Hay Festival 2025 Full Programme

Kitchen Garden Pizza Workshop

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11am –  Family Garden

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.

Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Decis

Pop-up Music

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.05am – 11.25am –  Bookshop Garden Marquee

Enjoy this twenty-minute open air performance between events. The Decis are an a capella women’s group from Hay-on-Wye and the surrounding villages. Singing together since 2014, the Decis perform a variety of songs including blues, folk, early music, and anything else they fancy.

Kevin McCloud, Chris Packham and Rosie Pearson talk to Sarah Lamptey

Homes for Everyone and Nature Too

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  Discovery Stage

Building homes – one and a half million of them – is at the top of the government’s agenda, and no NIMBYs, newts or bats will be allowed to get in the way. Nor will any planning rules, with the government set to rewrite them so that homes can be built on the Green Belt, which was instituted to stop urban sprawl.

But how can we solve the very real housing crisis without destroying the countryside?

Join architect, author and Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, wildlife TV presenter, conservationist, author and campaigner Chris Packham, and the founder of the Community Planning Alliance, Rosie Pearson, for a look at a common sense approach to tackling the country’s housing needs.

They talk to Sarah Lamptey, presenter, writer, DJ and founder of Showerbox, which brings free showers to enhance the lives of those facing homelessness in London.

Want to support this event? Our event sponsorship packages include front row seats. For more information contact sponsorship@hayfestival.org

Kate Gilmore, Charlotte Proudman and Nikki talk to Stacey Dooley

My Body, My Right

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  Wye Stage

How do we hold on to hard-won reproductive rights, in the UK and internationally? How can we secure the same rights for future generations? At a time when reproductive rights are in retrograde in the US, our panel, chaired by broadcaster Stacey Dooley, celebrates the UK’s proud history and continued fight for a world where everyone is empowered to make decisions about their own health and body.

Kate Gilmore is Chair of the Board for International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and co-chair of the WHO Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel on Human Reproduction. Family law barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman researches and teaches gender inequality under law at the University of Cambridge. She founded Right to Equality, campaigning to put gender justice at the top of the legal agenda.

They are joined by Nikki, a young activist representing the 16–19 Participation Advisory Group from Brook, the only national charity to offer both clinical sexual health services and education and well-being services. Nikki will talk about the impact the US rights changes are having, and why it is crucial to educate young people about their reproductive rights.

Cristina Rivera Garza talks to Gaby Wood

Fictions: Death Takes Me

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  Meadow Stage

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author talks about her new novel, a genre-defying story about a character with her name. In conversation with the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, she discusses flipping the traditional crime narrative of gendered violence on its head, playing with language, and poetry and art.

Death Takes Me sees a Professor Cristina Rivera Garza stumble upon the corpse of a mutilated man in a dark alley and report it to the police. She becomes the first informant on the case, which is led by a detective newly obsessed with poetry and trailed by a long list of failures. As the bodies of more castrated men are found alongside lines of verse, the detective tries to decipher the meaning of the poems to put a stop to the violence spreading throughout the city.

Rivera Garza is the award-winning author of The Taiga Syndrome and The Iliac Crest, among many others. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her memoir Liliana’s Invincible Summer.

South to North Conversations supported by Open Society Foundations

Lucy Mangan talks to Nicola Cutcher

Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  St Mary’s Church

Lucy Mangan grew up as a bookworm. As an adult, she uses her relationship with literature to seize upon the most important question: (how) do books prepare us for life?

Wend your way through the bookshelves with Mangan as she recounts her metamorphosis from young bookworm to bookish adult. She looks at the books and stories which accompanied her in important life stages, including falling in love, finding a job, becoming a mother and navigating grief.

Mangan’s Bookish is a sequel to her bestselling book Bookworm. She is TV critic for the Guardian, and also writes for Stylist magazine, the Telegraph and others.

Sponsored by the Society of Indexers

Michael Rosen, Chris Riddell and special guests

Pocket Shakespeare

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  Global Stage

Two powerhouses of children’s literature captivate in this creative event bringing William Shakespeare’s work to life with the help of some special guests. Poet Michael Rosen and illustrator Chris Riddell, both former children’s laureates, have collaborated on Pocket Shakespeare: A Beginner’s Guide to the Best Bits of the Bard, a celebration of the words of Shakespeare.

