Hay Festival 2020 Earlybirds

When Andy Grant’s eyes blinked open from a 10-day coma in February 2009, he was alone in a hospital bed in Birmingham. He had a broken sternum, a broken leg, a broken elbow and shrapnel lodged in both forearms. He had a severed femoral artery, nerve damage to his hands and feet as well as deep gaping wounds in both cheeks. He had been blown up during a routine foot patrol in Afghanistan as a Royal Marine with 45 Commando. He became a gold medallist at the Invictus Games. You’ll Never Walk is his story.

The launch of a new bilingual collection of poetry, Cuddle Call? by National Poet of Wales Ifor ap Glyn. An ambassador for Welsh-language poetry both at home and internationally, Ifor’s work is often translated. Chaired by Professor Damian Walford Davies.

Cyflwynir cyfrol newydd o gerddi dwyieithog, Cuddle Call? (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch) gan Fardd Cenedlaethol Cymru Ifor ap Glyn. Mae Ifor yn awyddus iawn i fynd â barddoniaeth Gymraeg ar draws y byd, a chaiff ei waith ei gyfieithu’n gyson. Cadeirir gan yr Athro Damian Walford Davies.

In the last of his Jane Austen Bicentenary lectures, the author of What Matters in Jane Austen celebrates her last completed masterpiece, published posthumously in 1818.

NOTHING LIKE A DAME is a unique celebration of the lives and careers of four of our most iconic actresses; Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright and Dame Maggie Smith.  All four have gone from being fledgling actresses in the 1950s to acting royalty. They’ve watched each other’s careers grow and bloom and have celebrated life’s ups and downs together.  NOTHING LIKE A DAME invites you to spend time with these acting legends as they talk about their lives and their professional experiences across Theatre, Television and Film.  Directed by Roger Michell (My Cousin Rachel, Notting Hill), and produced by BBC’s Arena team the film also includes a range of astonishing archive material.  Candid, funny, caustic, irreverent, poignant and utterly engrossing, this film  is proof that there is truly nothing like a Dame...

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Anthony Wall, Executive Producer and Producer, Sally Angel. Chaired by the BBC’s Head of Commissioning for Arts, Mark Bell.

Dara is one of the most recognisable faces on British TV, as host of the hugely successful Mock The Week, Star Gazing Live, Robot Wars and Go 8 Bit. Catch one of the most charismatic, intelligent, fast-talking and downright funny live performers working today in this brand new show for 2018. “His set is a masterclass in intelligent, no-frills stand-up” - The Guardian. “If you want a comic who can hold an audience in the palm of his hand for two hours, here’s your man” - The Times.

The entrancing singer-songwriter’s debut album English Rain was released in 2013 and contained a slew of UK top 10 singles, including: Please Don’t Say You Love Me, Panic Cord, Home, Salvation and Gabrielle’s unforgettable cover of The Power of Love which reached No.1 in the UK chart.  Light up the Dark followed in 2015 and she built her label Never Fade Records, generating 100 million worldwide streams. Aplin’s seemingly relentless creative output continued in 2017 – she released two EPs featuring the infectious singles Miss You and Waking up Slow.

The biographer celebrates the centenary of the birth of the versatile musical genius, America’s greatest conductor and the composer of West Side Story. Burton was given exclusive access to Bernstein’s rich legacy of letters and papers, and the book draws on hundreds of interviews with family, friends and colleagues to reveal his fascinating and complex personality. The event is chaired by Humphrey Burton’s daughter, the broadcaster and author of Year of Wonder.

We are thrilled to launch the new cookbook by the chef, whose iconic restaurants Kensington Place and Le Café Anglais have served delicious food for 30 years. His columns in the Financial Times has conveyed the pleasure and joy of kitchen culture and has established him as a peerless food writer. A Long and Messy Business is arranged by months to reflect the seasonal nature of the cooking. Come and join a gastronomer’s treat of an evening.

Two fabulously funny, acute and savage journalists give us the skinny on the House of Commons, its characters and madness. Crace is parliamentary sketch writer for the Guardian and is the author of I, Maybot – a wicked chronicle of Theresa May’s first year in power. Shipman is political editor of The Sunday Times and author of All Out War and now Fall Out – A Year of Political Mayhem. Pull up a chair. This will be fun. Chaired by Hannah MacInnes.

Wake up and re-energise with our morning yoga class. Iyengar yoga is characterised by precision, alignment and attention to detail and is an inclusive and accessible yoga practice. Mats are provided; wear comfortable clothing; all abilities welcome.  Wye Valley Yoga

In this workshop you will be looking at yourself through drawing. Looking in the mirror and putting pencil to paper, there is an honesty in the difficulty of it, an immediate reaction in time, never to be repeated.  'I am who I am now, here, not who I could or should or want to be.'

No experience necessary, All materials provided

A little light ridicule to start the day, as the satirists read the tabloids and surf the social media storms for an irreverent look at what’s tickling the nation’s fancy today. 

Join the Cardiff scientist to understand and explore the genetic disorder, a condition that prevents the brain working properly. It gets gradually worse over time and causes motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. Yhnell will discuss the ethical dilemmas of genetic testing and their implications before focusing on current research into novel therapies and her research on computerised cognitive training (brain training) for people with the disease.

Ursula Martin was diagnosed with ovarian cancer aged 31 and walked around Wales to raise money for a cancer charity: she recorded the experience in One Woman Walks Wales. Hannah Engelkamp’s book and film Seaside Donkey were based on her experience travelling with this companion around Wales. Hannah’s meanders are now accompanied by her toddler, Osian, who inspired her current writing on ‘wilding’ childhood and what the ‘dériving’ and colonialist habits of infants can teach us about travel. They talk to Gwen Davies.

A masterclass on how to get started in the media, featuring a discussion with researchers and producers from radio, television and online, chaired by writer and broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill.
Contributors include: Caroline Carter, Talent Executive, BBC Studios.  Chris Walsh-Heron, Executive Producer, Digital, BBC Wales.  Elizabeth Clements, BBC Production Trainee.  Terry Goodwin, Assistant Editor, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire.

The author of the internationally bestselling The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs and How to Read Water will lead a walk up Offa’s Dyke talking about his new book Wild Signs and Star Paths: The Keys to Our Lost Sixth Sense, showing how it is possible to achieve a level of outdoors awareness that will enable you to sense direction from stars and plants, and forecast weather from woodland sounds. A member of the Brecon Beacons National Park team will join the walk.

Sarah is the author of five YA books including The Weight of Water, One, and her latest, Moonrise. She has a passion for words: written and spoken, poetry and prose. Join the star of the YA fiction scene for an entertaining and sometimes emotional conversation about her literary heroes, inspiration, research and more. Sarah Crossan will be in conversation with Claire Armitstead, Associate Editor, Culture for the Guardian News & Media. Little Black Fish celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The illustrator reveals all the things that went wrong in the making of his picture-book. In this case, the author had a great idea for a story about a crocodile, but, even when he was writing it, the manuscript got soaked with tea and nibbled by snails. And that was just the start...