Hay Festival 2021

Two Hay Festival Writers at Work/Awduron Wrth eu Gwaith alumni discuss their work with author Tiffany Murray. Sophie Buchaillard's debut novel This is Not Who We Are was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year award in 2023. In her latest book Assimilation, Buchaillard takes us on a world tour through history exploring identity while pursuing spies, drug dealers – and a talking bear. Francesca Reece is a writer and translator from North Wales, winner of the 2019 Desperate Literature Prize. Reece’s Glass Houses is a love story reckoning with class, second home ownership, and Welsh identity.

A special Hay festival edition of the BBC Radio Wales Art Show. Gary Raymond hosts a roundup of the best of the Welsh contemporary arts scene.

Settle in for a joyous morning of family entertainment with national treasure and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen. He shares stories and poems from his extensive back catalogue, and introduces his latest playful tale The Incredible Adventures of Gaston le Dog. Inspired by stories Michael used to tell his son on holiday in France, this was the book he dreamed of writing while he was recovering from Covid.

Island boy Aaron loves the sea. But he's a bit scared of going under the water. Then one day Aaron finds an octopus stranded on the beach. And as he helps Dad return it to the water, something amazing happens… Can Aaron lose his fear and go underwater? Maybe now he can help look after the sea creatures and be… Aqua Boy!

Award-winning author and illustrator Ken Wilson-Max (Astro Girl and Eco Girl) reads from Aqua Boy, an empowering story about looking after the ocean and its wildlife. Next he shows you how to draw an octopus yourself, and then – hold your breath! – while you complete your drawing, Ken creates a stunning live painting.

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.

Rotoscope and remix! Leave your mark – help reanimate, reimagine and remix short films with visual artists MASH Cinema. During the workshop you’ll experiment with techniques pioneered by animator Max Fleischer to produce new moving image artwork in this fun, hands-on collaborative creative project. Completed animations will be available to view online.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials, with today’s sessions focusing on rivers. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

From the historian and co-presenter of The Rest is History podcast comes the story of antiquity’s ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness. The Roman Empire once stretched from Scotland to Arabia, the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had seen. Holland’s Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age begins in 69 AD, a year that saw four Caesars in succession rule the empire, and ends some seven decades later with the death of Hadrian. Covering the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii, the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian’s Wall, and the conquests of Trajan, he vividly sketches the lives of Romans from slaves to emperors. This is the last of his trilogy that began with Rubicon and continued with Dynasty.

Every day we’re sold a dream life through adverts: sun-soaked holidays, beautiful interiors, perfect home-brewed coffees. We consume goods like there’s no tomorrow, and if advertising continues as it is, that might indeed become true. Leo Murray and Andrew Simms, authors of Badvertising: Polluting our Minds and Fuelling Climate Chaos, raise the alarm about an industry that is making us both unhealthy and unhappy, and that is driving the planet to the precipice of environmental collapse in the process. They address the psychological impact of being barraged by thousands of adverts a day, how commercialisation of public spaces weakens our sense of belonging and what we can do to change things for the better.

Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow, The Lincoln Highway) shares some of his stylish and transporting shorter fiction with journalist Max Liu. Table for Two is a sophisticated collection of stories set in New York City and Golden Age Hollywood. Taking place at the turn of the millennium, the New York stories consider the fateful consequences of brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages. The novella ‘Eve in Hollywood’ picks up where Towles’ first novel Rules of Civility left off, with the indomitable Evelyn Ross crafting a new future for herself – and others – in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets and dive bars of 1938 Los Angeles.

A BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series marking the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. This first of four recitals recorded for broadcast explores the music of Fauré and others. James Atkinson (baritone) and Michael Pandya (piano) perform a programme including Fauré, Chausson, Lili Boulanger and Hahn.

Where better for people to discuss their favourite books? Radio 4 favourite A Good Read comes to Hay. Every week, writer and broadcaster Harriett Gilbert is joined by some familiar voices to champion their literary choices. But will everyone agree with the selections? Harriet is joined by Bruce Robinson, writer and director of cult classic Withnail and I, alongside actor, comedian, and star of Two Doors Down, Doon Mackichan.

