Hay Festival 2018

Having played most of Shakespeare’s female characters, actor Dame Harriet Walter now lets them speak their mind, going between the lines of the plays to imagine what these women were really thinking. Hear what Gertrude longed to say; why Lady Macbeth felt she should be King; how Juliet’s nurse bemoaned her loss; and what Cleopatra’s handmaidens really thought of her.

“Though Shakespeare's empathy for his female creations is miraculous, his plays mirror the hierarchy and patriarchy of his day with the result that women are seldom centre stage, have far fewer lines, and their function in the plot is always and solely in relation to a man. But not in these pages…”

Palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke tells the unforgettable and inspiring true story of how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. Clarke blends the history of medical innovations behind transplant surgery with the stories of nine-year-olds Keira Ball and Max Johnson in this powerful event about life, death and how we honour loved ones.

After a terrible car accident, Keira suffered catastrophic brain injuries. As the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat, and in an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira’s parents and siblings immediately agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor.

Meanwhile Max Johnson had been in a hospital for nearly a year, valiantly fighting the virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max’s parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.

Clarke is author of three books including Dear Life, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

Author Geoff Dyer reflects on his childhood and what it means to have come of age in England in the 1960s and 1970s, in a country shaped by the aftermath of the Second World War but accelerating towards change. He discusses his memoir Homework, shares stories from his youth and gives insights into his career.

Dyer is author of four novels and numerous non-fiction books, most recently The Last Days of Roger Federer.

In poet Nick Makoha’s collection The New Carthaginians, time and the world are out of joint. Through a triumvirate of characters – the Poet, a Black Icarus and a resurrected Jean-Michel Basquiat – Makoha explores a heroes’ odyssey, a new mythos in which the othering of Black life might be undone, and a transfigured understanding of myth and life.

Makoha, who discusses his work with musician and poet Roger Robinson, is a Ugandan poet and playwright. His debut collection Kingdom of Gravity was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize and was one of the Guardian’s Best Books of the Year.

Musicians Cerys Matthews and Arun Ghosh present an extraordinary exploration of the worlds and words of the late, great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Welsh singer-songwriter and Thomas fan Matthews – whose Sunday morning show is the biggest single show on Radio 6 – takes us on a tour of Llareggubb, the fictional seaside village of Under Milk Wood, with 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.

A love of Dylan Thomas has infused Matthews’ career; she composed music for A Child’s Christmas, and among her books are Out of Chaos Come Bliss, a compilation of Thomas’ poetry, and a retelling of Under Milk Wood. Ghosh is a British-Asian clarinettist, bandleader and composer who has twice been awarded Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Mercury Prize-nominated singer Sam Lee has shaken up the music scene. His latest album Songdreaming (a Mojo Album of the Month) breaks boundaries between traditional and contemporary music. It’s rich in musicality and invention, building on the backbone of double bass, percussion and violin with a world of instrumentation including the Arabic Qanoon and Swedish Nyckelharpa.

His lyrical focus on the perilous state of the natural world informs all his work, and his arrangements relate to a modern audience, moving from identifiable acoustic songs to drone soundscapes, electric guitar and gospel choir. He is a co-founder of Music Declares Emergency.

Lee is also a film soundtrack composer and has provided songs for several major feature films, from Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Comedian and musician Rob Deering presents Beat This, the live-music, stand-up comedy game show. Deering delivers mash-ups, megamixes and mayhem, as four great guests from across the Festival compete to win this pop quiz with a difference.

A twenty-first century one man band, Deering creates “a highly impressive one-man soundscape powered mainly by energy and excellent guitar skills” (The Scotsman) at the centre of this fun show. It’s a festival favourite from the Edinburgh Fringe, Green Man, Machynlleth Comedy Festival, Latitude and more, making its Hay Festival debut in 2025.

“As sharp and versatile as a Swiss Army knife” – The Independent.

Come and learn some easy somatic exercises to calm and regulate your nervous system, as Hayley guides you through a peaceful class, calming busy minds and tense bodies, and helping to reduce stress and anxiety.

Hayley teaches awareness of body sensations, beliefs held within the body, and helps you find emotions stored in the body. Through mindful gentle movement and interoception (listening to your internal bodily state), she’ll give you the tools to help switch your nervous system from fight, flight or freeze into a safer, connected, harmonious and calmer state. You’ll learn more about the role of the nervous system and the importance of regulation in modern day living to enhance overall health and well-being.

Whether you want to find out how to relax tension in your body, learn how to calm the mind, regulate your emotions or just take some time out to reconnect, Hayley offers a safe, nurturing space for you to explore a deeper understanding of yourself.

