#imaginetheworld: A reading list for the future

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Circe by Madeline Miller
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
East West Street by Philippe Sands
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
On Fire by Naomi Klein
Sex and Lies by Leila Slimani
Skylight by Jose Saramago
The Art of Rest by Claudia Hammond
The Art of Statistics by David Spiegelhalter
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
The Boy the Mole the Fox and the house by Charlie Mackesy
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric
The Plague by Albert Camus
Wilding by Isabella Tree

Climate change, populism, technological revolution, transformations in global health... At times like this our systems and lifestyles are in need of rapid transformation.

Books have long been the catalyst for this kind of change around the world – think of Darwin's Origin of Species, Orwell's 1984, Woolf's A Room of One's Own – and writers the best at articulating truths we struggle to recognise. In a digital world, where the currency of commentary can be most powerfully compressed into 280 characters, the book is surging back precisely because of the seriousness of the artefact. It’s not just the brilliant and durable technology, it’s the slow, careful and undemonstrative attention to clarity and depth of thought.

Across fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, there are authors tackling the most urgent of our challenges, sharing more contemporary stories than at any time in history. These new ideas and new perspectives have never felt more essential.

So, for Hay Festival 2020 we asked you to create an #imaginetheworld reading list – 20 books that offer us a roadmap to a better world, through transformative ideas or unheard voices - and you responded in your hundreds. So, here it is...

  • 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
  • Circe by Madeline Miller
  • City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
  • Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
  • East West Street by Philippe Sands
  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
  • Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
  • On Fire by Naomi Klein
  • Sex and Lies by Leila Slimani
  • Skylight by Jose Saramago
  • The Art of Rest by Claudia Hammond
  • The Art of Statistics by David Spiegelhalter
  • The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
  • The Boy the Mole the Fox and the house by Charlie Mackesy
  • The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric
  • The Overstory by Richard Powers
  • The Plague by Albert Camus
  • Wilding by Isabella Tree
woman reading in deckchair at Hay Festival
woman reading under tree

Terms & Conditions

  • 1. Information on how to enter forms part of these conditions of entry. Participation in this promotion constitutes acceptance of these conditions of entry.
  • 2. Entry is open to residents of Great Britain and Northern Ireland residents only. Directors, management and employees (and the immediate families of directors, management and employees) of the Promoter or the agencies or companies associated with this promotion are ineligible to enter.
  • 3. Entrants will be limited to one entry.
  • 4. The promotion will start at 00:01 on Thursday 7 May 2020 and will close at 23:59 on Sunday 31 May 2020 (the “Promotion Period”).
  • 5. The prize is a set of 20 books (subject to availability) taken from the selected titles to be announced on Tuesday 2 June 2020.
  • 6. Winners must have access to a personal email account on the internet.
  • 7. Hay Festival accepts no responsibility for late, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, corrupted or misdirected entries, network failure or delay.
  • 9. The Promoter and its associated agencies and companies will not be liable to any prize winner and their guest for any loss (including, without limitation, indirect, special or consequential loss or loss of profits), expense or damage which is suffered or sustained (whether or not arising from any person’s negligence) in connection with this promotion or accepting or using any prize, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (including personal injury, death and fraud) in which case that liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law.
  • 9. No warranty or guarantee is given by the Promoter in relation to any prize.
  • 10. The prize(s) is/are not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be redeemed for cash or any other form of compensation. In the event for any reason the prize winner does not take an element of the prize at the time stipulated by the Promoter, then that element of the prize will be forfeited by the winner and neither cash nor any other form of compensation will be supplied in lieu of that element of the prize. If for any reason a prize is not available, the Promoter reserves the right to substitute another prize for it, in its sole discretion, of equal or higher value.
  • 11. If for any reason any aspect of this promotion is not capable of running as planned the Promoter may in its sole discretion cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the promotion, or invalidate any affected entries (this includes, without limitation, by reason of infection by computer virus, network failure, bugs, tampering, unauthorised intervention, fraud, technical failures or any cause beyond the control of the Promoter which corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this promotion).
  • 12. If any of the winning entries are deemed not to comply with these conditions of entry, the entry will be discarded and a new winner of the prize will be determined by the Promoter.
  • 13. In all aspects of this promotion the Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the promotion.
  • 14. The Promoter reserves the right to publish the name and county of residence of the promotion winner.
  • 15. This Promotion shall be governed by English law.