some good old-fashioned Welsh “hwyl”! Cantorion-Y-Gelli is Hay’s mixed-voice, Welsh-language choir set up by musical director Gemma Woolford, who gathered a group of friends together after the last lockdown to learn one Welsh song.

The majority of members are either learning Welsh or passionate about the language, with three first-language Welsh-speakers keeping a strict ear on pronunciation. Cantorion-Y-Gelli has a varied repertoire of traditional folk songs, hymns, male voice choir classics and even a football anthem.

Lola Young in conversation with Paterson Joseph

Eight Weeks

Saturday 30 November 2024, 2.30pm– Castle Marquee

In this illuminating and intimate event, Baroness Lola Young sheds light on the oft-ignored foster care system, and her personal relationship with it. Before Baroness Young was an actress, an academic, an activist and a campaigner for social justice, she was a foster child, moved between countless placements and children’s homes between the ages of eight weeks and 18 years. Decades later, the crossbench peer was able to begin the search for answers to the long-standing questions that would help her make sense of her childhood.

She talks to actor and writer Paterson Joseph about searching through her care records, fragments of memory and her imagination to assemble the pieces of her past into a portrait of a childhood in a system that often made her feel invisible and unwanted.

Baroness Young of Hornsey became one of the first Black women members of the House of Lords in 2004. She is an active campaigner against modern slavery and unethical fashion and is Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. Joseph is a British actor and writer who has acted on shows including Vigil and Noughts and Crosses. He is the author of the historical novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho.

Chloe Dalton talks to Helen Bagnall

Raising Hare

Saturday 30 November 2024, 2.30pm– St Mary’s Church

Listen in awe to the extraordinary tale of how writer and political advisor Chloe Dalton befriended a hare after moving to the countryside of her childhood. Dalton moved from the city to the country during lockdown, and found a newly born hare, no bigger than her palm and with no one to look after it. So she took it upon herself to be the custodian of the hare, bottle-feeding it and giving it a home in her house. Two years later, it still ran in from the fields when Dalton called it, and took naps in her house.

Dalton speaks to Hay Festival’s Director of Programmes and Engagement Helen Bagnall about the unusual bond between her and the hare, rekindling our sense of wonder towards nature and wildlife.

The Brothers McLeod Drawing Adventure

Kids Fun Packed Session with Childrens’ Authors & Illustrators Myles and Greg

Saturday 30 November 2024, 2.30pm – 3.30pm– Hay Castle - Clore Space

Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.

Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.

The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.

Maxim Calver

Saturday 30 November 2024, 3.35pm – 3.55pm– Hay Castle, Great Hall

Hear a sneak peek of cellist Maxim Calver’s music ahead of his performance at St Mary’s Church in the evening. Maxim first gained public recognition as a BBC Young Musician 2018 Grand Finalist and Strings Category winner, where he made his concerto debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Since the competition he has been in high demand as a soloist across the UK and Europe.

Paula Hawkins talks to Julia Gillard

The Blue Hour

Saturday 30 November 2024, 4pm– Castle Marquee

In Paula Hawkins’ fourth thriller The Blue Hour, a small bone at the centre of a famous sculpture is revealed to be human, and three people become intimately connected by the secrets and lies that put it there. Set on a Scottish tidal island connected to the mainland for just a few hours each day, and home to only one inhabitant, The Blue Hour asks questions of ambition, power, art and perception.
Hawkins discusses her novel with Julia Gillard, former Australian prime minister, chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, and host of A Podcast of One’s Own.

Hawkins worked as a journalist for 15 years before writing her first novel The Girl on the Train, which has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. Published in over 50 languages, it was adapted for a hit film starring Emily Blunt. Paula’s thrillers Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning were also instant number one bestsellers.

In association with Visit Seattle

Tom Chatfield talks to Adam Rutherford

Wise Animals: How Technology Has Made Us What We Are

Saturday 30 November 2024, 4pm– St Mary’s Church

Our entanglement, fears and arguments around AI are nothing new; Dr Tom Chatfield believes humans have always been deeply involved with our creations, from flint tools to written words and computation, and that we are neither the masters nor victims of such technologies.

He talks to scientist Adam Rutherford about ethical, cultural and evolutionary understandings of technology, challenging us to re-evaluate every aspect of humanity’s entwining with technology, its impact upon our lives, and what lies ahead for our exponential age.

Dr Chatfield is a British author and tech philosopher whose bestselling critical thinking textbooks and courses for SAGE Publishing are used across the world. He is the author of non-fiction books including Wise Animals: How Technology Has Made Us What We Are, and his debut novel, This Is Gomorrah, was a Sunday Times thriller of the month, shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and won France’s 2020 Prix Douglas Kennedy. Rutherford is a Radio 4 broadcaster and president of the British Humanist Association.

The Brothers McLeod Drawing Adventure

Kids Fun Packed Session with Childrens’ Authors & Illustrators Myles and Greg

Saturday 30 November 2024, 4.30pm – 5.30pm– Hay Castle - Clore Space

Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.

Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.

The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.

Hay Shantymen

Saturday 30 November 2024, 5.05pm – 5.25pm– Hay Castle grounds

Enjoy a half-hour open air performance between events. A crew of local landlubbers singing rollicking, traditional sea shanties in a cappella three-part harmony, as well as other songs on a nautical theme. Enjoyment is guaranteed or else you’ll walk the plank!

