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Hay Festival 2023

Our 2023 Festival took place 25 May - 4 June. The programme is listed below.

Most of the events are now available in our online archive Hay Player – please see individual listings for more details.

Page  13 of 20
ConversationSue Kent and Sarah Raven

Event 229

Sue Kent and Sarah Raven

The Gardener’s Year

–  Global Stage
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Discover how to make your garden successful, whatever your abilities, and how to combine colours and pots for instant impact, from gardeners Sue Kent and Sarah Raven. Gardeners’ World presenter Kent is an RHS disability ambassador and RHS award-winning garden designer. Her book Sue Kent Garden Notes provides tips and tricks to successful gardening for all abilities. Gardener, cook and podcaster Sarah Raven’s A Year Full of Pots: Container Flowers for All Seasons demonstrates how accessible and satisfying growing flowers in pots can be. In conversation with Tamsin Westhorpe, editor of the Horticultural Trade Association magazine and curator and gardener of Stockton Bury Gardens, Herefordshire. Tamsin is also an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Judge and author of Grasping the Nettle and Diary of a Modern Country Gardener.

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ConversationSarah Bernstein and Eley Williams talk to Max Liu

Event 230

Sarah Bernstein and Eley Williams talk to Max Liu

Fictions: Silence and Confusion

–  Wye Stage
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Two of the best young British novelists of 2023, as selected by Granta magazine, discuss their recent books. Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience is about a woman who moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her ancestors, to be housekeeper to her recently divorced brother. There, a strange series of unfortunate events begin to occur and she is put under suspicion by the locals. Eley Williams’ Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good, due in June, is a forth-coming collection of stories from the award-winning author of The Liar’s Dictionary and Attrib. and Other Stories. The stories explore uncertainty and how we grapple with it, as well as misunderstandings and confusions in a world that appears bound by rules and codes, both spoken and unspoken. The authors speak to writer Max Liu.

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ConversationMererid Hopwood and Jenny Mathers talk to Betsan Powys

Event 231

Mererid Hopwood and Jenny Mathers talk to Betsan Powys

Inspiration for a New Generation: The Welsh Women’s Peace Petition

–  Meadow Stage
Read more

Can the peace efforts of ordinary citizens impact a world engulfed in war? One hundred years ago the women of Wales dared to imagine a world without war and took steps to achieve it: nearly 400,000 signed a petition appealing to the women of America to support their call for peace. Join Mererid Hopwood and Jenny Mathers, editors of Yr Apêl/The Appeal 1923–24, as they discuss the remarkable story of the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition with Welsh journalist Betsan Powys, and seek inspiration for a new generation of peacemakers.

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PerformanceAndy Stanton & Carrie Quinlan

Event F52

Andy Stanton & Carrie Quinlan

Ask the Nincompoops

–  Discovery Stage
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What’s the opposite of a kettle? Why is the sky blue? Who invented cheese? Following last year’s triumphant Hay Festival debut, the Nincompoops return to bring some much-needed intellijments to the Festival! Join Andy Stanton (Mr Gum) and Carrie Quinlan (John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme) for a special live version of their family podcast, answering your questions with their unique mixture of wisdumb, nollidge and outright fibs. Madness, mayhem and mirth guaranteed!

7+ years
Please bring your own notebook and pen or pencil to this event.
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ConversationThe Repair Shop Teddy Bear Ladies

Event F53

The Repair Shop Teddy Bear Ladies

Bartie Bristle and Other Stories

–  Spring Stage
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Cuddle up with the Teddy Bear Ladies, Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch, best known as stars of the BBC’s The Repair Shop. They’ve created the magical world of Bartie Bristle and friends in their stunning treasury Bartie Bristle and Other Stories: Tales from the Teddy Bear Ladies, and they can’t wait to share it with you!

Family, 0–5 years
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WorkshopIllustration Workshop: Create Your Own River Spirit

Event W52

Illustration Workshop: Create Your Own River Spirit

With the University of Worcester Illustration Department

–  Creative Hub
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Embark on a river-inspired journey in this magical figure-making workshop, where the wonders of nature come to life in the form of enchanting river spirits and the river goddess Gwy. We guide you through the art of crafting these whimsical figures using found leaves, sticks, flowers, seeds, nuts and a touch of string magic. No two River Spirits are alike – express your individuality through your one-of-a-kind creation. All materials are provided.

6–8 years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
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ActivityMake & Take Crafting

Event MT17

Make & Take Crafting

Thursday Lunchtime Session

–  Make & Take Hub
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An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. 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.

