Hay Festival 2019 Programme

Join a stellar line-up of some of this year’s shortlisted authors for The Bookseller YA Prize as they are put under the spotlight by the judges before the winner is finally revealed.  And celebrate with them afterwards! This year’s frontrunners are Holly Bourne, Sarah Crossan, Jenny Downham, Frances Hardinge, Catherine Johnson, Patrick Ness, Louise O’Neill, Mel Salisbury, William Sutcliffe and Lisa Williamson.

Please drop in to our new Compass venue, quiz leading academics about their subject and engage in some critical thinking. As part of Hay Festival 2016 and with help from the Welsh Government we have invited a range of university lecturers and speakers to drop in, talk about their subject areas and about university life.

Charlotte Scott is senior lecturer in English at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Richard Suggett is Senior Investigator, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales.

Book a seat in the Relish Festival Restaurant and receive a free drink on us.

Enjoy a delicious meal from our Festival Restaurant buffet. Choose from a wide selection of hot and cold dishes created fresh on site by our team of chefs using the best local seasonal produce. You can view the menu online here.

Come up to the buffet and choose as much as you like from all the dishes on offer for just £20. 

By booking online or by phone you will receive a complimentary glass of wine, bottle of beer or soft drink, and guarantee your seat in the restaurant where our team will be waiting to give you a warm welcome.

Alex Gooch breads and water are free for every customer, with a selection of desserts to choose from as well as a full bar and barista coffees.

Why are we celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death? Who and what are we celebrating? How did Shakespeare get from there (the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage) to here (the global icon) and where will he go in the next hundred years? The eminent Shakespeare scholar is the author of The Genius of Shakespeare and Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare. He is Professor of English at the University of Oxford. Chaired by Jerry Brotton.

An illustrated lecture explores the earliest human art and what it tells us about our ancestors. Bahn looks at the famous cave paintings of Lascaux, Altamira, and Chauvet and the thousands of exquisite pieces of portable art in bone, antler, ivory, and stone produced in the same period. In 2003, Bahn led the team that discovered the first Ice Age cave art in England, at Creswell Crags in Nottinghamshire. Chaired by Daisy Leitch.

The fabulous collections housed in the world’s most famous museums are trophies from an imperial age. Now the countries from which these treasures came would like them back. The Greek demand for the return of the Elgin Marbles is the tip of an iceberg that includes claims for the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria, sculpture from Turkey, scrolls and porcelain taken from the Chinese Summer Palace, textiles from Peru, the bust of Nefertiti, Native American sacred objects and Aboriginal human remains. Jenkins investigates why repatriation claims have soared in recent decades and shows that sending artefacts back will not achieve the desired social change nor repair the wounds of history. Chaired by Daniel Hahn.

In the summer of 1990, Cathy’s brother Matty was knocked down by a car on the way home from a night out. It was two weeks before his GCSE results, which turned out to be the best in his school. Sitting by his unconscious body in hospital, holding his hand and watching his heartbeat on the monitors, Cathy and her parents willed him to survive. They did not know then that there are many and various fates worse than death. The Last Act of Love is shortlisted for The Wellcome Book Prize.

What can chimpanzees and bonobos tell us about the extraordinarily complex human cultures? Koops, an Affiliated Lecturer in the Division of Biological Anthropology at Cambridge, investigates this question by studying our closest living relatives, the great apes.

The brilliant Ross and Christopher explore the wonder of science as a way to explain some of the mysteries of the world in their books, Time Travelling with a Hamster and The Many Worlds of Albie Bright.

Please drop in to our new Compass venue, quiz leading academics about their subject and engage in some critical thinking. As part of Hay Festival 2016 and with help from the Welsh Government we have invited a range of university lecturers and speakers to drop in, talk about their subject areas and about university life.

Dr Jason RC Nurse is an academic in the Department of Computer Science at Oxford University and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.

General Sir Richard Shirreff, one of Britain’s highest-ranking soldiers and until recently Deputy Head of NATO, was threatened with court martial when he dared to criticise David Cameron’s defence policy. What he says here goes much further. He brings an urgent warning: We are sleepwalking our way into war with Russia and we need to act now, with resolution, to avoid it.

The story of how humans first started building the globalised world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering more than ten thousand years from the origins of farming around 9,000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the C13^th AD. Cunliffe brings into clearer focus those basic underlying factors that have driven change throughout the ages: the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation. The Emeritus Professor of Archaeology is the author of The Ancient Celts, Facing the Ocean, and Britain Begins.

What do neuroscience, tuberculosis and the humble fruit fly have to do with cancer? At the Francis Crick Institute, London’s new biomedical discovery centre, scientists from across the biomedical spectrum are being brought together under one roof. They are revolutionising research into cancer by speaking across specialisms and towards scientific innovation in the C21^st. Chaired by Francine Stock.

Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the past 20 years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running for its life. The author of The Wild Life and Meadowland tells the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our ploughland: from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. He talks to Kitty Corrigan.

Please drop in to our new Compass venue, quiz leading academics about their subject and engage in some critical thinking. As part of Hay Festival 2016 and with help from the Welsh Government we have invited a range of university lecturers and speakers to drop in, talk about their subject areas and about university life.

Carrie Smith is a Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University.

The author pays tribute to Shakespeare’s 400^th anniversary in this brilliant new novel inspired by Othello. Her heartrending tale blends a love story with a sci-fi twist in an original Space-age adventure. Hear her discuss the story and her own love of Shakespeare with Claire Armitstead of the Guardian.

Unexplained death! Who knows what will happen next? Come and meet the authors of The Lie Tree, The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth and Rose Campion and the Stolen Secret – three hugely entertaining and gripping stories. In conversation with Emma Carroll.

For fans of the new TV series, an action-packed session where you can learn what it takes to become a legendary member of International Rescue. Play games, take part in secret missions and hear tales of the illustrious Tracy brothers in their courageous battles.

Sean Rafferty introduces In Tune live from the BBC TENT at Hay festival on Thursday 2nd June.

His guests include Michael Palin; Roger McGough; The Duchess of Rutland; Chris Morgan Jones; James Naughtie and Claire Harman

Live music from Ghazalaw, whose music celebrates the affinity between Indian Ghazal and the Welsh folk tradition; former Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales, Hannah Stone; and the male voice choir, Only Men Aloud

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult over 18 years