Arts & Culture

Learn lessons in life, work, love and more with Channel 4’s Cathy Newman, as she shares inspiration and wisdom from some of the world’s most acclaimed and influential women. Newman’s latest book The Ladder: Life Lessons from Women Who Scaled the Heights & Dodged the Snakes is inspired by her show on Times Radio, and brings together discussions between women, from politician Nicola Sturgeon to scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab.

It’s been 40 years since Arthur Scargill led the National Union of Mineworkers on one of the largest strikes in British history. Vilified by Margaret Thatcher’s government and eventually broken, Britain’s mining communities were changed forever. Academic Robert Gildea and husband-and-wife team Amanda Powell and Richard Williams reflect on the strike and its lasting impacts. Gildea’s Backbone of the Nation: Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984–85 explores mining communities from South Wales to Fife, drawing on interviews with miners and their families for this groundbreaking new history. Gildea is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Powell and Williams both reported on the strike when it happened, and revisit it in their book Coal and Community in Wales. Award-winning journalist Powell’s account of key events and press photographer Williams’ striking images offer an in-depth look at life in the South Wales coalfield before and after the strikes.

Colm Tóibín reunites us with the heroine of his 2009 novel, Brooklyn, in his sequel Long Island. We find Eilis Lacey 20 years on, in the 1970s, living with her husband, Tony Fiorello, and children on Long Island, rather too close to her Fiorello in-laws. A shocking piece of news propels Eilis back to Ireland, to a world she thought she had long left behind and to ways of living, and loving, she thought she had lost. Tóibín is the current Laureate for Irish Fiction. His previous novels include The Master, The Testament of Mary and House of Names. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker multiple times, and has won both the Costa Novel Award and the Impac Award. He talks to Hay Festival President Stephen Fry.

Join WOW (Women of the World) founder Jude Kelly for an evening of optimism, determination and laughter, exploring the exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity, covering everything from money, sex, race and food to ageing. Extremely and equally suitable for men!

WOW is a network of arts festivals that celebrate the achievements of women and girls as well as highlighting the obstacles that face them. It was founded by Kelly, former Artistic Director of London’s Southbank Centre, in 2010.

Historian Corinne Fowler brings rural life and colonial rule together, sharing the ways in which the British Empire transformed rural lives, offering opportunity and seeking exploitation. She shows how the booming profits of overseas colonial activities directly contributed to enclosure, land clearances and dispossession in the UK, and how these histories continue to have an impact. Fowler’s most recent book is Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain, and she is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She co-authored the 2021 National Trust report on its country houses’ historical links to the British Empire, and is also author of Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections. She talks to Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, author and Professor of Human Rights and Political Philosophy at Birkbeck University, London.

There are no problems that cannot be improved by eating cheese. Fact. The award-winning comedian and International Cheese Judge guides us through the subtle art of pairing the best cheeses with a fine whine of your choosing, so whatever your whinge there’s cheese to match. Brigstocke is one of our most talented, versatile comedians, mixing satirical state-of-the-nation gags with top rate observational humour, killer impressions and important content about dairy produce.

NATO this year marks its 75th anniversary, and discussions around its purpose, achievements, faults and usefulness have never been louder. Journalist Peter Apps takes a look at the history of NATO, from the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises, and the chaotic evacuation from Kabul.

Peter Apps is global defence correspondent for Reuters news agency and is currently on sabbatical as executive director of the Project for Study of the 21st Century (PS21). Apps reported from Sri Lanka during the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. In September 2006, he broke his neck in a minibus crash while covering the conflict, leaving him largely paralysed from the shoulders down. He returned to work in a wheelchair nine months later, using voice recognition software to resume his writing career. Of the 20 or so countries he has reported from, more than half have been since the injury.

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.

Lord Sebastian Coe has unrivalled experience of the world of sport, as a double Olympic gold medallist, architect of the London 2012 Olympics, President of World Athletics, politician, businessman and champion of sport as a path to individual fitness, national pride and international collaboration. He talks to journalist Matthew d’Ancona about the ever-expanding role of sport in 21st century society, and the controversies and opportunities that lie ahead.

The world of sport has a new opponent: climate change. A world championship marathon was recently held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun. Athletes needed oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California. Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns. Golf courses are sinking into the sea. But with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment, jobs, fitness and health, this is an industry we can’t afford to lose. Sport ecologist Madeleine Orr argues that there are ways to mitigate the worst elements of climate change. Through interviews with athletes, coaches and politicians in her book Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, she describes how the sports world can fight back.In conversation with Claire Taylor, a World Cup-winning English cricketer, Chair of Cricket at the MCC and a management consultant.

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.

One of football’s most successful players ever, Gary Lineker’s latest act has seen him launch a podcasting empire. As founder of Goalhanger Productions, Lineker produces hit shows The Rest is History, The Rest is Entertainment, The Rest is Football and The Rest is Politics, adding much-needed nuance and insight into our national discourse. Join the England legend and Match of the Day presenter for a wide-ranging discussion of his career in sport, media and storytelling. He talks to historian and broadcaster David Olusoga.