3–11 years
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ConversationJohn Vaillant talks to Katherine Rundell

Event 233

John Vaillant talks to Katherine Rundell

Fire Weather

–  Discovery Stage
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In May 2016, Fort McMurray, Alberta, the hub of Canada’s oil industry, was overrun by wildfire. It was a multi-billion-dollar disaster that drove 88,000 people from their homes. Canadian writer and journalist John Vaillant talks to author Katherine Rundell about how we must prepare for a hotter, more flammable world. In Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2023) Vaillant delves into the intertwined histories of the oil industry and climate science, the unprecedented devastation wrought by modern wildfires and the lives forever changed by these disasters. John Vaillant is a best-selling author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among others. As well as the Baillie Gifford Prize, Fire Weather also won Canada's Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, and was a finalist the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A #1 bestseller in Canada, Fire Weather was also named one of the ten best books of 2023 by The New York Times, among many other prominent publications in Europe and North America.

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ConversationAkshat Rathi and Hannah Ritchie talk to Bronwyn Wake

Event 235

Akshat Rathi and Hannah Ritchie talk to Bronwyn Wake

The John Maddox Conversation: Capitalism and the Climate

–  Meadow Stage
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Two experts on green capitalism discuss its limits and possibilities with Bronwyn Wake, Editor in Chief of Nature Climate Change. Rathi is an award-winning senior reporter for Bloomberg News and host of climate podcast Zero. In Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions he looks at stories that bring people, policy and technology together, suggesting that the green economy is not only possible, but profitable. Dr Ritchie is senior researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford, as well as deputy editor and lead researcher at the highly influential online publication Our World in Data, which brings together the latest data and research on the world’s largest problems and makes it accessible for a general audience. Her latest book is Not the End of the World: How We Can be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet.

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PerformanceWelsh National Opera Recital

Event 236

Welsh National Opera Recital

–  Exchange Marquee
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Don’t miss this recital performance and conversation with singers from Welsh National Opera’s young artists programme. The musicians perform a mix of well loved opera classics and some traditional Welsh folk music, accompanied by WNO players. A conversation with the artists offers the chance to find out more about life on the road with the UK’s largest touring opera company.

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PerformanceLeonore Piano Trio

Event 237

Leonore Piano Trio

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 4

–  St Mary’s Church
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A BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series marking the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. In this last of four recitals recorded for broadcast, the Leonore Piano Trio performs Fauré’s Piano Trio in D minor, Op 120 and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.

Recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Please arrive in good time.
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TalkDaisy Dunn

Event 417

Daisy Dunn

The Missing Thread

–  Global Stage
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Spanning 3,000 years, from the birth of Minoan Crete to the death of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It is a new history of the ancient world told, for the very first time, through women. For centuries, men have been writing histories of antiquity filled with warlords, emperors and kings. But when it comes to incorporating women, aside from Cleopatra and Boudica, writers have been more comfortable describing mythical heroines than real ones. While Penelope and Helen of Troy live on in the imagination, their real-life counterparts have been relegated to the margins. In The Missing Thread, Daisy Dunn inverts this tradition and puts the women of history at the centre of the narrative.

Dr Daisy Dunn is an award-winning classicist and author. Her previous book, Not Far From Brideshead: Oxford Between the Wars, was selected for Radio 4’s Open Book and longlisted for the Runciman Award. Her In The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny was an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times and a book of the year in several outlets.

This has replaced event 234 with Natalie Haynes
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ConversationJacqueline Wilson

Event F54

Jacqueline Wilson

The Girl Who Wasn’t There

–  Wye Stage
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Discover how the much-loved Dame Jacqueline Wilson started her writing career, how she created some of her best-loved characters and hear all about her new book The Girl Who Wasn’t There – a story about siblings and friendship, with a hint of ghostliness! Former Children’s Laureate and author of over 100 books, Dame Jacqueline Wilson is one of Britain’s bestselling children’s authors. Best-known for characters such as Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather, she has legions of loyal fans in the UK and throughout the world.

There will be no signing after this event but printed signed bookplates will be available.

9+ years
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ConversationNia Morais

Event F55

Nia Morais

Writing Ghost Stories

–  Spring Stage
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Join Nia Morais (Bardd Plant Cymru 2023–2025) in this interactive workshop-style event, to write your own ghost story. You’ll learn how to create tension and atmosphere in your writing that will scare and delight your audience.

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

12+ years
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WorkshopIllustration Workshop: Wye Masquerade

Event W53

Illustration Workshop: Wye Masquerade

With the University of Worcester Illustration Department

–  Creative Hub
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Make your own mask based on the nature, wildlife and folklore associated with the River Wye. Learn how to create a simple paper mask, which you can accessorise to make a river scene, an animal, a fish or a bird associated with the Wye, or the river goddess Gwy. All materials are provided.

7–9 years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
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PerformanceHay Community Choir

Event 238

Hay Community Choir

–  Bookshop Garden
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Enjoy a half-hour open air performance between events. Singing is fun with Hay Community Choir – good for mental health, feeling you’re part of a whole. Come along and have a listen as the Choir share their joy in music.

