Hay Festival 2015

The name’s Mayhem… The author of My Brother is a Superhero unsheaths his new hilarious, action-packed adventure in this fast-paced event. Fans of spy thrills and spills will love Spyglass, and David will introduce us to Adam and his friends, who, when they accidentally reveal the secret location of an ex-spy, trigger a supervillain to turn up on their doorstep.

Contending with a dastardly plot, an evil doctor and a full complement of henchmen, it’s going to take Adam buckets of bravery, a truckload of gadgets and a lot of luck to defeat the bad guys and stop them from taking over the world.

David’s debut bestseller My Brother is a Superhero won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year.

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.

A tantalising opportunity to hear from a writer at the top of his game. Jack Thorne won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for writing Netflix’s global hit, Adolescence, and changed the national conversation about social media and toxic masculinity in the process. His work across TV, film and the stage – most recently Lord of the Flies for the BBC – is bold, brilliant and fearless. Hear first-hand from a writer shaping the stories of our time, in conversation with ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham.

The former president of the Supreme Court provides an extraordinary everyday guide to the law. Baroness Hale wants to demystify the legal system. Talking to broadcaster Paddy O’Connell, she takes us into the complexities of real courts and real decisions, using true stories to explain how the law represents all our rights.

Baroness Hale was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and is the author of the acclaimed memoir Spider Woman. She came to public prominence when she delivered the Supreme Court verdict that ruled Boris Johnson’s advice to the Queen that parliament should be suspended at the height of the Brexit crisis was unlawful.

Discover the hidden world of queer history and the forgotten queer heroes whose legacy lives on with our panel of experts. In this conversation with Sacha Coward, writers Emily Garside and Jason Okundaye discuss the stories they have uncovered in the course of their writing, the importance of queer history to our cultural landscape, and the people they wish everyone knew about.

Garside’s Rainbow Wales: Queer Icons Past and Present is an exploration of the household names and hidden icons who have shaped their fields and driven forward queer representation in Wales. Okundaye’s Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain looks at an elder generation of Black gay men, as he seeks to reconcile the Black and gay narratives of Britain. Coward’s Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters travels across centuries and continents to investigate the queer history of different mythic and folkloric characters.

Radically reimagining the nature-or-nurture novel, director Lynne Ramsay – and star Tilda Swinton – transform the text of Lionel Shriver’s polarising book into a chilling film rightfully venerated for its unforgettable visual language.

Eva puts her ambitions and career aside to give birth to Kevin. The relationship between mother and son is difficult from the very first years. When he does something irrational and unforgivable in the eyes of the community, Eva grapples with her own feelings of grief and responsibility.

Ride a rollercoaster of twists and turns, encountering secrets, lies, murder and money, in this discussion about The Heirs, an utterly addictive murder mystery.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is author of the award-winning YA novel Ace of Spades, an unputdownable high-octane thriller which takes a powerful look at institutionalised racism. Ace of Spades won the Books Are My Bag Reader’s Award for Young Adult Fiction, was a Carnegie Medal nominee, and a shortlisted British Book of the Year.

Faridah will talk to Louie Stowell, author of the Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good series, about her journey as a writer, and the themes and characters within her novels, including the Button heirs, the five genius children of infamous (and now murdered) billionaire Leontes Button, adopted and trained under the ‘Button Method’ so that they’ve had no choice but to be brilliant.

Free speech, protest and the law: where are the limits? Only at Hay Festival, join a compelling panel exploring the boundaries of protest, free speech and the right to assemble. From environmental activists like Just Stop Oil, who faced lengthy jail terms, to Gaza protesters whose cases were overturned after the High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action unlawful, this is a debate at the cutting edge of law, politics and civil liberties.

Our Chair, Alex Goodman KC, is a human rights barrister who has acted in leading cases on environmental and Gaza protests. He will be joined by Sir Max Hill KCB KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions (2018–2023), and Asad Rehman, Chair of Friends of the Earth, as they interrogate the legal, ethical and societal limits of activism. An essential Hay Festival event for anyone interested in the future of protest and the law.

It’s likely that at some point today, you spoke to a machine that used Artificial Intelligence, a technology that is reshaping society faster than any other in modern history.