In this event, Rosen will guide the audience through the Bard’s exploration of love, heartbreak, magic, superstition and more, including insults and one-liners, accompanied by Riddell, who’ll draw live on stage.

These Are My Rocks Workshop

With Bethan Woollvin

Saturday 24 May 2025, 11.30am –  Creative Hub

Does your little one collect something? Join author/illustrator Bethan Woollvin for a craft workshop based on These Are My Rocks, a story about collecting. Children will enjoy a hilarious reading of this interactive book, explore fun collections and oddities from around the world and then craft their own unique collection.

Make & Take Crafting

Saturday Lunchtime Session

Saturday 24 May 2025, 12pm – 1.30pm –  Make & Take Hub

Online: An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Kitchen Garden Pizza Workshop

Saturday 24 May 2025, 12pm –  Family Garden

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.

Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Got 2 Sing Choir

Pop-up Music

Saturday 24 May 2025, 12.35pm – 12.55pm –  Bookshop Garden Marquee

Enjoy this twenty-minute open air performance between events. Got 2 Sing Choir perform uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies, with plenty of fun and laughter.

Mike Berners-Lee talks to Rosie Boycott

A Climate of Truth

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Global Stage

Truth is a much-debated concept in our modern world, but according to Mike Berners-Lee (There is No Planet B) there’s nothing more important. The climate and sustainability expert delves into his new book A Climate of Truth, to spell out why, if humanity is to thrive in the decades ahead, the most critical step is to raise standards of honesty in our politics, our media and our businesses. By turning our attention to the principle of truth, he argues, we can all have much more impact on the issues we care about. The professor in the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University talks to journalist Rosie Boycott.

Sponsored by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint

Imad Alarnab talks to Catrin Nye

Matters of Taste: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Meadow Stage

Chef and refugee Imad Alarnab celebrates the flavours of Syria in his new cookbook, Imad’s Syrian Kitchen. In this vibrant event he takes some of his sensational recipes and prepares them before your eyes, using fresh ingredients, sharing his techniques and, finally, giving us a taste!

In Damascus, Imad ran successful restaurants and cafés, but was forced to flee after these were destroyed. He made his way to Europe, cooking for refugees, up to 400 at a time, and arrived in London ten years ago, where eventually his family joined him. In 2021 he burst onto the restaurant scene with a series of charity events and supper clubs, and now has his own restaurant in London at Soho’s Kingly Court. He talks to investigative journalist and documentary presenter, Catrin Nye.

Zahaan Bharmal

The Art of Physics

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  St Mary’s Church

Zahaan Bharmal argues that, far from being abstract, physics can help us answer some of the most urgent questions about life. Why are some relationships unstable, while others last a lifetime? Why do the rich keep getting richer? And why do we all make so many irrational decisions?

You don’t need to be a scientist to have a stake in these answers. Join Bharmal for an abstract-free, accessible look at the hidden and surprising ways in which physics can help us to make sense of our unpredictable world.

Bharmal works for Google as a senior director of strategy. He writes about science for the Guardian and won NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for services to science communication.

BBC Radio 4: Human Intelligence

Naomi Alderman and guests

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Exchange Marquee

Writer Naomi Alderman dissects the minds of brilliant thinkers from the past; examining the myriad ways in which humans think and realising that great minds don’t, in fact, think alike. She brings some big brains to Hay Festival in a special edition of the programme.

Philippa Gregory

Normal Women

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Discovery Stage

Philippa Gregory’s bestselling Normal Women has been adapted for teens! Join the international blockbuster author of The Other Boleyn Girl as she redefines the story of ordinary English women and asks why they are missing from 900 years of history. Hear some fascinating stories of highwaywomen, pirates, soldiers, inventors and rioters in this lively and interactive event.

Michael Morpurgo in conversation with Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Cobweb

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Wye Stage

The nation’s favourite storyteller, Michael Morpurgo, discusses his new book Cobweb with Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Cobweb is a powerful, moving adventure inspired by the extraordinary true story of the French Drummer Boy of Waterloo; a stunning tale of courage and kindness – a book about the bond between a girl and her beloved dog, about humanity, animals and the heartbreak of war.

