Hay Festival 2023

Three women journalists covering the Israel-Palestinian war speak candidly about their work in the Gaza strip and the challenges and difficulties of reporting from a conflict zone. Iraqi-born Hind Hassan began her career with Al Jazeera Media Network, worked as a reporter for Sky News and then joined VICE news (HBO). Dalia Hatuqa writes on Middle East politics for the Washington Post, Time, The Economist and the New York Times, dividing her time between the US and the West Bank. Lindsey Hilsum is Channel 4 News’ International Editor. Chaired by the British-Lebanese editor of the Financial Times.

Libraries are a lifeline for many, but they are all too often damaged or destroyed during times of conflict, either deliberately as repositories of cultural heritage or simply as collateral damage in a war zone. The attack on the National Library in Sarajevo, the bombing of Mosul University’s library and the ongoing devastation of libraries across Ukraine and Palestine are all recent examples of this shocking destruction.

Writers Priscilla Morris and Elif Shafak talk to Lord Paul Boateng, vice patron of charity Book Aid International, about what is lost when libraries are targeted or when people are displaced and access to libraries is taken away. They look at the role that libraries can play both during conflict and as a country begins to repair and consider why, even when people are displaced, books and libraries remain important.

Join Laura Dockrill, author, illustrator and judge of the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction, and Kate Mosse, author and founding director of the Women's Prizes, in conversation with Isabella Hammad (Enter Ghost) and Claire Kilroy (Soldier Sailor) two of the writers shortlisted for the 2024 prize. They discuss their selected novels, their broader themes and the impact the prize has on both writers and readers.

The winner of the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction will be announced on Thursday 13 June. Brought to you by the Women's Prize Trust, the charity which enriches society by creating equitable opportunities for women in the world of books and beyond.

Award-winning Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma’s first novel The Fishermen was a finalist for the Booker prize, and his second, An Orchestra of Minorities, was also shortlisted. His latest book The Road to the Country intertwines myth and realism and is destined to stand alongside Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun as the defining novel of one of the most devastating civil wars of the 20th century. Set in Nigeria in the late 1960s, it’s the epic story of a shy, bookish student haunted by long-held guilt and shame who must go to war to free himself. When Kunle’s younger brother disappears as his country explodes in civil war, Kunle sets out on an impossible rescue mission and a journey of atonement. Obioma talks to the TLS Fiction and Politics Editor.

The food production experts talk to science presenter Kate Humble. Could cultivated meat from stem-cells grown in a bioreactor beat climate change? Provide real meat but without the slaughter? Cultivated Meat to Secure Our Future: Hope for Animals, Food Security, and the Environment, co-edited by Philip Lymbery, argues that it could be a game-changer in reducing animal suffering and helping solve the growing crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the rise of ill-health. Ed Winters demonstrates How to Argue With a Meat Eater (and Win Every Time), explaining the principles of veganism as a way to create a more ethical, kind and sustainable world, and breaking down every argument used against it.

Memoir is an endlessly flexible and intriguing form – but how do you get to the heart of the story you’re trying to tell? And how do you share details, some of them intimate, while navigating other considerations, both ethical and artistic? Clover Stroud, author of bestselling memoirs The Wild Other, My Wild and Sleepless Nights, The Red of My Blood and the recent The Giant on the Skylines, shares insights on structure, style and voice, with hands-on writing exercises to help you find your story and identify your unique voice.

Bringing together all of the BBC’s supporters of unsigned music. Explore sessions from new and upcoming local musicians.

This year, more people around the world will have the opportunity to vote than any single year before, with major elections in a number of countries. To mark this historic milestone, our panel shares their unique perspectives on democracy and its relevance, fragility and value. Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, speaks to writers Aditi Mittal, Elif Shafak and Lola Shoneyin about the vital role of the media, of culture and of the participation of women in this critical year for the future of democracy.

In Nandini Das’ fascinating history of Britain’s first ambassador to the Mughal Empire Thomas Roe, Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire she offers an insider’s view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. In conversation with historian David Olusoga she discusses her story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Dylan Thomas Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms. This year, the prize has been awarded to Caleb Azumah Nelson for his novel, Small Worlds, which tells an intimate father-son story set between South London and Ghana over the course of three summers. Join us to celebrate the 2024 winner in conversation with novelist Jon Gower, a member of the 2024 prize jury.

The shortlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2024 was: Ayòbámi Adébáyò – A Spell of Good Things; Caleb Azumah Nelson – Small Worlds; AK Blakemore – The Glutton; Mary Jean Chan – Bright Fear; Eliza Clark – Penance; Camilla Grudova – The Coiled Serpent; Kevin Jared Hosein – Hungry Ghosts; Joshua Jones – Local Fires; Catherine Lacey – Biography of X; Michael Magee – Close To Home; Thomas Morris – Open Up; Kae Tempest – Divisible by Itself and One.