In this timely event Jamie Bartlett, one of the UK’s leading technology writers and thinkers, discusses this new world with the Observer’s technology reporter Patricia Clarke, deepening our understanding of how AI systems work, how to make the most of them, and what the dangers of them might be for us now and in the future.

Bartlett’s previous books include The Dark Net and The People vs Tech, which was longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

Dive into Glasgow in the 1970s, as Frances Crawford introduces her debut novel. Speaking to legendary crime writer Val McDermid, Crawford talks about graduating aged 60 with a degree in creative writing, getting her big break later in life, and the journey of her book.

A Bad, Bad Place follows 12-year-old Janey, who finds a murdered woman on an abandoned railway, and her grandmother Maggie, trying to protect her from the local hardman, whose daughter is the murder victim.

Crawford won Bloody Scotland/Glencairn Crime Short Story Competition and the first chapters of A Bad, Bad Place were Highly Commended by the Moniack Mohr Emerging Writer Awards 2024.

Have we relied too heavily on the US to protect us? How much of a threat do Russia and China pose to UK security? In a changing world, have we left ourselves exposed? The BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, talks to former national security adviser and Britain’s former ambassador to Washington Lord Darroch, the Guardian’s foreign correspondent Luke Harding, and author and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations Mark Leonard.

Two authors: licensed to thrill. Bond fans Vaseem Khan and Kim Sherwood discuss their reimaginings of the world of James Bond, bringing new and old characters to life. Both authors are working on books from the James Bond universe, at the invitation of the Ian Fleming Estate. They talk to Ava Glass, spy fiction writer and former investigative journalist.

Khan’s Quantum of Menace follows Q as he returns to his sleepy hometown. As he begins investigating the death of his childhood friend, a renowned quantum computer scientist, he soon finds danger closing in. Sherwood’s Hurricane Room is the latest in a series of Double O novels she is writing. When Agent 003 finds James Bond in Russia after years of searching, she just needs to get him out. But a mistrustful Bond only wants revenge on the head of a terrorist organisation with links to his past.

The question ‘are you really the doctor?’ is one Matt Hutchinson has heard too many times. Claiming it as the title for his new book, the comedian, writer and doctor shares his experiences as a Black British doctor on the frontline of the NHS. In this frank and humorous conversation with scientist Adam Rutherford, you’ll hear more about the reality of working in healthcare as a member of an ethnic minority.

Hutchinson recounts his journey from medical school through to some of the UK’s most chaotic hospitals, highlighting both his personal experiences and the unique challenges that non-white patients face in our healthcare system. Learn about the key issues facing the NHS while celebrating the immigrant healthcare workers who are its true backbone.

Get to know the floating city through the wine, cocktails and stories that spill from Venice’s most vibrant neighbourhoods. This talk and tasting will give you a whole new history of the iconic destination. Over the last 1,600 years, the city of Venice has perfected the art of living well – and Susan L Schwartz has discovered the drinks that sustain this status.

Schwartz offers a flavour from her stunning new book A Guide to Drinking in Venice, demonstrating a cocktail or two. She reveals the famous bar that birthed the Bellini, the wines imported by the city’s many merchants, and the coffee houses, pubs and places that add to the city’s intoxicating charm. Sit back, take a sip and imagine you’re floating through the waterways of Venice – all from the Hay Festival fields.

A screening of Park Chan Wook’s adaptation of Donald E Westlake’s 1997 horror thriller The Ax. The South Korean director brings his at times brutal black humour to this story about how modernisation dehumanises and destroys people.

When a happy family man is dismissed after 25 years of loyal service at a paper company, he finds the perfect solution to land his next role: truly eliminate the competition.

Three brilliant speakers, all with something completely different to say. Enjoy the range and variety of Hay Festival packaged into one entertaining session. This evening mathematician Marcus du Sautoy will debate how maths shapes our creativity, geneticist Adam Rutherford will prove that everyone in the audience is of royal descent, and author Sophia Smith Galer talks about how to kill a language. Chaired by former BBC and Sky News correspondent Robert Nisbet.

In his biggest live tour to date, leading political comedian Matt Forde (The Royal Variety Performance, Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You, British Scandal) finds positivity in life despite all the evidence to the contrary in politics and his own health.

“The most topically incisive impersonator on the block... It’s laugh-a-minute stuff” – Telegraph.