Beginners and experienced students are most welcome. Yoga mats are provided.

Please contact Clare Fry at hello@larchwoodstudio.com with any questions relating to these classes. As capacity is limited, we recommend booking in advance to avoid disappointment.

For decades, newsreader and journalist Mishal Husain had only a partial knowledge of her grandparents’ experiences during Partition. It was a fragment of an old sari that finally sent Husain on a journey through time, using letters, diaries, memoirs and audio tapes to trace the lives of four people shaped by the Raj, a world war, independence and partition.

Husain, a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and the news on BBC One, shares her grandparents’ stories, from pre-Partition India through to their new lives and identities, and reflects on the shared heritage of the past.

Start the day at Hay Festival with headline guests chaired by editors from The Independent reviewing the news, discussing the headlines and issues of the day, and revealing what’s breaking and trending online. A fascinating look at what’s tickling the nation’s fancy – and driving it to splenetic fury. Bring your coffee!

Among today’s guests are publisher of Granta magazine and Granta Books Sigrid Rausing and Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Law at University College London and author of East West Street.

José Eustasio Rivera’s classic Latin American novel The Vortex is widely recognised as one of the best novels written in Colombia. It follows young poet Arturo Cova and his lover, Alicia, as they elope from Bogotá and embark on an adventure through Colombia’s varied and magical landscapes. When Alicia disappears, Arturo and his unstoppable ego must follow her. In pursuing her, Arturo becomes an inadvertent witness to the appalling conditions suffered by workers forced or tricked into tapping rubber trees.

Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez (The Sound of Things Falling, Retrospective) and Erna von der Walde, a specialist in Colombian and Latin American literature, culture and politics, have written a new foreword for the book. They talk to Daniel Hahn – one of the translators into English of The Vortex – about this inventive, funny and wildly prescient novel about the human and environmental costs of extractive systems.

Hedgelayer Paul Lamb takes us on an enthralling journey, celebrating the benefits of hedgerows in our countryside and a way of living that has all but disappeared in recent decades.

From the end of summer until the birds nest in the spring, Lamb lives in his wagon and travels the south-west corner of England, maintaining the ancient boundaries of the British countryside. He gives an insight into his life on the road, explains why traditional management techniques of our hedgerows are essential, and why he chooses to preserve our heritage for future generations.

Known on Instagram as the westcountry_hedgelayer, Lamb has over 180,000 followers.

Ever wonder how award-winning books make their way from the author’s mind into your hands? In this special salon series, the British Book Awards (aka the Nibbies) bring you authors in conversation with members of their publishing teams, shedding a light on all that goes into the creation of your favourite titles. Join The Bookseller’s programme director Miriam Robinson as she explores the publishing process with one of this year’s shortlisted writers and their creative collaborators.

Guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park lead a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye. You’ll be joined by local experts who will give their insights into this treasured landscape.

Hay-on-Wye is located within 520 square miles of beautiful landscape that makes up the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. The National Park is driving change to bring about a sustainable future, meeting our needs within planetary boundaries. Their Hay Festival series of walks take you into the town’s local environment while offering the opportunity to learn more about the Park’s work and its landscape.

Join us for a morning of singing, dancing and illustration with Julia Donaldson and friends, including Sarah Ogilvie, the illustrator of Gozzle, who will be illustrating live.

Julia Donaldson, much-loved author of The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Room on the Broom and many others, introduces her funny new picture book. Gozzle (created with Sara Ogilvie who illustrated The Detective Dog) sees a freshly hatched gosling latch onto a rather confused bear.

It’s springtime. Bear has woken up hungry and finds a lost egg outside his cave. Breakfast? No! Out hatches Gozzle, a very sweet little gosling who is convinced that Bear must be her daddy – and that she should be able to climb, dig and eat honey just like him.

For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas that were spread across the world along a Golden Road stretching from the Red Sea to the Pacific. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the globe.

Historian William Dalrymple (The Golden Road) draws on a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India’s oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia, sharing stories of the Indian ideas that transformed both the ancient world and our modern societies, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero).

Dalrymple’s books include White Mughals, The Last Mughal and Return of a King. He has written and presented three television series and co-hosts, with Anita Anand, the podcast Empire.

Discover how rainforests are at the centre of our universe, and what can be done to save them, and in turn the human race, from destruction. Writers Eliane Brum and Guy Shrubsole engage in a passionate discussion with Ayisha Osori of Open Society Foundations about reforesting and the communities – human and otherwise – who live in and around rainforests.

