Hay Festival 2017

For this year’s Forum we bring you inspirational entrepreneurs who have found, and are developing, innovative ways of growing food, using waste, transporting goods and people. 

Full Day ticket allows entry to all five sessions. Events: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8

A fresh approach to climate change communication: five core principles for public engagement that can propel climate change discourse out of the margins and into the mainstream. Marshall is the author of Don’t Even Think About It: Why our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change.

Elvis & Kresse was founded after co-owner Kresse Wesling fell in love with a fire hose. When she found out that the London Fire Brigade threw tons of damaged fire hoses into landfill, she knew there must be a use for them. From bags and belts, purses to phone covers, the business now creates lifestyle accessories by re-engineering seemingly useless waste. It has seen phenomenal growth, saving tonnes of waste from landfill and opening outlets in ten countries.

With an increasing population, climate change and concerns about food (in)security, new and innovative farming methods are required. Steve Dring started the UK’s first underground farm based in disused air raid shelters, growing herbs and salad plants.

Spowers is the Chief Engineer and Founder of Riversimple, whose goal is simple – to pursue, systematically, the elimination of the environmental impact of personal transport. Spowers, Clancy and their team have created Rasa, a super-efficient, hydrogen-powered car. They are joined by Will Vaughan, CEO of Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo, who provide financially and environmentally sustainable services by bike – including parcel delivery, trade waste recycling, inner city advertising and pedicab hire.

Time travelling magicians Morgan & West present a jaw dropping, heart-stopping, brain-busting, opinion-adjusting, death-defying, mind-frying, spirit-lifting, paradigm-shifting, outlook-changing, furniture-rearranging magic extravaganza! Witness a mountain of mysterious magic, a hatful of hyper-reality, and of course a truck full of tricks and tea. Mixing brain boggling illusion and good old-fashioned tom-foolery, Morgan & West present a show for all the family, where magic and silliness abound! Fun for ages five to 105! ‘Hilarious” - Primary Times.

Crop drones, precision pesticides, earthworm management, poultry software and GPS- directed tractors are just some of the new technologies that are revolutionising agriculture. The panel discusses agri-tech innovation helping farmers to become more efficient by using fewer resources. Browning is CEO of the Soil Association, Speller is an award-winning poultry farmer, Freestone a Linking Environment and Farming accredited farm manager.

What can the worlds of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and drama contribute to how we understand and respond to climate change? Do humans respond to stories more than facts? The work stems from a project called Weatherfronts: climate change and the stories we tell. The pieces referenced here were commissioned by TippingPoint, Free Word and partners 2014-2016. Weatherfronts brought together writers and leading climate change experts to inspire new writing that would encourage people to act to help our environment. 

Can delusional beliefs and distorted memories have redeeming features? Psychologists have consistently found that we are more optimistic than is warranted by the evidence. This form of ‘unrealistic optimism’ leads to mild distortions of reality but it has been shown to contribute to good mental health, motivation and productivity. Bortolotti is Professor of Philosophy at University of Birmingham.

Time travelling magic duo Morgan & West present an evening chock full of jaw-dropping, brain-bursting, gasp-eliciting feats of magic. The dashing chaps offer up a plateful of illusion and impossibility, all served with wit, charm and no small amount of panache. Be sure to wear a hat – Morgan & West might just blow your mind. ‘Dazzlingly clever and very funny! Superb!’

Force majeure: “superior force”, “chance occurrence, unavoidable accident”. The sublimely gifted comedian returns to Hay after 20 years, with his global tour show. “King of the universe.  Comic Genius. Entertainment incarnate” – Telegraph.

The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge is designed to engage students in tasks that are fun and based on problems that computer scientists often meet and enjoy solving. They can be solved without prior knowledge but do require logical thinking. At Hay you can meet the BEBRAS team and see how well you do. Please bring your own laptop if you can.

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

Enjoy a delicious meal from our Festival Restaurant buffet. Choose from a wide selection of hot and cold dishes created fresh onsite by our team of chefs using the best local seasonal produce.

Come up to the buffet and choose as much as you like from all the dishes on offer for just £20 per person. By booking online you will receive a complimentary glass of wine, bottle of beer or soft drink. You will also be able to reserve a seat in the restaurant where our team will be waiting to give you a warm welcome.

Award-winning Alex Gooch breads and water are free for every customer.

A selection of desserts and local cheeses from Neal's Yard Creamery is also available, plus a full bar and barista coffees.

See a Sample Menu Here

The entrepreneur examines the relationship between business, government and society. He discusses Britain in a post-Brexit world, Donald Trump’s America, and the ‘elephant in the boardroom’ – executive pay.  Lord Jones was Director General of the CBI. In 2007 he was appointed Minister of State for UK Trade and Investment. He talks to Jesse Norman.