Live your best life with empowering advice from Jessie Yendle, the beauty and self-confidence boosting influencer AKA ‘That Girl with the Stammer on TikTok’. In this empowering event for young adults, Jessie shares her experiences and how she learnt to challenge herself to ‘have a go’. She offers a safe space to help you increase your positivity, let go of the things that bother you and deal with your anxieties. Inspired by her book Let’s Talk, Jessie gives tips to boost confidence and support positive mental health – and she’ll answer your questions too.

Please bring your own notebook and pen or pencil to this event.

There will be a BSL interpreter at this event

Come to a fun, story-generating workshop with Emma Bettridge and her dog Nell. During this inspiring outdoor session, you’ll walk to the River Wye where you’ll write, draw and record your stories, inspired by the river and its surrounding area. Emma Bettridge is a theatre producer, nature lover and children’s author whose books include Goodbye Hobbs and Red is Home.

Please come dressed for the weather. We regret that we can’t accommodate dogs at this session.

Rotoscope and remix! Leave your mark – help reanimate, reimagine and remix short films with visual artists MASH Cinema. During the workshop you’ll experiment with techniques pioneered by animator Max Fleischer to produce new moving image artwork in this fun, hands-on collaborative creative project. Completed animations will be available to view online.

Nature-writing is going through a renaissance. What started largely with TV tie-ins has evolved into a genre encompassing books about climate change, the countryside, walking, and off-grid living.
For Radio 4’s new landmark environment and nature series Rare Earth, presenters Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are joined on-stage by Mark Cocker, Philippa Forrester, and Chris Thorogood to discuss the purpose of nature-writing and why it's important, and how nature-writing can help shape our understanding of the natural world.

Come for a wild swim in the Wye with adventure and wild swimming specialist Angela Jones. The author of Wild Swimming the River Wye is passionate about protecting and respecting the river, its environment and wildlife. She shows how to engage in wild swimming with love and respect, testing the water for cleanliness and observing when it’s safe, before leading a guided wild swim session. Beginners and seasoned swimmers alike will gain a wealth of knowledge, including tips on acclimation, water safety, equipment, technique, reading the river and undercurrents.

You will meet Angela on the banks of the river at By the Wye Glamping Site, HR3 5RS, located just past the main bridge into Hay on the B4351
(What3Words : lifestyle.waving.cavalier).

The session starts at 2.30pm and ends at 4.30pm at the river.

There is no parking at the swim site, please park in one of the designated carparks around town.

As Home Secretary for six years and Prime Minister for three, Theresa May confronted a series of issues in which the abuse of power led to devastating results for individuals and significantly damaged the reputation of, and trust in, public institutions and politicians. From the Hillsborough and Grenfell tragedies to the Daniel Morgan case and parliamentary scandals, the powerful repeatedly chose to use their power not in the interests of the powerless but to serve themselves or to protect the organisation to which they belonged. The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life is May’s searing exposé of injustice and an impassioned call to exercise power for the greater good. The former prime minister argues for a radical rethink in how we approach our politics and public life, in conversation with BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed.

Come and celebrate with the much-loved author and former Children’s Laureate as he introduces a new edition of his 1979 diary of Parsonage Farm. All Around the Year was Morpurgo’s first book, and his early impressions of the English countryside grew into an undertaking that he describes as the best story of his life: the founding of Farms for City Children, a charity started with his wife Clare that has since enabled over 100,000 city children to spend a week in the countryside, living and working on a farm. The book includes poems by Ted Hughes, Morpurgo’s friend and neighbour, and is illustrated with photographs by James Ravilious, who spent most of his life documenting rural life in Devon. This new edition is published to mark Morpurgo’s 80th birthday.

Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire is one of the foremost recording studios in the world, immortalised in the documentary, Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm. The ‘Galileos’ of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ were born at Rockfield. Black Sabbath, Iggy Pop, Rush, Oasis, Simple Minds, Coldplay, Robert Plant, The Manic Street Preachers and Paolo Nutini have all recorded there. Tiffany Murray, whose memoir My Family and Other Rock Stars is set at the studios, talks to the King of Rockfield, Kingsley Ward MBE, and studio manager Lisa Ward about the legendary location.