In Leo Vardiashvili’s novel Hard by a Great Forest, Saba’s father Irakli is missing, and the trail leads back to Tbilisi, Georgia. It’s been two decades since Saba saw his mother, who stayed so that his father could escape with two young sons, now grown men. Arriving in Tbilisi as escaped zoo animals prowl the streets, Saba picks up a path of clues: strange graffiti, bewildering messages transmitted through the radio, pages from his father’s unpublished manuscript. He discovers that all roads lead back to the past, and to secrets swallowed up by the great forests of Georgia. Vardiashvili, who came to London as a refugee from Georgia 30 years ago, talks to writer, comedian and broadcaster Viv Groskop.

National trinket Julian Clary is saddled up to welcome you to his new show on a Wild West theme. “It was only a matter of time before I eased myself into some chaps,” he says. He’s sure the men in the audience will be eager to join his posse – and the lucky few will play with him on stage in the Hang ’em Low saloon, where Wild Bill Hickok used to meet Raving Clarence la Fruit. But life in the Old West was tough. Not all of Julian’s wild bunch will be around to witness the final shoot-out that will result in Julian giving himself selflessly at high noon to the last man standing.

A decade ago, feeling exhausted and empty, Oscar-winning filmmaker Craig Foster decided to return to his birthplace – the Cape of Good Hope – and dive into the great African Sea forest each day. His daily oceanic adventures not only helped him ‘rewild’, but helped him come to see his own ‘amphibious soul’ as a powerful metaphor for the human condition. He discusses how he rediscovered this deep connection to his animal self, as well as sharing how we can all nurture our individual wildness, tap into our empathy and deepen our love for all living things. Foster’s Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher is about his unlikely friendship with a Common Octopus.

Smokin Jo – Joanne Joseph – is the only woman to win the prestigious International DJ of the Year Award. Reclaimed by an absent mother after years in care, she led an unpredictable childhood and drifted towards Soho when barely a teenager, where she joined other fish out of water who lived through dance music. She became Smokin Jo (after Smokin’ Joe Frazier) and one of Britain’s top DJs. She shares stories from her life of transitions, farce and, above all, freestyled endurance, including meeting Russian oligarchs’ sons, clinically insane promoters, Naomi Campbell and Arabian princesses spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for glorified karaoke sessions. Smokin Jo will be talking to Anita Bhagwandas is a multi-award winning music and beauty journalist and author of Ugly: Why the world became beauty-obsessed and how to break free.

The comedian, playwright and broadcaster shares stories from her memoir, One Ukrainian Summer, about coming of age in the former USSR. It’s 1993, Viv is about to turn 21 and is on a study year abroad, supposedly immersed in the language, history and politics of a world that has just ceased to exist: the Soviet Union. Instead, she is immersed in Bogdan Bogdanovich, lead guitarist of a Ukrainian punk rock band. They meet in St Petersburg, where he promises that if she can get through a Russian winter, he will give her “one Ukrainian summer”. At parties, gigs and bars, Groskop and her new friends argue over the best places to find Levi’s jeans. No one debates the precise location of the border or the brightness of the future. Good times are here to stay, because the Soviet Union is finished. Isn’t it? She discusses her new book with the TLS Fiction and Politics Editor.

Enjoy cheese tastings and a glass of wine while our panel of experts recount how a generation of cheesemakers, farmers and retailers revolutionised the UK food landscape, saved small-farmhouse cheese and championed new techniques while embracing tradition, terroir and taste.

Cheesemonger, historian and author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles Ned Palmer talks to producer and farmer Rebecca Holden of Hafod cheese (made at Bwlchwernen Fawr Farm on the Ceredigion coast, the longest standing registered organic dairy farm in Wales); cheesemaker Hugh Padfield of Bath Soft Cheese (made in the village of Kelston, near Bath, where he and his family have farmed since 1914).

Jools Holland brings his renowned show to Hay Festival, with special guest star Imelda May and featuring the outstanding vocals of Ruby Turner and Louise Marshall, as well as the highly talented Sumudu Jayatilaka. Together with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, with original Squeeze member Gilson Lavis on drums and Toby Lee on guitar, Holland performs tracks spanning his entire solo career. The celebrated bandleader, composer and pianist invites you to join him and his orchestra at the greatest boogie-woogie party in town.

Come and join us in the late Georgian-Gothic setting of St Mary’s Church for a special screening of Anthony Asquith’s great 1929 classic silent movie A Cottage on Dartmoor, with live organ accompaniment by Richard Williams. The film is a psycho-thriller replete with obsession and jealousy, much influenced by German Expressionism, and is one of British cinema’s most highly regarded silent films, the last to be made in the silent period.

Father Richard’s film nights are renowned. Parish priest in Hay from 2001 to 2024, he trained as a professional musician at Trinity College of Music, London. Don’t miss this chance to see him perform a live accompaniment on the Bevington organ.