Spies are glamorous, dangerous, heroic and utterly compelling – and the perfect subject for the books we devour, in both fiction and non-fiction. Step inside Hay Festival’s first ever Salon to celebrate our inaugural Crime Day, where our panel of spy writers discuss the incredible stories they’ve uncovered in their work. They swap tales of secret worlds and hidden influence, and of people whose courage and ingenuity quietly shaped history. And they compare the real-life agents with the beloved spies of fiction who fill our bookshelves.

Gordon Corera has been the BBC’s security correspondent for two decades, and now co-presents the podcast The Rest is Classified. His latest book The Spy in the Archive tells the story of a KGB archivist turned traitor. Charlie English is a former head of international news at the Guardian, and author of The CIA Book Club, the story of how 10 million books were smuggled across the Iron Curtain during the cold war. Daria Santini’s book A Woman Named Edith is a major new biography of the photographer and Soviet agent who recruited Kim Philby. They talk to Ava Glass, the UK’s leading female spy fiction writer and a former investigative journalist.

An hour of movement and breathwork, led by a highly-skilled Hay-on-Wye practitioner, to start your day at Hay Festival with open heart and mind. 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, this yoga class is open and accessible to all. The class leader will adapt to different levels of experience, so that each student takes what they need from the practice.

Please bring your own yoga mat and wear loose, comfortable clothing. Booking is essential. Contact Clare Fry at hello@larchwoodstudio.com with questions relating to these classes. Alert your practitioner at the start of class if you have any injuries.

The insiders’ guide to what’s happening in the news. Former political and foreign correspondent Robert Nisbet brings together a panel of insiders to discuss, debate and dissect the day’s news. You’ll get the background you might not know, the analysis that helps you understand and the insight that reveals what the stories shaping our world really mean for us all. With security expert Gordon Corera and former Conservative cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.

Why do we stare at sunsets? Why do we get a rush from the view from the top of a mountain? What is it about the extraordinariness of nature that inspires awe? And why don’t we feel it when we’re doing the supermarket shop? Two writers have the answer. You have to go to the edge. Turn your back on big cities, the establishment, the centre of any received authority and journey to the wilderness – real or metaphorical.

Cal Flyn takes us into the wild in her book The Savage Landscape, addressing our yearning to be inspired by extreme nature. Charles Foster argues that all the best ideas happen at the edges, in his book The Edges of the World. They talk to broadcaster and Countryfile presenter Sean Fletcher.

What can a comic book tell you about your health? Cartoonist and GP Dr Ian Williams shares how he found his voice through coining a new genre of ‘Graphic Medicine’, in this illustrated talk exploring the growing intersection of comics, autobiography, illness and healthcare.

William’s The Bad Doctor series of graphic novels draws upon his own struggles with OCD. His new book The Sick Doctor, inspired by his experience of cancer treatment, is out later this year.

Watch a selection of short films, curated by MUBI, throughout the morning. The day’s schedule will be listed each morning at the venue – pop along and take a look.

Read graphic novels and comics for adults and kids! Come and visit the Graphic Novel Reading Room to discover a wide range of genres including non-fiction, graphic medicine, travelogue, journalism, memoirs and many more. Hundreds of titles will be provided for you to browse and read, and you can finish whole books in one sitting.

This oasis of visual storytelling will be open throughout the day for you to drop in. It’s located in the Bookshop Garden – look out for the blue & white striped marquee next door to Shepherds Ice Cream.

Step into the magical world of Bird & Blend Tea Co., discover the secrets of tea mixology and create your own perfect blend in an immersive and interactive Tea Mixology Experience led by an expert mixologist. This hands-on workshop invites you to taste up to six unique blends and test your tea knowledge with an engaging and fun tea matching game.

With expert guidance, you’ll get to craft two custom tea blends to take home and pair with your next fave book! You’ll also learn about different tea types and brewing tips to enhance your tea-making ritual at home. There’ll be an opportunity to ask questions, plus you’ll get a goody bag with free samples. Visit the Bird & Blend Tea Co. stand afterwards for a free gift with purchase (find a special token in your goody bag). Book now – it’s going to be TEArrific!

Come on a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye, led by guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Learn about the historic environment of the town and its surroundings.

Hay-on-Wye is located within 520 square miles of beautiful countryside 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.

Please wear appropriate footwear and outdoor gear. Walk level: easy.