The acclaimed author of The Road Home (winner of the Orange Prize), Music & Silence (winner of Whitbread Novel of the Year), and Lily (a Richard & Judy Book Club selection), Dame Rose Tremain talks to the Monocle Radio Books Editor about her piercing story of thwarted love and true friendship in 1960s London.

Marianne falls absolutely for Simon, whose cleverness and physical beauty hold the promise of a successful and monied future. But fate intervenes, Simon’s plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together. Seeming to underestimate her own worth, she nonetheless continues to seek the life she craves. But beneath his blithe exterior, Simon has been nursing a secret that will alter everything.

What should a future government’s manifesto and action for education include? Join the conversation with two former Secretaries of State for Education and the Times political columnist, Chair of the highly influential Times Education Commission, together with Professor Lisa Stansbie, Pro Vice Chancellor Education, Culture and Society at University of Worcester, whose most recent independent, official inspection report of its teacher training provision begins: “Trainees benefit from an exceptional learning experience at the University of Worcester. This experience instils in them a deep-rooted commitment to making a difference to the lives of the children and young adults in the communities they serve.”

The Platform is a new space for young, emerging artists to share their work with Hay Festival audiences. Spanning a diverse range of art forms, The Platform aims to elevate and develop outstanding creative artists at the start of their careers. Join us to discover and support some of the best young talent working in the UK today.

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 BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series marking the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. In this third, and slightly longer, of four recitals recorded for broadcast, the Leonore Piano Trio and Lawrence Power (viola) perform Le Beau’s Piano Quartet in F minor, Op 28 and Fauré’s Piano Quartet No 2 in G minor, Op 45.

Gain a rare insight into our greatest playwright by one of our greatest actors. Dame Judi Dench describes every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career in a series of intimate conversations with actor and director Brendan O’Hea (associate artist at Shakespeare’s Globe), inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters and backstage shenanigans. Drawing on her memoir Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, interspersed with vignettes on mentors, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she discusses everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, all peppered with her mischievous sense of humour.

Aged 15, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was world number one in the 50m breaststroke. Over the next three years, she would become a double British champion, sports personality of the year in Kenya, and make the Great British Olympic team as the first Black woman to swim for Britain. She made history, but chose to walk away from it all. Ajulu-Bushell shares how she achieved victory and what it cost her to do so, physically and mentally. Laying bare the pressures of success and meditating on Blackness and identity, Ajulu-Bushell is honest and heartfelt. Lahiri talks to Creative Producer Heather Marks.

From manifesto to biography and from historical fiction to coming-of-age story, four authors of books centring on queer people discuss their work. Kenny Ethan Jones’ book Dear Cis(Gender) People is a powerful call to arms empowering cisgender people to be better allies. Wendy Moore’s Jack and Eve tells the real story of a jobbing actress who became Emmeline Pankhurst’s chauffeur and mechanic, and the daughter of a Scottish baron, who became public faces of the suffragette movement. Alana S Portero is a Spanish writer, poet and transgender activist whose novel Bad Habit explores coming of age in 1980s Spain, a place of vast social inequality but also one where social change was possible, and all moderated by Welsh lesbian writer Rachel Dawson whose novel, Neon Roses has been short-listed for Wales Book of The Year.

The Scottish National Coach and mother of champions Jamie and Andy brings her debut thriller to Hay Festival. The former Scottish international tennis player is not new to publishing – her memoir Knowing the Score was a Sunday Times bestseller – but with The Wild Card she’s served up an ace in the world of fiction. Join her for a first-hand account of her story about an ambitious player who puts her promising tennis career on hold to have a baby. Years later, a surprise entry to Wimbledon sweeps her up in a world she thought she’d left behind. But could the greatest comeback of all time destroy everything she’s sacrificed to protect? Murray talks to QI writer and podcaster James Harkin.

There is no one who has a bigger impact on the mood of a workplace than the boss. But how do you ensure you’re one of the good ones, and not a figure that everyone complains about? Starting with his own background, Henry Engelhardt shares his advice on how to be a better boss, in conversation with Antonia Garrett-Peel, Senior Writer at Management Today. With almost 50 years’ working experience, starting with Poochie’s Hot Dogs at age 13, Engelhardt is a founder and CEO emeritus of Admiral Group, based in Cardiff. It is the largest private car insurer in the UK and the only FTSE 100 company in Wales.

The Platform is a new space for young, emerging artists to share their work with Hay Festival audiences. Spanning a diverse range of art forms, The Platform aims to elevate and develop outstanding creative artists at the start of their careers. Join us to discover and support some of the best young talent working in the UK today.

