Hay Festival 2018

Academic Simon Baron-Cohen and journalist John Harris discuss the science of neurodivergence, what it means in theory and in practice, and delve into their personal and professional experiences of autism. They look at the ongoing revolutions in our understanding of neurodivergence, and neurodivergence’s deep links to human creativity.

Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge. Baron-Cohen’s current research is testing the ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism at the neural, endocrine and genetic levels.

Harris, a columnist at the Guardian, is author of Maybe I’m Amazed, a book about his autistic son James, and how music and songs became their most precious source of connection. Harris writes regularly for music magazine Mojo and has won awards including the Orwell Prize for Political Journalism and the UK Press Award for Political Commentator of the Year.

Lean back against the headrest and journey through two centuries of British railway history with expert Simon Bradley. On rail’s 200th anniversary, he delves into its beginnings in 1825 with the Stockton & Darlington company, who opened the world’s first public steam railway. Revealing how lives and landscapes were transformed by this new method of transport, he tells entertaining stories on everything from dining saloons to the Rail Alphabet.

Bradley is editor of the World Famous Buildings of England series, founded by Nikolaus Pevsner, to which he has contributed a number of notable revised volumes.

“Hello to you, I am with news. I have a new book: I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You. I know – what an intriguing title!”

Comedian Miranda Hart has been keeping a secret or two, but she’s ready to reveal all now. From surprising joys to challenging lows, via love and chronic illness, Hart shares the values and practical tools that led her to a sense of freedom, joy and physical recovery she never would have thought possible. Life now, amazingly, with what she will share, is – SUCH FUN!

Hart is a writer, comedian and actor. She is best known for her much-loved and multi-award-winning sitcom Miranda, as well as her BAFTA-nominated role of Chummy in Call the Midwife. She is the first female comedian to do an arena stand-up tour with her ‘My, What I Call, Live Show’.

Race against time with the linguist and co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance, in his effort to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history: contemporary New York.

Half of all 7,000-plus human languages may disappear over the next century – and many have never been recorded. Perlin recounts the unique history of immigration that shaped New York City, and follows six remarkable speakers of endangered languages into their communities, taking us on a fascinating tour of unusual grammars, rare sounds and powerful cultural histories from around the world. Language City was the winner of the British Academy Book Prize 2024.

Rob Rinder takes us into the world of his latest crime novel, set in the glamorous world of art. At a star-studded opening night for the Royal Academy’s celebration of renowned artist Max Bruce, the occasion takes a shocking turn when a protester runs from the crowd and sprays the artist with blue paint.

Max collapses and it soon turns out that the paint was laced with cyanide. Newly qualified barrister Adam Green is assigned the impossible task of defending the protestor, but it seems there may have been others who wanted Max dead.

Rinder is a barrister turned broadcaster and author. He started his broadcast career with Judge Rinder, and is now a regular host on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. His novels The Trial and The Suspect are inspired by his experiences as a barrister.

Spend a stylish afternoon in the company of two of Britain’s most dynamic lovers of art. Journalist Lynn Barber, whose memoir An Education inspired a Nick Hornby film starring Carey Mulligan, and whose new book is A Little Art Education, shares stories of how she went from a curious outsider to finding her place among some of the most admired artists of the last 100 years.

Fashion designer Zandra Rhodes shares her life story for the first time in her memoir Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects. She talks about the stories behind some of the mementos she’s collected over the years. Rhodes has been a leading figure of the fashion industry for over five decades, celebrating her 50th year in fashion in September 2019 with a retrospective exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, which she founded.

Writer Michael Malay tells the story of making a home for himself in England as an Indonesian Australian, and finding strange parallels between his life and the lives of the animals he examines.

In his new book Late Light, through four ‘unloved’ animals – eels, moths, crickets and mussels – Malay looks at the economic, political and cultural events that have shaped the modern landscape of Britain. Late Light is a rich blend of memoir, natural history, nature writing and a meditation on being and belonging.

The latest film from iconic writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette), Priscilla is a moving, nuanced and visually ravishing exploration of the dark side of celebrity, delicately retelling and re-examining one of history’s most complicated love stories.

West Germany, late 1950s. Teenage Priscilla Beaulieu (Golden Globe nominee Cailee Spaeny) receives an invitation to a party with Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi, Saltburn). Already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar at this time, Elvis becomes someone entirely unexpected in their private moments together: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Coppola presents the unseen story of their long courtship and turbulent marriage: a great American myth spanning decades and oceans, from the army base where they met to his dream-world estate at Graceland.

Faithfully adapting Priscilla’s own memoir, and anchored by Spaeny’s Venice Best Actress winning performance, this is a mature and masterful cinematic feast for the senses that sees Coppola at the very top of her game.