Brum’s Banzeiro Òkòtó recounts her move to Altamira, a city along the Xingu River that has been devastated by the construction of one of the largest dams in the world. A Brazilian writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker, Brum is one of the protagonists of global movements Amazon Center of the World and Free The Future.

Shrubsole is an environmental campaigner and writer who has worked for Friends of the Earth and the Right to Roam campaign. His The Lost Rainforests of Britain maps the spectacular lost temperate rainforest that may once have covered up to one-fifth of the country.

Explore a passionate love affair tested to its limits with Eimear McBride (A Girl is a Half-formed Thing). She talks to Toby Lichtig, fiction and politics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, about her trailblazing new novel, an intimate, experiential and immersive story of passion, jealousy and family.

London, 1995. Outside the filthy window, the city rushes by. But up in the flat, there is only Eily and Stephen, 19 and 39. The total obsession of new love. Eighteen months later in a rainy Camden night, Eily and Stephen retrace the course of their two-year romance now their world is merging with the commonplace and ties from the past are intruding.

Two writers discuss safety and the unexpected, control and danger, in their new books, with Monocle Radio books editor Georgina Godwin.

When an albatross strays too far from its home, or loses its bearings, it becomes an ‘accidental’, an unmoored wanderer. The protagonists of Guadalupe Nettel’s stories in The Accidentals each find the ordinary courses of their lives disrupted and are pushed into unfamiliar terrain. The Mexican-born author’s novel Still Born was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.

Saba Sams’ debut novel Gunk is about the complex relationship between the frustrated ex-wife of a student nightclub owner in Brighton and the enigmatic young woman hired to work the establishment’s bar. It explores love and desire, chaos and control, and family in all its forms. Sams was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and her debut collection Send Nudes won the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2022.

Why is Africa still so often perceived as a single country? In fact it’s a continent of 54 individual nations, all with their own diverse cultures and histories. Join British-Congolese Astrid Madimba, Kenyan Chao Tayiana Maina and British-Nigerian Chinny Ukata to discuss the histories that aren’t taught in school, and explore the diversity of culture in Africa.

Chao Tayiana Maina is a historian and digital heritage specialist dedicated to excavating African histories. She is co-author of Hear Our Voices: A Powerful Retelling of the British Empire Through 20 True Stories, a compelling history told by people who lived through the period but were often ignored, overlooked or sidelined. Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata are hosts of It’s a Continent, a podcast celebrating Africa’s diverse past and present, and authors of the book of the same name, highlighting the consequences of colonialism and how this legacy reverberates today.

Dip into the animal kingdom with naturalist, wildlife cameraman and Strictly Come Dancing 2022 winner Hamza Yassin on an incredible and immersive journey. Soar through skies, dive underwater and roam the land with Hamza as he guides us through fun facts and figures, as well as eye-catching photos exploring the natural world. Hamza will share some of his own fascinating stories from adventures in the wild throughout his unique career as a conservationist and cameraman.

Hamza’s love for the natural world and animal kingdom encourages children to fall in love with the world around them. His book is accessible for all and has dyslexia-friendly formatting for readers, like Hamza, who are dyslexic.

Marking 40 years of Jeanette Winterson’s explosive first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Published when she was just 25, the book is a gripping coming-of-age story, a queer romance and a modern classic. It tells the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by working-class evangelists in the North of England to be one of God’s elect, and her meeting with Melanie, who changes her life.

Winterson, Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester, revisited Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit two decades after its publication in her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Now, two further decades on, she reflects on the book’s writing and its legacy.

Read it? Let us know what you think on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram using #HFBookClub.

Further reading

Digested classics, The Guardian
“She gave me the chance that became my life”: Jeanette Winterson on her first editor, Philippa Brewster, The Guardian

About the author

Jeanette Winterson CBE, was born in Manchester. She published her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, at twenty-five. Over two decades later she revisited that material in her internationally bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. Winterson has written thirteen novels for adults and two previous collections of short stories, as well as children's books, non-fiction and screenplays. She is Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester. She lives in the Cotswolds in a wood and in Spitalfields, London.

About Hay Festival Book Club

Timeless titles to offer you a break from the day to day. Can't decide what to read next? Follow your curiosity and join Hay Festival on a journey to imagine the world anew through great literature. Unconstrained by genre or form these are our monthly picks of great books worth reading (or re-reading) right now.

Throughout the month, we'll share interesting links and articles relating to our selection on social media using #HFBookClub and invite you all to get involved with your questions and comments. Each selection will also be marked with a free online event.

If you'd like to recommend a book for consideration, get in touch via bookclub@hayfestival.org.

Happy reading!