Hay Shantymen have been together for over seven years, raising more than £10,000 for the RNLI. They’ve performed widely, including Latitude and Falmouth International Shanty Festival. In 2023 they wrote a shanty of their own (‘Seaweed Revolution’), performed at the Natural History Museum in London.

Torsten Bell and Jess Phillips talk to Jennifer Nadel

Where Does Compassion Belong In Politics?

Saturday 30 November 2024, 5.30pm– Castle Marquee

In the arguments between opposing political parties, the fractious nature of Prime Minister’s Question Time, and the lack of sympathy for the struggles of everyday people, it can seem that compassion has disappeared from politics altogether. Join MPs Torsten Bell and Jess Phillips as they examine where politics and politicians have failed people and how being compassionate is linked to success and a better politics for everyone. Tackling hard-hitting questions, the pair present a hopeful and optimistic view of the future, as well as looking at the lessons that Wales can impart to the national stage.

Bell, who was elected as the MP for Swansea West in 2024, is the author of Great Britain? How We Get Our Future Back, a forensic examination of Britain’s current chaos, and a bold vision for an alternative. He is the former chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, an economic research charity working to raise the living standards of households on low to middle incomes.

In Phillips’ Let’s Be Honest, she looks at how politics lost its integrity, and how we’ve all suffered as a result. It is both a laugh-so-you-don’t-cry takedown of the state of Westminster in recent years and a rallying battle cry for bringing truth back to politics. Before becoming an MP, she worked with victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking. Phillips was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office in 2024. They talk to barrister and journalist Jennifer Nadel, leader of UK think tank Compassion In Politics.

Sarah Clegg feat. John Kirkpatrick and Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk

The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas

Saturday 30 November 2024, 5.30pm– St Mary’s Church

Beware an encounter with the Turon and Mari Lwyd beasts as you enter St Mary’s Churchyard for a night of tales of folklore and mysterious creatures. Keep your wits about you as you hear stories of English mummers plays and Austrian Krampus runs, to modern pagan rituals at Stonehenge and the night in Finland when a young girl is crowned with candles as St Lucy – a martyred Christian girl who also appears as a witch leading a procession of the dead.

Folk musician John Kirkpatrick will sing to the spirits in the churchyard as you arrive and lead you into the candlelit church where author Sarah Clegg awaits to take you on a journey through midwinter to explore the lesser-known Christmas traditions.

Ghastly and ghostly, Clegg looks at the origins of midwinter mythologies, and with accompaniment from Kirkpatrick and Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk brings to life an unsettling tale or two. After all, a little darkness never hurt anyone, did it?

Chris Lintott

Our Accidental Universe

Saturday 30 November 2024, 7pm– Castle Marquee

Head into orbit without the danger (and the price tag) with Chris Lintott, as he leads an astonishing tour of the key astronomical events of the past century, and reveals how many of them have come about by accident. Lintott, presenter of the BBC's Sky at Night programme, takes us to space to look at how the Universe is ever-changing and how new technology is showing us this changing sky. But amongst all this technological development, he gives a rundown of the accidents and human error that have occurred in the pursuit of asteroids, pulsars, radio waves, new stars and alien life.

Lintott is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where his research ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids. He is Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for anyone to contribute to scientific research, and which was the topic of his first book, The Crowd and the Cosmos. In 2023, he was appointed the 39th Gresham Professor of Astronomy, a post that dates back to the 16th century.

Tom Mustill and Vahakn Matossian

Whale Song Sound Bath

Saturday 30 November 2024, 7pm– St Mary’s Church

Experience a remarkable audio journey by heading deep into an undersea world, all from the comfort of St Mary’s Church. Wildlife filmmaker and writer Tom Mustill and musician and Human Instruments co-founder Vahakn Matossian present a soundscape of recordings from a ground-breaking underwater listening station, three miles beneath the waves of Monterey Bay Canyon.

There, underwater landslides rumble and distant rain at the surface can still be heard as a fizz, and the seas teem with the sounds of dolphin megapods, hunting killer whales, the bleats of Gray whale calves to their mothers, the mysterious booms of Fin and Whales and of course, the complex and enchanting songs of the Humpback Whale. Mustill’s team spent six months gathering 350 new bioacoustic tracks from scientists around the world, many never heard before, making them into a soundscape journey from the perspective of seven different whales.

In association with Whale and Dolphin Conservation

Glyn Edwards

In Orbit

Saturday 30 November 2024, 7pm– Poetry Bookshop

Glyn Edwards recites from and discusses his collection In Orbit, which examines grief, loss and toxic standards for boys and men. Narrated by a man who receives news of a beloved teacher’s death, In Orbit covers the man’s past, present and future, all of which seem to be punctuated by the same intense grief. Edwards’ collection is a deeply moving account of losing a person you love, but not shying away from remembering them.

Edwards works as a teacher in North Wales and is a PhD researcher in ecopoetry at Bangor University, considering the role of poetry as activism in the wake of the Anthropocene. He is a contributing editor for Modron, a journal for environmental writing, and the Wild Words feature for North Wales Wildlife Trust. He is a former winner of Wales’ Teacher of the Year, and has created educational resources for the Welsh Government, the WJEC and Poetry Wales. In Orbit won the People’s Choice Award at the Wales Book of the Year 2024 Awards Ceremony, run by Literature Wales.

In association with Visit Seattle