Tim Peake was the first British astronaut to conduct a spacewalk at the International Space Station, and an inspiration for budding young scientists and astronauts everywhere. In this out-of-this-world event, Peake talks about his first non-fiction book for children, The Cosmic Diary of Our Incredible Universe with space scientist, educator, author and presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock. You'll discover everything from how stars are made, to which fruit can create antimatter. Peake is a former Apache pilot, flight instructor, test pilot and European Space Agency astronaut whose books include his memoir Limitless, and the photography collection Hello, is this Planet Earth?

What can tea and pyjamas tell us about Britain today? Carnegie-nominated author Shelina Janmohamed steers an interactive, mind-blowing journey through the centuries and lands of the British Empire, standing in the shoes of kids just like you. Hear the voices of children of the industrial revolution, enslaved children, the Home children and even the teenage match girls who went on strike and inspired a political movement. Understanding what happened during the British Empire helps all of us to make sense of the world we live in today. Not afraid to tackle big issues like racism and inequality, Shelina will ask perhaps the most important question of all: how can you be the author of your own (British Empire) story, and could your story change the course of history?

Please bring your own notebook and pen or pencil to this event.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials, with today’s sessions focusing on rivers. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

Rotoscope and remix! Leave your mark – help reanimate, reimagine and remix short films with visual artists MASH Cinema. During the workshop you’ll experiment with techniques pioneered by animator Max Fleischer to produce new moving image artwork in this fun, hands-on collaborative creative project. Completed animations will be available to view online.

Critically acclaimed comedian Sara Pascoe introduces her engaging debut novel. Weirdo follows Sophie, an existential Essex girl battling low-level paranoia in her search for happiness and truth. All Sophie wants to do is act like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her pornographic visualisations and pathological lying, who knows, maybe she can get out of debt, dump her current boyfriend and try to enjoy Christmas with her awful family? Pascoe wrote and starred in the sitcom Out of Her Mind, hosts The Great British Sewing Bee and has written two non-fiction books – Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body and Sex Power Money. Pascoe talks to writer and presenter Matt Everitt.

“Quietly profound and laughing-in-public funny” – Caitlin Moran.

There will be a BSL interpreter at this event

The roots of Western civilisation lie in ancient Greek and Rome, and values like freedom, rationality, justice, democracy and tolerance originated in the West. But what if that’s not true? Covering 4,000 years of history, Josephine Quinn calls for a major reassessment of the West, arguing that many of the values we hold close are not only or originally western, and that the West is a product of longstanding links between a large group of cultures, from the Gobi Desert to the Atlantic Ocean, Scandinavia to the Sahara. Quinn, a professor of ancient history at the University of Oxford, puts forward a rich new narrative that has the power to change how we see the world.

Dive deep with physicist Helen Czerski and marine biologist Helen Scales as they speak to the Festival’s Sustainability Director Andy Fryers about our vast oceans. Czerski’s The Blue Machine illuminates the murky depths of the ocean engine, examining the messengers, passengers and voyagers that live in it, travel over it, and survive because of it. Scales’ What the Wild Sea Can Be is an optimistic view of the future of the ocean, looking at how fish populations and giant kelp and seagrass forests are being regenerated and expanded.

Michael Rosen is no stranger to Hay Festival. As the former Children’s Laureate and much-loved author, Michael presents Word of Mouth on BBC Radio 4, a series which explores the world of words. In this unique opportunity to see two great storytellers together, Michael will be interviewing War Horse writer Michael Morpurgo. Join this special exploration of words and language.

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Jeffrey Boakye to discover modern world history as you’ve never heard it before! The critically acclaimed author of Musical Truth presents Musical World, a new book and soundtrack charting pivotal historical moments from across the globe. Explore the cultural, political and societal impact of various music genres and musicians, including artists Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Lil Nas X and many more.

Go story mudlarking with Katya Balen, the Carnegie Medal-winning author of October, October, and discover her new heart-warming tale Foxlight. Explore the wild with twin sisters Fen and Rey – different and the same, separate and connected – as they follow a fox in search of answers.

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available

The singer-songwriter, record producer and former British Army officer regales us with tales loosely based on fact, from his questionable Norfolk roots, eccentric family, boarding school antics, misjudged military service, to his rise to music stardom and tour escapades. His 2004 debut album Back to Bedlam, featuring the single You’re Beautiful, sold over 11 million copies and was the best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK. His new album, Who We Used to Be is out in October. Blunt talks to writer and presenter Matt Everitt.

There will be a BSL interpreter at this event