Hay Festival 2016

The consultant neurologist, author and presenter explores our senses and how they construct our perception of the world. His book features extraordinary individuals whose senses have been altered in some way, and whose stories illustrate important insights into normal sensory function. Leschziner is a neurologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, where he leads the internationally renowned Sleep Disorders Centre, one of the largest sleep services in Europe, and is Professor of Neurology and Sleep Medicine at King’s College London.

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men – with a history stretching back to Shakespeare himself – invite you to join them for a sparkling comedy. One of the UK’s finest touring theatre companies, they present this great play as Shakespeare first saw it performed: in the open air, by an all male cast and with Elizabethan costumes, music and dance.

Banished to the Forest of Arden, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando and the Duke are freed from the constraints of their former lives – lovers tussle, wits and fools spar, familial bonds are challenged, and everyone wrestles with what it really means to be yourself. A rustic romp packed with music, laughs, cross-dressing confusion and a dash of wrestling!

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool” – William Shakespeare.

There are five performances As You Like It, on Thursday 2, Friday 3 and Saturday 4 June. Seating at all performances is unallocated. These are outdoor performances, come rain or shine, so please dress warmly and according to the weather.

You can enjoy a tipple, soft drink or ice cream from the licensed bar and ice cream stand before the performance and during the interval.

Click here to pre-book a delicious picnic box to enjoy during the performance.

Toilet facilities are available on site.

Meet the illustrator of the silver anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Find out how he creates the unique Harry Potter covers and watch him bring your favourite Harry Potter characters to life. Take a pencil and paper to draw along with Jonny. Join us after the event in the HAYDAYS courtyard to share your magical memories of reading Harry Potter and celebrate 25 magical years of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with Bloomsbury Children’s Books and the National Literacy Trust. Everyone welcome.

Danielle Jawando’s new novel is a powerful coming-of-age story set in Manchester about chance encounters, injustice and how the choices that we make can completely change our future. Danielle Jawando teaches creative writing, her credits including Coronation Street and her debut YA novel And the Stars Were Burning Brightly was shortlisted for many awards.

The author of An Answer for Everything teaches you how to research topics as varied as sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, the favourite tipple of every nation on Earth and what people really got up to during the Covid lockdowns – and how to turn them into glorious data visualisations.

Hay Shantymen sing rollicking shanties here on the East Coast of Wales. Enjoyment is guaranteed or else you’ll walk the plank!

An urgent manifesto on never giving up from the Booker prize-winning trailblazer whose 2019 win – the first by a Black woman – was a revolutionary moment both for British culture and for her. After three decades as a writer, teacher and activist, she moved from the margins to centre stage, and she made history. This is her intimate and inspirational, no-holds-barred account of how she did it, refusing to let barriers stand in her way. She charts her creative rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to the imaginative exploration of 'untold' stories. Drawing deeply on her own experiences, she offers a vital contribution to current conversations around social issues such as race, class, feminism, sexuality and ageing, in conversation with Rosie Goldsmith, journalist and Director of the European Literature Network.

Kate Bingham is a bio-tech venture capitalist brought in to lead the government’s vaccine taskforce in 2020. She was one of the most prominent figures in the handling of the pandemic in the UK, taking the lessons learnt from her six-month period leading the task force as critical reflection on how health crises can be better handled at present and in the future. Awarded a DBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2021, she is committed to the battle against disease, and is joined by Fiona Fox, Science Media Centre Chief Executive, to discuss her work, challenges, and hopes for the future.

Climate change and inequality are ravaging the world and costing billions. Who will help lead us to a better future? Business. These massive challenges, as well as pandemics, resource pressures and shrinking biodiversity threaten our existence. The push for a clean economy and the focus on diversity and inclusion offer exciting opportunities to heal the world, and prosper by doing so. Government cannot do this alone. Business must step up.

The co-author of Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take offers key lessons from Unilever and others about how to profit by fixing the world’s problems. Courageous leaders are already making it real. Polman was CEO of Unilever 2009–19 and serves as Vice-Chair of the UN Global Compact.

In conversations with Nik Gowing, founder and director of the Thinking the Unthinkable project, former main presenter at BBC World News, trustee of the Hay Festival

The Canadian writer, author of A Complicated Kindness, All My Puny Sorrows and Women Talking discusses her poignant, hilarious and deeply moving new novel with the Guardian's Associate Culture Editor. Fight Night is a girl’s love letter to the women raising her and a tribute to one family’s fighting spirit.

Britain’s famously unwritten constitution is coming under unprecedented strain. Power-hungry governments view checks and balances with contempt. Is now the time to strengthen our ancient patchwork of norms and conventions – and write the rules down in one place? Speakers include Mary Ann Sieghart, journalist, author and broadcaster; and Helena Kennedy QC, barrister and human rights advocate. Chaired by Alan Rusbridger, Editor of Prospect magazine.