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WorkshopThe Art of Decision-Making in the Face of Climate Change

Event 407

The Art of Decision-Making in the Face of Climate Change

A collaborative, real-world simulation

–  Located in the Bright Orange marquee opposite the Meadow Stage entrance
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Imagine a focus group created by escape room designers, where 12 players work
together to safeguard the future of a fictional company threatened by the impending and
uncertain impacts of climate change. That experience is called Do What You Must.

Participate in this entertaining, interactive workshop to uncover essential insights on how
groups work together and how the challenge of climate change requires us to
collaborate differently.

Participants will be guided through the 2-hour workshop by a team from the UCL Climate
Action Unit, which closes with a debrief with one of the co-creators of the experience:
Neuroscientist and Science Communicator, Dr Kris De Meyer.

Discover the art of decision-making in this beautifully created simulation from the critically
acclaimed digital storytelling studio Fast Familiar.
16+ years
This workshop is repeated on Thursday 30th, Friday 31st and Saturday 1st at 10am and 2pm
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ConversationHoward Jacobson talks to Georgina Godwin

Event 240

Howard Jacobson talks to Georgina Godwin

What Will Survive of Us

–  Wye Stage
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The Booker Prize-winning author of The Finkler Question interrogates the power of love to change your life, and vice versa, in his 17th novel What Will Survive of Us. Lily and Sam, both highly successful in their careers but marking time in relationships that have quietly expired, find a connection that makes them come alive again. As they begin to work together on the page and on screen, an affair takes hold that they are powerless to resist. Arriving in mid-life, their relationship opens unexpected new worlds. But what will happen to them when familiarity, illness and age begin to take their toll? Jacobson talks to the Monocle Radio Books Editor

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PanelJoseph Coelho, Mererid Hopwood, Roy McFarlane and guests

Event 241

Joseph Coelho, Mererid Hopwood, Roy McFarlane and guests

Memories of Benjamin Zephaniah

–  Meadow Stage
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Birmingham-born performance poet, musician, professor, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah was ‘a hero to millions’ and a much-loved and respected performer at the Festival, counting among his many awards and accolades the Hay Festival Medal for poetry in 2021.

We assemble in memory of his life and his work. Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, Welsh poet and Professor at Aberystwyth University’s Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies Mererid Hopwood, poet, playwright and author of Living by Troubled Waters Roy McFarlane and friends together, through reading works by Benjamin Zephaniah and their own works in response, create a tribute to this exceptional and much-missed poet.

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WorkshopCome and Sing with Welsh National Opera

Event 242

Come and Sing with Welsh National Opera

–  Exchange Marquee
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A wonderful opportunity to sing with musicians from Welsh National Opera. Come and learn some classic operatic repertoire in this fun, interactive workshop, suitable for all ages and with no singing experience needed. This is a family-friendly event where everyone is welcome. At the end of the workshop the WNO singers will answer all your questions in a Q&A session.

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ConversationRobin Stevens

Event F56

Robin Stevens

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz

–  Discovery Stage
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Bring your magnifying glasses to help Robin Stevens celebrate 10 years of her iconic Murder Most Unladylike series. Whether you’re part of the Detective Society, a Ministry Member or just want to join the party, come and hear all about Daisy and Hazel with Robin, and take a look forward to what’s next in the Ministry of Unladylike Activity.

8+ years
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ConversationJulian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

Event F57

Julian Sedgwick and Chie Kutsuwada

100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Café

–  Spring Stage
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Welcome to the Tokyo Ghost Café! Get your sketchbooks at the ready as author Julian Sedgwick and Manga artist Chie Kutsuwada take you on an incredible journey, introducing the weird and wonderful Japanese spirits, or yokai. Learn about their unique collaboration style, the influence of Japanese culture on their books and join in with live Manga drawing with Chie.

12+ years
Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to draw along in this event.
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WorkshopIllustration Workshop: River Warriors

Event W54

Illustration Workshop: River Warriors

With the University of Worcester Illustration Department

–  Creative Hub
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The River Wye is under threat from pollution and environmental collapse. Become a River Wye Protector in this mixed media workshop, and design your own River Warrior to help preserve the magnificent Wye. All materials are provided.

10+ years
Parents/carers may attend (no ticket required), or sign children in/out.
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ActivityMake & Take Crafting

Event MT18

Make & Take Crafting

Thursday Afternoon Session

–  Make & Take Hub
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An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. 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.

3–11 years
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WorkshopPizza-making Workshop

Event W55

Pizza-making Workshop

Kitchen Garden Pizza

–  Family Garden
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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.