Following the massive success of his long-lost novel TerrorTome, Sunday Times bestseller and Archduke O’Darkdom Garth Marenghi is back on the road with his latest masterpiece, Incarcerat. This highly anticipated sequel continues the adventures of horror novelist Nick Steen, who gets sucked into a cursed typewriter.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see Marenghi’s live show and hear his terrifying tale. His TerrorTome UK tour sold over 27,000 tickets in under six months, and Incarcerat is set to be another thrilling journey.

Garth Marenghi is the pseudonym of writer and director Matthew Holness, best known for his role as the fictional horror author in the cult Channel 4 comedy series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. Holness is author of many short stories for horror anthologies and has written and directed several films, including the horror feature Possum.

Smokin Jo is one of the most talented DJs to emerge from the British dance music scene, and her undeniably cutting edge sound has carved her a niche in clubland. Join the only female DJ to have won DJ magazine’s DJ of the Year award, for an evening of dance at Hay Festival.

Start your day with an hour of yoga blending movement, mantra, meditation and breathwork. The classes support detoxification and regeneration – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Our daily yoga classes are brought to you by a collective of ten highly skilled practitioners, all local to Hay-on-Wye. Each practitioner has their own style, but with all you can expect a mindful, student-focused practice with clear cueing and functional sequencing.

Whether you need grounding and recharging before a busy day at the Festival, an opportunity to stretch and move your body, or simply an hour to focus on your breathing, these classes are open and accessible to all. Practitioners will adapt to different levels of experience, providing options for deepening or softening within poses so that each student takes what they need from the practice. 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.

A fantastic opportunity to see behind the scenes of this unique and historic building. Visit at a time of your choice during Castle opening hours.

Hay Castle’s executive director Tom True introduces the key moments and characters from the castle’s past followed by a continental breakfast.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended!

Among today's guests is historian David Olusoga, Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, and economist Kate Raworth, senior associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and a Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Olusoga is author of Black and British: A Forgotten History, and presenter of Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners and documentary series Civilisation. Raworth is author of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist and a member of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health For All. They will be joined by social philosopher and internationally best selling author Roman Krznaric. Krznaric is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum and author of many books about the power of ideas to create change including The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World. Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, and History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity. Chaired by writer and journalist Sarfraz Manzoor.

Three acclaimed thinkers and writers discuss the far-reaching effects of maternity, with author and journalist Candice Brathwaite. Women undergo a huge physiological, psychological and social metamorphosis during pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood. There is no time other than adolescence that entails such dramatic change, yet the huge diversity in its effects go largely unrepresented and undiscussed.

Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural scientist, University of Cambridge Fellow and author of (M)otherhood: On the Choices of Being a Woman. Lucy Jones is author of Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood, a radical new examination of how motherhood changes the mind and body. Clover Stroud is a journalist and author of My Wild and Sleepless Nights: A Mother’s Story and The Red of My Blood: A Death and Life Story.

For a country that is obsessed with class, no one in the UK seems to know what class is. Class is often reduced to cultural signifiers – our accent, what food we eat, what clothes we wear, how we decorate our houses. Or class is portrayed as if it is solely an economic matter. But these ways of thinking obscure more than they illuminate. Our panel explores the modern class structure in the UK. They discuss how class is lived and experienced; how class interacts with other identities such as race and gender; and the relationship between class and political behaviour.

Walkerdine is Professor at the Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, where Ryan Davey is a lecturer and Richard Gater is a research assistant at the Centre for Adult Social Care Research. Dan Evans is a researcher at Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data.

Hay Festival’s 2024 Writers at Work/Awduron wrth eu Gwaith give a public reading of their current work. An opportunity to experience the best Wales has to offer in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Writers at Work is a creative development programme for emerging Welsh talent at Hay Festival.

A guide from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park leads a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye. A local expert gives insights into this treasured landscape.

Hay-on-Wye is based 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 treasured landscape.

The curator of the Liverpool Football Club Museum is leaving to become a writer. He has just signed a publishing deal for his series of Inspector Vignoles novels and shares how he’s embracing the change.

Dream team Julian Clary and David Roberts spill the beans on their fabulous series. Mr and Mrs Bold are just like you and me: they live in a nice house, they have jobs and they love to have a bit of a giggle. One slight difference: they’re hyenas. Yes, that’s right – they’re covered in fur, have tails tucked into their trousers, and they really, really like to laugh. So far, the Bolds have managed to keep things under wraps, even when their children Bobby and Betty were born. But when the nosy man next door smells a rat (or a hyena), could it spell the end of their well-kept secret? Whatever will the neighbours think?

Welcome to Happy Hills – it’s a place where anything can happen and always does! Join Sophy Henn, author/illustrator extraordinaire of the hilariously funny graphic novel series. She takes us on a journey through Happy Hills to meet the friendly and not-so-friendly residents, discovering lots of characters along the way who make you flex those creative muscles.