“A transportive, heartbreaking journey into the dark heart of celebrity… Sofia Coppola at her best” – Rolling Stone

Michael Heseltine (Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001) left the political arena once, only to be called back by David Cameron to advise the government. Here he shares a potpourri of reminiscences of his youth, early adulthood and previously unexplored aspects of his political career with the BBC’s Europe editor. He recounts finding his home, creating his garden and renowned arboretum, and regenerating his village. He looks back on the fundamental changes he was able to mastermind while in power and sets out the policies that he believes are still urgently needed to unite the country.

Lord Heseltine privatised more parts of the public sector than any other minister and strongly supports the concept of an industrial strategy and a competitiveness agenda. Above all, he is determined not to give up trying to restore Britain’s position at the heart of Europe after the self-inflicted harm of Brexit.

This is the story of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the two geniuses behind The Beatles, as you’ve never heard it before. Ian Leslie discusses John & Paul, his biography of the pair, which begins in 1957 when the two teenagers met in suburban Liverpool and ends 23 years later, when Lennon was murdered.

Leslie, author of two acclaimed books on human behaviour, looks at how Lennon and McCartney were not just friends, rivals or collaborators, but intimates who both had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age, and who longed to make emotional connections. His refreshing take on two of the greatest icons in music history draws on recently released footage and recordings.

Take a trip along the A1 (no traffic, guaranteed) and learn about the history and mystery of the Great North Road, a 400-mile route that has run through Britain for the last 2,000 years. Writer and author Rob Cowen follows this road – throughout history an ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway – and takes a journey through history, place, people and time in his new book The North Road.

In conversation with Phoebe Smith, journalist and author of Wayfarer, he describes journeying along the Great North Road, and weaving his own histories and memories with the landscapes he moved through. Cowen writes on nature, place and people. His first book, Skimming Stones, won the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors.

Celebrate the beauty, strength and joy of being a woman with Donna Ashworth.

The author and poet introduces her collection To the Women, which has been updated with over 70 new poems since its first publication.

Ashworth offers words of wisdom and comfort in this uplifting and empowering event, celebrating the beauty, strength and joy of being a woman. She reminds us that we are stronger when we come together and unstoppable when we accept ourselves.

Ashworth’s daily poetry has nearly 1.8 million followers on social media. Her books include Wild Hope, Love, Loss, Life and I Wish I Knew.

Steve Crawshaw has written and worked on human rights and justice for more than thirty years, from reporting on Eastern Europe for The Independent to directing Human Rights Watch, becoming advocacy director for the UN and Amnesty International and then Director of the Office of the Secretary General. With human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, he discusses the process of bringing war criminals to justice.

Putting a country’s leader on trial once seemed unimaginable. But as Crawshaw describes in his book Prosecuting the Powerful, the possibilities of justice have been transformed. He recounts his encounters with retributive justice from Slobodan Milošević and Bashar al-Assad to the front lines in Ukraine, Israel/Palestine and at The Hague.

Do the stories we tell ourselves shape our destiny? And what do stories say about us? Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter, considers Joan Didion’s famous quote: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

Doucet explores the global shift in finding ourselves through stories, borrowing narratives from many sources, escaping from the daily bombardment of negative news and shifting to podcasts, long form narratives, to frame our own sense of self.

Doing nothing is seen as one of the ultimate wastes of time. But what if doing nothing can actually help us be happier, healthier and more successful? Dr Joseph Jebelli blends science and personal stories to reveal how neuroscience is solving the mystery of the brain at rest, with profound implications for intelligence, creativity and even life expectancy.

Advocating breaking the taboo around rest, Jebelli looks at how things like long baths, walks in nature, meditation and simple daydreaming are key to a more productive life. Jebelli holds a PhD in neuroscience from University College London. His books include In Pursuit of Memory, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.

A highly anticipated return to fiction feature filmmaking from Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire), Perfect Days takes the writer-director to Tokyo to tell a story celebrating the hidden joys and minutiae of Japanese culture.

Winner of the Best Actor award at Cannes 2023, Koji Yakusho (Babel, 13 Assassins) stars as Hirayama, a contemplative middle-aged man who lives a life of modesty and serenity, spending his days balancing his job as a dutiful caretaker of Tokyo’s numerous public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography. As we join him on his structured daily routine, a series of unexpected encounters gradually begin to reveal a hidden past that lies behind his otherwise content and harmonious life.

Combining a refreshingly unstereotypical depiction of the Japanese capital with a soundtrack comprised of iconic hits from the ’60s and ’80s, this is a subtle, shimmering and ultimately life-affirming reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. The film was nominated for the Best International Film award at the 96th Academy Awards.

“A humane, hopeful embrace of everyday blessings” – Variety

Internationally renowned lyricist Sir Tim Rice steps out from the wings and takes to the stage to reflect on his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre.

This evening of music and anecdotes sees Rice sharing the stories behind some of the most-loved and best-known musicals of our time, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar to Evita and the Disney productions The Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

A must for fans of musical theatre, there will be performances by some of the UK’s leading West End singers, including ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, ‘Any Dream Will Do’ and ‘I Know Him So Well’.