Our monthly 'Meet the Haymaker' series shares stories of the change-makers at the heart of Hay Festival Global and the impact it has had on their lives. This month, get to know Sheila Cremaschi, director of Hay Festival Segovia and lead on our activities in communities across Spain.
What does Hay Festival Global mean to you?
Hay Festival is where you can discover the pulse of the world, where different cultures coexist harmoniously, where the beauty of ideas lives in all its splendour. And it is where democracy is protected and celebrated.
What’s your favourite Festival memory?
This year. The conversation in the green room, with AC Grayling, with the depth of his wisdom, and then listening to the questions he posed on stage: how should we live our lives?
Have you ever changed your mind on something having been to a Hay Festival event?
So many times! Stephen Fry unearthing new depths of Shakespeare Othello, celebrating it as one of his greatest tragedies.
Who was the best speaker or performer you saw on a Hay Festival stage?
It is so difficult to choose just one. There have been so many wonderful performers I have witnessed on stage. Jude Law reading in Letters Live and Helena Bonham Carter performing nursery rhymes spring to mind, moments where words leapt from the page and touched our hearts.
What advice do you have for a first-timer at the Festival?
Abandon all prejudice and surrender to the festival of ideas.
Sum up Hay Festival Global in five words or less:
A world of free minds.