4+ years
Parents/carers must attend but do not need a ticket.
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PanelDanny Dorling, Hardeep Matharu, Adam Price and AC Grayling talk to Jennifer Nadel

Event 243

Danny Dorling, Hardeep Matharu, Adam Price and AC Grayling talk to Jennifer Nadel

Towards Compassionate Politics

–  Global Stage
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Politics can often seem devoid of compassion, with the focus on systems over people, on making money over the needs of the vulnerable. With voter distrust of politics at an all-time high, it’s clear that our existing political systems are failing to deliver solutions to the multiple interlocking crises that our world faces. In this event, our panel members talk to journalist and founder of cross party Think Tank, Compassion in Politics Jennifer Nadel about everything from the refugee crisis to wars across the world, how we can renew support for democratic ideals and what role compassion can play in creating a new political settlement that is inclusive, cooperative and effective in improving the lives of us all.

Dorling is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford. Grayling is a philosopher and principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and Matharu is the Editor of the independent investigative news site and monthly print news magazine Byline Times. Price is a Member of the Senedd and former Leader of Plaid Cymru.

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ConversationDaisy Goodwin

Event 244

Daisy Goodwin

Diva

–  Wye Stage
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Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend: Maria Callas. Goodwin’s new novel Diva draws on Callas’ life growing up in Nazi-occupied Greece, her fame as a soprano and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis, who then abandoned her to marry former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Writer and television producer Goodwin is author of My Last Duchess and The Fortune Hunter. She wrote the screenplay for Victoria, the eight-part ITV series about the early life of Queen Victoria. Goodwin talks to The Bookseller’s programme director Miriam Robinson.

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ConversationAndrew O’Hagan and Sunjeev Sahota talk to Georgina Godwin

Event 245

Andrew O’Hagan and Sunjeev Sahota talk to Georgina Godwin

Fictions: Pride and Privilege

–  Meadow Stage
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Two multiple Booker-nominated authors discuss their new novels with the Monocle 24 Books Editor. Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies won huge acclaim and has been adapted as an award-winning BBC drama. His latest, Caledonian Road, is a state-of-the-nation novel – the story of one man’s epic fall from grace. The writer introduces us to art historian and celebrity intellectual Campbell Flynn, whose web of crimes, secrets and scandals risk being revealed, leading to the shattering exposure of all that his privilege really involves.

Sunjeev Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways and China Room received major accolades. His most recent novel, The Spoiled Heart, is a moving family mystery. Nayan, a bereaved father now dedicated to his work and running for leadership of his union, is powerfully drawn to a woman who has returned to the area. As they grow closer, the possibility arises that their pasts may have been connected.

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ConversationVerity Harding talks to Jonnie Penn

Event 246

Verity Harding talks to Jonnie Penn

AI Needs You

–  Discovery Stage
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Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our time. As AI’s power grows, so does the need to figure out what – and who – this technology is really for. Drawing lessons from three 20th-century tech revolutions – the Space race, in vitro fertilisation and the internet – Verity Harding, a leading insider in technology and politics and director of the AI & Geopolitics Institute at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, rejects the dominant narrative that compares AI’s advent to the atomic bomb. She speaks to Dr Jonnie Penn, associate teaching professor of AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge.

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PerformanceThe TLS Podcast Live

Event 247

The TLS Podcast Live

–  Exchange Marquee
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Join writers and editors of the Times Literary Supplement along with special guests for a live recording of their weekly podcast on books and culture.

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WorkshopRoy McFarlane

Event 248

Roy McFarlane

Creative Writing Workshop

–  Meet at Wild Garden
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Take a walk to the River Wye with poet, performer and Canal Laureate Roy McFarlane. Learn to use the river and its surrounding area as inspiration and to explore or unravel your own personal stories in this creative writing session. We meet at the Wild Garden on the Festival site and set off on a short walk to the river and back, returning to the Exchange Marquee on site to reflect and write with McFarlane after the walk.

McFarlane has been Birmingham’s Poet Laureate and the Birmingham & Midland Institute’s Poet in Residence. His books include Living by Troubled Waters and The Healing Next Time.

Please come dressed for the weather, and bring a notebook and pen.
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WorkshopCasi Wyn and guests

Event 403

Casi Wyn and guests

Wales: a culture of peace

–  Writers at Work Hub – Hwb Awduron wrth eu Gwaith
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A hundred years since the Welsh Women's Peace Petition in 1923-24, the young people of Wales are amplifying their call in 2024 with this year's Urdd Peace and Goodwill Message. To mark this moment, Codi Pais magazine launches a special issue celebrating a cultural legacy of peace that's still practiced by Welsh women today.
Join poet Casi Wyn as she meets some of the young women who participated in forming this year's Urdd Peace and Goodwill Message, and reflect on how contemporary Wales continues to play its part in fostering a culture of peace today.

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