Hay Festival 2024

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Take flight with 2023 YA Book Prize winner Danielle Jawando in this creative writing and poetry session based on her latest YA novel, If My Words Had Wings. With plenty of interaction and top tips from a pro-writer, you’ll learn how to develop, hone and craft your authentic voice within your writing.

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

Design your own character for a protest poster supporting the protection of the River Wye. Work with mixed media and printmaking techniques to create your poster. All materials are provided.

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 lexicographer and the philosopher discuss words and their power to confuse and surprise us. Celebrated linguist and face of Countdown’s Dictionary Corner Susie Dent’s latest book is Interesting Stories About Curious Words. She explores the bizarre human histories behind the stories of sweet Fanny Adams and Jack the Lad, and answers such perplexing questions as: How did circles become vicious? Who was Hobson and what was his choice? And what did Nelson turn a blind eye to? Rebecca Roache, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, delves into the magical power of swear words in her book For F*ck’s Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude and Fun. She helps understand how swearing works – it isn’t always bad. When not used offensively, it can foster social intimacy, help people withstand pain and might even help us curb our violent impulses. They talk to publisher and writer John Mitchinson.

World-leading microbiome scientist and surgeon James Kinross shows us how everything from exercise, sleep and diet through to antibiotics and ageing are directly impacted by the state of our microbiome. He introduces us to the microbiome, a vast genetic universe of ‘dark matter’ – bacteria, yeasts, viruses and parasites – living inside us, which adapts with us as we age and influences how we think and feel, our sex lives and even how fast we run. Kinross is a senior lecturer in colorectal surgery and consultant surgeon at Imperial College London. He talks to neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow.

Ukraine’s most celebrated novelist transports us to early 20th-century Kyiv during the turmoil following the Russian Revolution, with his new book The Silver Bone. This mystery introduces rookie detective Samson Kolechko in Kyiv as he tackles his first case, involving two murders, a long bone made of pure silver and a suit of decidedly unusual proportions tailored from fine English cloth. Inflected with Kurkov’s (Death and the Penguin) signature humour and magical realism, the novel takes inspiration from the archives of crime enforcement agencies in Kyiv, crafting a propulsive narrative with rich historical detail. Kurkov talks to writer and editor Daniel Hahn.

Award-winning poet Andrew McMillan talks to Scottish poet and playwright Jackie Kay about community, masculinity and post-industrialisation. His novel Pity is set in Northern England, in a town that was once a hub of the coal industry. Where fathers and grandfathers worked down the mines, their sons now grapple with the shifting times. Meanwhile a grandson works in a call centre, deriving passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs. Set across three generations of a Yorkshire mining family, McMillan’s short and magnificent debut is a lament for a lost way of life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

An evening workshop for parents/carers/guardians/teachers/interested grown-ups* with It Happens Education (ithappens.education) and Schools Consent Project (schoolsconsentproject.com) discussing Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE). In a world full of headlines about violence against women and girls, misogynistic influencers, explicit content online and harmful sexual behaviours… How can we support adolescents as they grow up in a world with new, complex conversations about consent, law and intimacy? What do we want for our young people? What do young people say they want? We promise top tips, conversation-starters and lots of engaging discussions and activities.

You are warmly invited to a celebration of local writing as members of the Hay Writers’ Circle share some of their recent work. A smorgasbord of poetry, prose, vignettes and excerpts from longer works, this is a fabulous chance to enjoy readings and performances from some of Hay-on-Wye’s established writers and newest voices.
The Hay Writers’ Circle is a dynamic writing group which has been active in Hay for over 40 years, offering three annual competitions in poetry, fiction and non-fiction as well as writing workshops led by writers and academics. To find out more about the group do please come along to our performance and join us for a drink in the Festival Bar afterwards, or visit our website
https://thehaywriters.wordpress.com/

Legendary Welsh superstar Bonnie Tyler recounts how she carved out an extraordinary career that is still going strong. From her early days growing up in a tiny mining village in South Wales to her career as a club singer, which led to her accidental discovery by a talent scout, she charts her incredible rise to fame. Her memoir Straight from the Heart tells the story of how a shy, music-loving teenager called Gaynor Hopkins came to record some of the most iconic songs of all time, including ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and ‘Holding Out for a Hero’, achieving chart success all over the world. Tyler has always determinedly followed her own path, breaking down barriers and leading the way for other female artists. Her roots remain firmly in her beloved Wales, and she’s bringing her down-to-earth, candid outlook to Hay Festival.

Literary Death Match is a groundbreaking take on the written and spoken word — it’s an electrifying, feel-good spectacle that takes place in over 70 cities around the planet. Part literary event, part comedy show, part game show, it brings together four established and emerging writers at Hay Festival to compete in an edge-of-your-seat read-off critiqued by celebrity judges and concluded by a slapstick showdown. Judges Richard Armitage (author: Geneva, actor: Peter Jackon's Hobbit Trilogy, Oceans 8, Spooks) and Viv Groskop (How to Own the Room) will preside over this hilarious, off-the-wall competition of literary merit. Readers include International Booker Prize longlisted author Andrey Kurkov (Death of a Penguin, Ukraine Diaries) Tiffany Murray (Diamond Star Halo, Happy Accidents) and BAFTA Award-winning comedy writer Joel Morris (Philomena Cunk, Ladybird Books For Grown-Ups, Paddington). Presented by veteran host Suzanne Azzopardi and newcomer, writer Hattie Williams (Bitter Sweet).

Australia is now facing the truth of its past – the slaughter of Indigenous peoples as the British conquered the continent with unique brutality. Two truth-tellers of today discuss how the country is reckoning with its history. Larissa Behrendt is an award-winning author, a filmmaker and host of Speaking Out on ABC Radio. Journalist David Marr is author of Killing for Country, a personal reckoning with his family’s role in the slaughter.