Award-winning garden designer, RHS ambassador and TV presenter Adam Frost pays tribute to the plants that have shaped his life and the music that inspired his new garden’s design, and explores what gardening means to him.

Gain tips for gardens of all kinds, as Frost shares his horticultural knowledge, and learn how the gardener used the creation of a garden at his new house to help him with his mental health.

Frost has won seven gold medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and is a presenter for Gardeners’ World. He has written about the link between health and gardening in Gardeners’ World magazine.

Every day brings with it a new tip for how to boost our immunity, but how do we tell the myth from the fact, and learn what really helps? Join world-leading immunologist Daniel M Davis as he explains how to make informed choices when it comes to diet, supplements and exercise regimes, and warns against ‘one-size-fits-all’ cures.

Davis is head of life sciences and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London. Informative and authoritative, this event will puncture misunderstandings and leave you better understanding immune health.

Victoria Amelina was an award-winning Ukrainian writer and human rights activist who was killed by a Russian missile in July 2023. She had been documenting the war and chronicling extraordinary women like herself who joined the resistance. These stories are told in Looking at Women, Looking at War, of which Amelina had completed around 60% before she was killed.

Our panel discuss Amelina’s life and work, and the impact the war has had on women in Ukraine. Graham-Harrison is the Guardian’s senior international affairs correspondent. Khromeychuk is a historian and writer, director of the Ukrainian Institute London. Sands is Professor of Law at University College London and has been involved in international cases including Pinochet, Yugoslavia, Guantanamo and the Rohingya. Blacker is Associate Professor of Ukrainian and East European Culture at UCL, and author of Memory, the City and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe.

Storyteller Ngartia Bryan examines the power of narratives with Ayisha Osori of Open Society Foundations. They look at how our stories define our identity, and different mediums for telling our tales.

Writer, actor and director Bryan is a storyteller with interest in different media, and one of the founders of Kenyan multi-award-winning storytelling theatre group Too Early For Birds. Osori is a director in Open Society Foundations Ideas Workshop.

Settle into your seats to hear the illustrator of The Gruffalo and author of the Pip and Posy books read stories all about kindness. Axel will read his book Kind and The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson, and you’ll also be treated to a sneak preview of his forthcoming book, Welcome. Axel will do some live drawing and you’ll have a chance to ask him some questions.

One of the best-known figures in British politics opens up about her life and history-making career. Diane Abbott, who was the first elected Black female MP in the UK, grew up as a child of the Windrush generation, and her working-class family and community shapes her to this day. Abbott is the longest-serving Black MP in the House of Commons and now holds the title of Mother of the House.

Join Abbott as she discusses how it felt to be the first Black woman MP to walk through the House of Commons, the hostility she has faced and why she continues to fight for the causes she cares about.

A revolution is taking place: around the world, ordinary people are turning to courts seeking justice for environmental damage. Join journalist and activist Nicola Cutcher, pioneering barrister Mónica Feria Tinta, lawyer Paul Powlesland and international human rights lawyer Philippe Sands as they discuss whether the planet can have legal rights, and how to defend those in a court of law. Could recognising the Rights of Nature and making ecocide a crime in the UK transform the future of the River Wye?

Cutcher is an investigative journalist, writer and documentary producer. Feria Tinta is author of A Barrister for the Earth, and advocates not only for the people fighting for their homes and livelihoods, but also for those with no voice: rivers, forests and endangered species. Powlesland, founder of Lawyers for Nature, fights for justice on behalf of those threatened by people with more wealth and power. Sands is Professor of Law at University College London, author of East West Street and co-Chair of Stop Ecocide.

After the life-threatening acid-attack that left Katie Piper physically and visibly scarred at just 24, her approach to ageing was irrevocably changed. Now, instead of dreading old age, she sees each passing year as a reminder of the privilege of being alive.

In this confidence-boosting event, Piper reflects on what it means to age well in a world that too often makes women feel irrelevant or invisible for going through the natural ageing process.

Piper is a bestselling author, inspirational speaker, TV presenter and charity campaigner. She is a regular panellist on ITV’s Loose Women and a presenter for BBC Radio 2.

A Room Above a Shop is set in South Wales during the decade of Section 28. Against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS crisis and all its accompanying moral judgement, this is a resonant love story about two men working together in an ironmonger’s shop and sharing a room upstairs. It’s a life they’d never imagined possible and one that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.

Anthony Shapland grew up in the Rhymney Valley. A writer, artist and filmmaker who blends documentary and fiction, he is co-founder of g39, an artist-led space in Cardiff. He talks to Welsh author Cynan Jones about his debut novel and his short fiction Feathertongue, broadcast by Radio 4 this spring.