Two authors discuss how bereavement encouraged them to tell their own life stories against all the odds, in a society where men still often suffer silently. Historian and Professor Hywel Francis chairs Byw Nawr/Live Now, the end-of-life-care coalition in Wales. He talks to ex-miner George Brinley Evans and broadcaster Phil Steele. Taubert is a palliative and end-of-life-care consultant at Velindre Cancer Centre. They offer a clinical perspective on male depression and grief.

The UK BEBRAS Computational Thinking Challenge is designed to engage students in tasks that are fun and based on problems that computer scientists often meet and enjoy solving. They can be solved without prior knowledge but do require logical thinking. At Hay you can meet the BEBRAS team and see how well you do. Please bring your own laptop if you can.

#HAYYA

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

Enjoy a delicious meal from our Festival Restaurant buffet. Choose from a wide selection of hot and cold dishes created fresh onsite by our team of chefs using the best local seasonal produce.

Come up to the buffet and choose as much as you like from all the dishes on offer for just £20 per person. By booking online you will receive a complimentary glass of wine, bottle of beer or soft drink. You will also be able to reserve a seat in the restaurant where our team will be waiting to give you a warm welcome.

Award-winning Alex Gooch breads and water are free for every customer.

A selection of desserts and local cheeses from Neal's Yard Creamery is also available, plus a full bar and barista coffees.

See a Sample Menu Here

From blackbirds, beavers and beetles to tawny owls, natterjack toads and lemon slugs, every day of the year, winter or summer, in every corner of the British Isles, there's plenty to see if you know where -- and how -- to look. The Springwatch star’s books include The Bumper Book of Nature and Tweet of the Day.

How can we shift from ‘doing better’ to ‘doing what’s needed’ and doing it now across Wales? Best for Wales will celebrate and inspire sustainable innovation. Hill is CEO of B Lab UK; Jones is Founder of Welsh ICE and Davies is founder of Neighbourly. Chaired by maverick thinker Andy Middleton from TYF.

The lawyer and Inspiring Girls champion introduces her delicious “recipes and stories from my country and beyond” in a glorious celebration of Spanish culture and cooking.

How do you create unmissable cliffhangers and characters that listeners both love and love to hate? Alison Hindell, Head of Audio Drama for the BBC, will discuss the art and technique of writing serials and long-running series with two leading writers of radio drama.

What is the multiverse theory? What is Entanglement? Superposition? What is quantum computing, and how does it help? You don’t have to be a quantum physicist to understand these things if you have one who can explain them to you. And we have Linde Wester.

The former Deputy Prime Minister lifts the lid on the workings and failings of the 2010--2015 coalition government, analyses the 2017 European electoral cycle, and assesses the opportunities for the liberal centre ground of politics.

500 years ago, Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Pope with a radical new vision of what Christianity could be. The revolution he set in motion has toppled governments, upended social norms, and transformed millions of people’s understanding of their relationship with God. In his dazzling global history charting five centuries of innovation and change, Ryrie makes the case that the world we live in was indelibly shaped by Protestants.

For 600 years, exquisitely produced volumes stored everything we know – from Gutenberg’s bibles to Newton’s Principia and Austen’s Persuasion. Purcell tells a rollicking tale of discoveries and bibliophile treasures from some of Britain’s greatest private library collections that are now saved for the nation. Purcell was formerly Libraries Curator for the National Trust and is now Deputy Director of Research Collections at Cambridge University Library.

We all know that ’flu is bad for you. And Ebola. And Zika.  Why on earth are there so many viruses that cause such terrible diseases? And what does current research teach us about the fascinating rabbit-hole that is the world of virology?

Ellie’s father Sven and uncle Jacob, both leading scientists, led the XU Norwegian Resistance movement against the Nazi occupation in WW2. She tells a mesmerising story of espionage and heroism illustrated with artefacts and documents as she traces the survival of the XU all the way through the Cold War until 1988.

Among the bravest fighters for the Amazon rainforest are the Wampis people from Peru.  They’re supported by the Size of Herefordshire, a local group, who are just back from visiting them and join us with photographs, films and stories.

What are the actions required that can improve the integration of the third sector, business and public sector together to be best for Wales? How is Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 being used to stimulate change to the way we govern and do business in Wales helping to create a future fit for generations to come? Anne Meikle of WWF Cymru and sustainability consultant Dr Alan Netherwood will report back on the first year of implementation by the Welsh Government. A discussion will follow on participants experiences, how the Act can be used to help Wales fulfill its potential and what role we can take in this.