Visit Hay Castle’s inaugural exhibition, Portraits of Writers, where Tom True, director of Hay Castle, will give a ten-minute introduction to the exhibition followed by a question and answer session in the gallery.

Portraits of Writers is the exciting inaugural exhibition at Hay Castle, newly opened to the public after a major restoration project. The display, selected from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery by guest curator, author and journalist Dylan Jones OBE, brings together a range of portraits of celebrated British individuals who identify as writers. The golden thread is the theme of identity, both individual and collective. The exhibition presents a range of methods and approaches used by artists to capture the complex identities of writers, including gender identity, sexuality, race, ethnicity, national and regional identity, migration and colonisation. Writers depicted include RIz Ahmed, Simon Armitage, Salman Rushdie and Bernardine Evaristo.

Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality, loss and what came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts to deviant burials with heads rearranged, from richly furnished Anglo-Saxon graves to the first Christian burial grounds in Wales, they provide an alternative history of the first millennium in Britain. Alice Roberts combines archaeological finds with DNA research and written history to shed fresh light on how people lived: by examining the stories of the dead.

Roberts has been a Professor of Public Engagement with Science at the University of Birmingham since 2012 and specialises in human anatomy, physiology, evolution, archaeology and history. She is presenter of TV’s Digging for Britain.

Musician and composer John Altman’s memoir uses the title bestowed on him in a drawing by Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam to illustrate his 50-plus years in music. Among the many improbable (but true) stories about his life are: how he spent his childhood around Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole and Peter Sellers; how he came to play with Nick Drake, Peter Green, Bob Marley, Muddy Waters, Prince, David Bowie, Van Morrison, Amy Winehouse and John Legend; and why he led a band that included Sting, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and Bob Geldof. He tells all to actor and director Adrian Dunbar.

The bestselling novelist introduces her new book in conversation with the broadcaster, author and journalist. May 1572: for ten violent years the Wars of Religion have raged across France. Now a precarious peace is in the balance and a royal wedding has been negotiated that could see France reunited at last. An invitation has arrived for Minou Joubert and family to attend this historic union: the Joubert family’s oldest enemy will also be there. Within days of the marriage, her family will be scattered to the four winds and one of her children will have disappeared. Sweeping from Paris and Chartres to the ‘City of Tears’ itself – the great refugee city of Amsterdam – it’s a story of one family’s fight to stay together and survive against the devastating tides of history.

On the edge of adult life Sophie, a wild child at 18, crashed her car and was paralysed from the chest down. Everything she had dreamed of was forgotten and her journey to build a different life began. Over the past 18 years she has had to learn to overcome her own and other people’s perceptions of disability and explore the limits of her abilities.

The author of Driving Forwards: A Journey of Resilience and Empowerment After Life-changing Injury, Sophie Morgan is a disability advocate, inclusion consultant and one of the first female disabled TV hosts. She sees her challenges as a unique chance for creativity and has become the ultimate agent for change, voted in the Top 10 most influential people with a disability in the UK. She talks to the Guardian's Associate Culture Editor.

COP26 in Glasgow has been and gone but the agreements, targets, ambitions and goals still need to be delivered in a timescale of years, not decades. With COP27 rapidly approaching we discuss what progress has been made since November 2021 and what is still to be achieved in the next five months.

Join Alok Sharma, President of COP26 and chair of the Westminster Government’s Climate Action Implementation Cabinet Committee, and Sophie Howe, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, in conversation with Peter Lacy, Global Sustainability Services Lead and Chief Responsibility Officer at Accenture.

Join Benedict Cumberbatch and friends as the hugely popular all-star show returns for the sixth year to Hay Festival and in aid of the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. A celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence, Letters Live sees a diverse array of outstanding performers read remarkable letters, inspired by and often drawn from Shaun Usher’s bestselling Letters of Note anthologies. The full cast will be kept under wraps until the performance.

Text LETTERS to 70150 to donate £10 to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

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Leslie Thomas QC is author of Do Right and Fear No One, an account of an idealistic and outspoken lawyer’s coming-of-age and a powerful portrait of the lives of those he has fought for. Lady Brenda Hale retired as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the UK’s most senior judge, in January 2020. Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is a distinguished lawyer and advocate of civil liberties and human rights. These three exceptional experts talk about speaking the truth and the power of law with ​journalist Georgina Godwin.

The Aberystwyth University academic examines the human body from the perspective of our imagination through history. Vernon explores a timeline of body myths, from medieval cruentation to the conspiracy theories surrounding vaccines. She demonstrates how our imagination can both benefit and hinder medical understanding.