Come armed with pencils and paper as cartoonist Neill Cameron leads the spectacular Phoenix Comic Book Draw-Off. Expect hilarity and lots of fun in this interactive show that’s perfect for the whole family. Cameron, the creator of the bestselling Donut Squad series, will be joined on stage by Thiago de Moraes and Laura Ellen Anderson from the world of The Phoenix comic for a show-down worthy of any comic book battle.

And if you’re inspired to create your own comic book, visit the on-site Phoenix Comic Books take-over with appearances from Bunny Vs Monkey and Donut Squad, as well as Phoenix Comic Club drop-in sessions so you can learn how to draw your own characters across the Phoenix Comic Books.

Join award-winning picture book author/illustrator Sophy Henn for a double storytime following the exploits of a ghostly pair of friends. Sophy will read I Hate Everything!, her irresistible tale about finding the positives when your day seems completely rubbish, as well as the new sequel I Want Everything! This celebration of the things in life that really matter is guaranteed to turn your frown upside down. Then Sophy will help you to draw some ghosts, and make your very own pet one to take home!

Sophy is creator of the much-loved Bad Nana fiction series, the Pom Pom series and the Ted board book series. She was World Book Day Illustrator in 2015 and 2016.

Join award-winning comedian and writer Melanie Owen for a fun, interactive comedy workshop. Like getting laughs? Got an idea that an audience would love? From the chaotic to the ridiculous, this session will bring those ideas to life! Write stand-up, sketches or sitcom scenes, get loud and find your funny bones.

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.

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.

Step inside Hay Castle – a border stronghold shaped by myth, power and reinvention. Visit the current BorderLands exhibition and enjoy full access to the castle, from cellar to rooftop. Explore rooms layered with stories, including Matilda’s room, the Richard Booth space, historic costumes and the castle cellar.

Experience the new, interactive exhibit on the second floor, then climb to the viewing platform for wide views across the Wye Valley. Your ticket also includes unlimited return visits for a full year, so you can come back as the seasons – and the castle – change.

This ticket allows you to visit the castle at a time of your choice on the day selected, and also gives you entry into the BorderLands exhibition.

Step inside Hay Castle during Hay Festival 2026 and explore a place shaped by power, survival and reinvention. Led by an expert volunteer guide, this tour traces 800 years of life inside the castle – from medieval plots and royal whispers to its rescue, restoration and reimagining as a place for ideas today. You’ll move through rooms, stairways and towers, hearing stories of the people who lived, schemed, dreamed and partied here. Along the way, take in sweeping views across the Wye Valley – a reminder that this is a border castle, built to watch and be watched.

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

Join lifelong friends Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins as they ask each other the questions they’re too embarrassed to ask anyone else. We all have things in our life that we should know by now, but don’t. In a live recording of their Audible Original podcast, Mel and Sue tackle their ignorance head on, and along the way help us all feel a little better about our own ignorance.

A must-attend event for Classics lovers with a world-class expert in Greek mythology. Daniel Mendelsohn has produced a brand new translation of The Odyssey, poised to become the authoritative English-language version of this magnificent, endlessly enjoyable masterpiece. He talks about the joys and challenges of translating such an iconic piece of work and why the story still appeals to modern audiences.

Mendelsohn is editor-at-large of the New York Review of Books, and author of An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

Understanding the need for and art of protest has never been more important, as across the world people stand up against injustice. Graphic novelists Scarlett and Sophie Rickard and Myfanwy Tristram discuss writing about protest, the link between art and activism, and why the comic book is the perfect medium to discuss raising our voices against injustice.

This Slavery by the Rickards is adapted from a novel by radical author Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, who was the first working-class woman to have a novel published in Britain. It tells the story of sisters Rachel and Hester Martin, one of whom agitates for reform, while the other submits to the slavery of a patriarchal marriage. For Noisy Valley, Tristram visited the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, inviting people to recount their memories of the times they’d refused to take things lying down.

Since childhood, poet Bethany Handley felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. That all changed when she became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to. Public rights of way are currently blocked in 32,000 places in England and Wales. Handley talks to investigative journalist Nicola Cutcher about My Body is a Meadow, describing what nature means to her and why we all need to work together to make the countryside open to all.

Handley is an award-winning writer and poet who campaigns for disability rights and better access to nature. Nicola Cutcher is an investigative journalist living on the Welsh/English borders.

Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Print: Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Watch out for chaos as Louie Stowell reveals the hilarious new doodle-packed installment in her best-selling series about a diminutive Norse god. Loki, the mighty trickster god, has been banished by Odin for bad behaviour to live on Earth as an eleven-year-old boy. Things he cannot do on Earth: reveal his awesome godly powers. Things he must do on Earth if he wants to get back home: go to school, do good deeds, write a diary. He’ll also have to sort out the chaos that erupts after the goddess Freyja arrives in town – or face terrible consequences… Louie will share the inspiration behind Loki’s escapades and demonstrate some doodles!

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.

Do you know who you’re going to vote for at the next election? Or are you one of the millions of people who now describe themselves as politically homeless? Former Downing Street Director of Communications Guto Harri discusses why we’ve lost our loyalty to the traditional parties with Private Eye journalist Adam Macqueen, polling analyst Scarlett Maguire and former Conservative Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.

Chef, businesswoman and Great British Bake Off presenter Dame Prue Leith opens up about her extraordinary life via the pages of her favourite books. Leith’s CV is impressive to say the least. She started her first business at the age of 20. By 30, she’d opened Leiths, the Michelin-starred restaurant that made her name. She’s been a director of companies including British Rail, Woolworths and the Halifax Bank, and chair of the Royal Society of Arts. And still she finds time to read. Here she shares the books which have held a particular resonance for her through her life. Expect straight-talking and strong opinions and, of course, a fabulous pair of glasses.

Hay Festival is proud to support the National Year of Reading

Inventor and educator Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu takes us on a fun and informative deep dive into the world of chain reactions that underpin our everyday existence. Sharing personal anecdotes about how chemistry has shaped her life, as well as scientific insights, Uchegbu explains how our bodies and our world are held together by chemical bonds.

Uchegbu is professor of pharmaceutical nanoscience at University College London, and president of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Talking to geneticist and science communicator Dr Adam Rutherford about her new book Chain Reaction, she’ll leave you thinking about the world around you in a new way.

Whether you’re a parent, grandparent or just love cartoon strips, you’ll find much to entertain in this frank discussion and live cartoon drawing about early parenthood. Writer and cartoonist Becky Barnicoat talks while she draws as she introduces her graphic novel memoir Cry When the Baby Cries. In conversation with novelist Emma-Jane Unsworth, she explores everything from the anatomy of the hospital bag to the tyranny of gentle parenting. It’s an antidote to parenting books and a very human take on the messiness of new motherhood. Barnicoat has drawn for the New Yorker, the Guardian and more, and has illustrated books including Holding the Baby by Nell Frizzell.

Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Join hosts James Briefel and George Pundek for a live recording of their popular film podcast Pulp Kitchen, which celebrates all things cinema. Their show blends informed discussion with a relaxed style, creating a space where audiences can share and develop their passion for movies.

Print: Join hosts James Briefel and George Pundek for a live recording of their popular film podcast Pulp Kitchen, which celebrates all things cinema. Their show blends informed discussion with a relaxed style, creating a space where audiences can share and develop their passion for movies.

Online: A BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series exploring the music of Edvard Grieg and others. This last of three recitals recorded for broadcast features Guy Johnston (cello) and Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano), who perform a programme including Grieg and Britten.

Programme:

Benjamin Britten Sonata in C for cello and piano, Op 65

Edvard Grieg Cello Sonata in A minor, Op 36

Calling all keen detectives in the making! We have a murder mystery to solve – and we’re going to have a lot of fun while we do it. Alasdair Beckett-King, creator of the world’s finest detective Montgomery Bonbon, is asking for your help to crack the case in his new book. In Scandal on the Stage, a playwright collapses on stage, whispering “Murder!” – but the cast all have rock-solid alibis…

Alasdair – a stand-up comedian seen on Mock the Week and Comedy Central Live, as well as the author of the Bonbon series – will show you how to walk, talk and detect like a sleuth. One with a great sense of humour.

Join award-winning comedian and writer Melanie Owen for a fun, interactive comedy workshop. Like getting laughs? Got an idea that an audience would love? From the chaotic to the ridiculous, this session will bring those ideas to life! Write stand-up, sketches or sitcom scenes, get loud and find your funny bones.

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.