These Are My Rocks Workshop

With Bethan Woollvin

Saturday 24 May 2025, 1pm –  Creative Hub

Does your little one collect something? Join author/illustrator Bethan Woollvin for a craft workshop based on These Are My Rocks, a story about collecting. Children will enjoy a hilarious reading of this interactive book, explore fun collections and oddities from around the world and then craft their own unique collection.

Guided Tour of Hay Castle & Hay Castle Entry

Explore Hay Castle with a Tour Guide

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2pm –  Hay Castle

Join us for an exclusive guided tour led by one of our passionate volunteer guides during Hay Festival 2025. Our knowledgeable guides will take you on a captivating journey through the castle, revealing tales of medieval knights, royal intrigue and the castle’s remarkable restoration. As you explore the castle you’ll gain unique insights into the lives of those who once called this place home. The tour also offers breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, providing the perfect backdrop for your visit.

Guided tours run daily at 11am and 2pm. Tour price includes entry into the Castle for a year including the current exhibition: 20th Century Welsh Artists.

A Hay Castle Trust event

Got 2 Sing Choir

Pop-up Music

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.05pm – 2.25pm –  Bookshop Garden Marquee

Enjoy this twenty-minute open air performance between events. Got 2 Sing Choir perform uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies, with plenty of fun and laughter.

Emma Barnett and Stacey Dooley

A Love Letter to Remarkable Mothers

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Global Stage

Award-winning broadcasters Emma Barnett (BBC Radio 4’s Today programme) and Stacey Dooley (Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over) take a personal, political and cultural look at motherhood and the impact it has on women. The pair’s honest and open conversation will look at the experience of becoming a mother and the physical and mental work required in motherhood, celebrating mothers of all kinds.

Barnett’s Maternity Service was written in snatched moments after the birth of her second child, and is a heartfelt and reassuring look at what it really feels like to be on maternity leave. In Dear Minnie, written after she had her first child, Dooley brings her trademark empathy and investigative skill to an entirely new ‘frontline’, exploring the varied perspectives of mothers today.

June Sarpong talks to Sarah Lamptey

Calling Una Marson: The Extraordinary Life of a Forgotten Icon

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Wye Stage

Presenter June Sarpong OBE, the BBC’s first Director of Creative Diversity, shines a light on the incredible forgotten legacy of the BBC’s first Black female broadcaster.

Una Marson was a trailblazer: she made history by becoming the first Black female broadcaster at the BBC and paved the way for Black women and the amplification of Black voices in the media. A journalist, poet, playwright, broadcaster and activist, Marson played a pivotal role in bringing Caribbean culture to audiences in the UK, smashing glass ceilings and fighting against the racism and misogyny she faced. She was a fierce political activist throughout her life.

International Booker Prize Winner

Anton Hur, the Winner and the Translator talk to Gaby Wood

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Meadow Stage

The International Booker Prize is the world’s most influential prize for translated fiction. It’s awarded annually for a single book translated into English and celebrates the vital work of translation with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between author and translator. In championing works from around the world that have originated in a wide range of languages, it fosters an engaged global community of writers and readers whose experiences and interests transcend national borders.

The prize will be announced on 20 May, and we present the winning author and translator in conversation with the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, Gaby Wood, and one of this year’s judges, author and International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator, Anton Hur.

In association with the International Booker Prize Foundation
Sponsored by the Korean Cultural Centre UK

Lamorna Ash

Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search For Religion

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  St Mary’s Church

Writer Lamorna Ash explores why younger people in search of nourishment for the soul are turning to religion. Ash was raised with about as much Christianity as most people in Britain these days: a basic knowledge of hymns and prayers received via a Church of England primary school education and occasional brushes with religious services.

But when she started writing about her two friends’ unexpected conversions, she began encountering a recurring phenomenon: in an age of disconnection and apathy, a new generation was discovering religion for itself. In her book Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever, Ash explores why younger people are turning to religion, and meets those wrestling with Christianity today.