On the eve of a General Election, former Deputy Prime Minister the Rt Hon the Lord Michael Heseltine CH joins us for a state of the nation discussion with journalist Matthew d'Ancona. Lord Heseltine enjoyed one of the most colourful and creative careers of late 20th-century British politics. If the top office at Westminster eluded him, nothing much else did. He was a Cabinet Minister in various departments from 1979 to 1986 and 1990 to 1997 and Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997. He later served as an advisor to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Growth, and as a Commissioner on the National Infrastructure Commission (October 2015 to March 2017). He is the founder and Chairman of the Haymarket Group. Together with his wife he has created an outstanding garden around their home in Northamptonshire and co-authored Thenford: The Creation of an English Garden.

Green grass, blue skies, white flannels and the gentle thwack of leather on willow; the quintessential image of cricket. The so-called ‘gentleman's game’ developed with the principle of fair play at its heart. But something is rotten at the core. The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket Report in 2023 found that cricket is riddled with structural and institutional racism, sexism, classism and elitism. Fry, Rafiq, Rutherford and Taylor discuss the big issues, examine the systemic biases and scrutinise the ongoing solutions to render the second most popular sport on Earth a game for everyone.

Stephen Fry is former President of the MCC and a lifelong cricket fan. Azeem Rafiq is a former Yorkshire County cricketer and England youth captain. Claire Taylor MBE is a World Cup-winning English cricketer. They talk to Adam Rutherford, scientist, author and player for The Authors XI cricket team.

Lee Craigie, Rebecca Lowe and Kate Rawles and are no strangers to riding, and sometimes racing, their bikes very long distances in remote and challenging conditions. But what actually unites them is their motivation for doing so. These three women have all the funny, jaw-dropping stories that come from adventuring all over the world by bike; but, unlike traditional stories of derring-do, their aim is not to conquer or impress – it is to inform, inspire and unite us in leading healthier, happier, more sustainable lives.

Craigie (Other Ways to Win) has represented Scotland from the World Championships to the Commonwealth Games. Now retired from the sport, she devotes her time to projects that engage marginalised young people. Lowe (The Slow Road to Tehran) rode across the Middle East at the peak of the Syrian War, driven by a desire to learn more about the troubled region. Rawles (The Life Cycle) set out on an epic journey through South America on a self-built bamboo bicycle, meeting the extraordinary activists working to protect biodiversity.

After years of unexplained health problems, writer Polly Atkin was finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her thirties. She began to piece together what had been happening to her – all the misdiagnoses, the fractures, the dislocations, the bone-crushing exhaustion, the not being believed. She traces a fascinating journey, delving into the history of her two genetic conditions, uncovering how these illnesses were managed (or not) in times gone by and exploring how best to plan for her own future. From medical misogyny and gaslighting to the illusion of ‘the nature cure’, she examines how we deal with bodies that diverge from the norm, and why this urgently needs to change. Atkins talks about her book Some of Us Just Fall with Bethany Handley, an award-winning writer and disability activist from South Wales.

An evening workshop for parents/carers/guardians/teachers/interested grown-ups* with It Happens Education (ithappens.education) and Brook (brook.org.uk) discussing Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE). Come and find out about the history of the subject, the big RSHE picture and look at some current UK data. What do we want for our young people? What do young people say they want? Why is it important to start these conversations at home? How should you navigate this tricky terrain as a family? We promise top tips, conversation-starters and lots of engaging discussions and activities.

The event includes a 20 minute break where you can relax and grab a drink from the bar.

Princess Mary was the adored only child of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon and was raised in the golden splendour of her father’s court. But her world soon began to fall apart: the King wanted a son and heir, and her parents’ marriage was crumbling. Exiled from the court and her beloved mother, she sought solace in her faith but found the choices she faced would haunt her for years to come. Alison Weir fictionalises the life of Princess Mary, who went on to be known as Bloody Mary, in her new Tudor novel. She discusses the drama and tragedy of the royal’s life.

Poet Jackie Kay’s new collection reflects on several decades of her political activism, from her Glasgow childhood, accompanying her parents on Socialist campaigns, through the feminist, LGBT+ and anti-racist movements of the 1980s and 1990s, to the present day when a global pandemic intersects with the urgency of Black Lives Matter. Her writing brings to life a cast of influential figures – Jamaican model Fanny Eaton, muse of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England; singer and Marxist academic Angela Davis; and poet and civil rights campaigner Audre Lorde. Woven through are lyric poems on the loss of Kay’s parents: poems of grief infused with the light of love and celebration.

The QI elves and No Such Thing as a Fish podcasters James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski (authors of A LOAD OF OLD BALLS: The QI History of Sport) host a fun-packed, interactive event that delves into the world of sport, from Mayan footballing legends to Ancient Egyptian wrestling, Victorian ‘bicycle face’ to the unsatisfying spectacle of modern-day robot football. Find out what pigs’ bladders, oranges and a kangaroo’s scrotum have in common. Test your knowledge in the quiz, win some great prizes and hear some surprising facts and intriguing stories, including the psychology of football chants, pole-vaulting priests and professional pillow-fighting.