Ash’s first book Dark, Salt, Clear won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize.

BBC Radio 4: Start The Week

Tom Sutcliffe with Alex Clapp, Chloe Duckworth and Sarah Gabbott

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Exchange Marquee

The startling and scandalous afterlife of garbage! Tom Sutcliffe rummages through ancient waste and today’s mountains of rubbish to uncover the secrets of what we throw away. He’s joined by the journalist Alex Clapp whose investigation Waste Wars exposes the catastrophic reality of the global garbage trade. The archaeologist Chloe Duckworth brings stories of the mess left behind by our ancestors. And the palaeobiologist Sarah Gabbott looks deep into the future to investigate how today’s junk will appear in the fossil record, in her book Discarded.

MC Grammar

The Adventures of Rap Kid

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Discovery Stage

Drop the mic! Award-winning teacher, Sky Kids superstar, World Book Day ambassador and viral book-rapping sensation MC Grammar heads to Hay to introduce his brand-new series, The Adventures of Rap Kid.

Get ready to meet Z, his beatboxing sidekick SFX, their super-slick teacher Mr G, and his dawg Pup Smoke, in a story about friendship, the power of words and finding your voice.

Grab your bling and your shades and make your way to this epic event jam-packed with jokes, bangin' tunes, wicked rhymes, a sick rap battle, and the greatest dance-off of all time!

Caroline O’Donoghue talks to Jack Edwards

Skipshock

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm –  Creative Hub

Join the author of The Rachel Incident and All Our Hidden Gifts, Caroline O’Donoghue, to hear about her new fantasy romance with a sci-fi twist, Skipshock. When Margo boards a train to her new school, she could never have expected a time slip into the chill of an alien winter. Margo and Moon were on two different trains, in two different worlds. They never should have met – but they did. And now they are running out of time. Will Margo manage to find a way home, or will she choose to stay in a world where she may have found the only person with whom she would choose to spend eternity?

Caroline’s The Rachel Incident is being adapted for television by Universal Studios, and her hit podcast Sentimental Garbage has had over 9 million downloads worldwide.

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.

Make & Take Crafting

Saturday Afternoon Session

Saturday 24 May 2025, 2.30pm – 4pm –  Make & Take Hub

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Kitchen Garden Pizza Workshop

Saturday 24 May 2025, 3pm –  Family Garden

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.

Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Love To Sing

Pop-up Music

Saturday 24 May 2025, 3.35pm – 3.55pm –  Bookshop Garden Marquee

Enjoy this twenty-minute open air performance between events. Love To Sing Choir was created in January 2024. Their first public performance saw them win Gold at the Herefordshire Performing Arts Festival, only six weeks after they formed! The choir has performed at many events including Ludlow Fringe Festival and Applefest in Hereford, and in the musical Make Good: The Post Office Scandal.

James Holland and Al Murray

Victory ’45

Saturday 24 May 2025, 4pm –  Global Stage

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE Day, historians James Holland (Normandy ’44) and Al Murray (Command) tell the unflinching story of the eight surrenders – from the Italian Alps to northern Germany, London, New York, Washington and Tokyo – that brought victory to the Allies and ended the Second World War.

What took place during the negotiations of those surrenders and the terms that were agreed there would determine the directions that participating countries would take in the years that followed, and ultimately decide the shape of our world today.

Holland and Murray together host the popular World War II podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Murray is also known as his comic alter ego, The Pub Landlord.

Sponsored by The Old Black Lion

Tuppence Middleton

Scorpions

Saturday 24 May 2025, 4pm –  Discovery Stage

OCD is often used as a shorthand for tidiness or as the punchline of a joke, but obsessive compulsive disorder is one of society’s most misunderstood conditions. Actor Tuppence Middleton has lived with OCD since the age of 11, struggling with obsessive thoughts and compulsions which she visualises as scorpions inhabiting her mind.

In this candid event, Middleton will talk about her diagnosis, how OCD manifests in her life, and discuss her memoir Scorpions, a visceral and uncompromising look at living with OCD. Middleton works in film, television and theatre; she starred in Netflix’s Sense8 and had roles in The Imitation Game and Shadowplay.