Hay Festival 2019 Programme

Who was Queen Victoria? A little old lady, potato-like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black? Or a passionate young princess, a romantic heroine with a love of dancing? There is a third Victoria – a woman who was a remarkably successful queen, one who invented a new role for the monarchy. She found a way of being a respected sovereign in an age when people were deeply uncomfortable with having a woman on the throne. On the face of it, she was deeply conservative. But if you look at her actions rather than her words, she was in fact tearing up the rule-book for how to be female.

In the summer of 2017 a team of interviewers travelled up and down the Wye in Herefordshire, recording the experiences of the people who have lived and worked on the river or simply been drawn to its waters in search of recreation or a jam jar of minnows. O’Mahony has collected their stories. River Voices is filled with stories of the Wye told through the words and photographs of those who have known the river all their lives – ferrymen and ferrywomen, boat builders and bridge builders, rowers and swimmers, anglers and poachers, ghillies and river bailiffs, otter hunters and more. Chaired by Adrian Lambert.

From Saudi journalists to Russian spies, assassination has been big news over the past year. Trenta and Cormac explore assassination in international politics, asking what triggers states to resort to such a controversial tactic; and how can they can get away with it? Turning the spotlight closer to home, they also explain how the US and the UK have traditionally thought about assassination. Do MI6 and the CIA really have a license to kill? Trenta is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University, and Cormac is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham.

The 21st century is a new era for interfaith dialogue. While in the past such encounters might have been stiff affairs contrived to generate a politically expedient photo-op, what is remarkable today is the depth of relationships being formed across historically deep divides. In her wide-ranging work Encounters acclaimed artist Nicola Green is a first-hand witness to this new era in our collective history; for the first time in history religious leaders are publicly articulating their respect for other faiths without undermining the absolute truth of their own. Green presents a series of artworks and a book created in collaboration with global religious leaders including Archbishop Rowan Williams, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama, the Grand Mufti of Egypt and former British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Encounters: The Art of Interfaith  Dialogue uses Nicola Green’s artwork as a lens through which to explore and analyse the state of interreligious dialogue today. It includes essays by leading global scholars, theologians and art historians: Dr Rowan Williams, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Professor Ben Quash, Professor Aaron Rosen, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, Professor David Ford OBE, Revd William Danaher, Maryanne Saunders, Dr Lieke Wijnia, Dr Chloe Reddaway, Dua Abbas, Jibran Khan, Gabrielle Rifkind and Skinder Hundal.

Chaired by Simon Lockett.

Comedian Humza Arshad introduces his latest character creation, Humza Khan aka Little Badman, the star of a hilarious new series for children full of mischief, adventure and evil aunties. Named ‘the most influential Asian of his generation’, Humza Arshad is an ambassador for YouTube’s Creators for Change and is passionate about using creativity and comedy to inspire youngsters from all backgrounds.

Who will win the 2019 YA Book Prize? Join the host of the award presentation to hear from authors on the shortlist, which this year includes Sara Barnard, Juno Dawson, Laura Dockrill, Muhammad Khan, Louise O’Neill, Alice Oseman, Tom Pollock, Fiona Shaw, Katherine Webber and Laura Wood.

Have a go at green woodwork, pottery and weaving and find out what our craft-based Practical Skills Therapeutic Education brings to autistic young people. Talk with students, craft tutors and staff. Ruskin Mill Trust is a unique educational charity for learners with complex needs.

Step into Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials world where every child is born with their own shape-shifting daemon. What form will your daemon take? You might want a lion, but could it be a poodle? Join poet and performer Rufus Mufasa and Head4Arts in discovering your inner daemon through poetry, art… and magic.

Join the University of Worcester illustration team to make collages and prints in response to the Migrations – Open Hearts, Open Borders exhibition. Find out how artists can change attitudes and help us to empathise with people who face dangers in their struggle to find a safer and better place to live. We will provide materials and inks; please bring kindness and imagination to show that a small gesture can make a difference.

The MP for Tottenham investigates the modern concept of ‘tribes’ and how New Tribalism has pernicious effects on the health of our society. He explores the ways in which we can challenge and neuter New Tribalism, distinguishing the ‘good’ sort of tribalism – the patriotism that is inclusive and open to newcomers, the ethnic or religious pride that celebrates a particular culture or faith tradition rather than denigrates others as inferior, the ‘Spirit of Dunkirk’ that saw ordinary people come together and do extraordinary things – from the harmful tribalism that excludes and divides. Chaired by Justin Albert, Director of National Trust Wales.

“Sensations presents a radically new story of British art. It connects the artists of today with British culture more than three hundred years ago as it finds an unexpected thread that links William Hogarth and Tracey Emin, Thomas Gainsborough and Lucian Freud. What they share is an eye for the real world. I hope this book will change how you see Britain, and its art” – Jonathan Jones.

The emergence of low fertility rates in most high income countries has begun to concern governments. Some countries fear that their populations will start to decline in number, with negative consequences. Yet with world population currently over 7 billion and set to reach over 12 billion by the end of the century, low child bearing rates are good. They are leading to lower population growth and are thus good for the environment, good for addressing the climate emergency, and good for reducing pressure on the other species who inhabit the planet. This session will consider why there is now renewed pressure on women to have babies, and will argue the case for maintaining low fertility.

Harper is Professor of Gerontology at Oxford University and Director of the Oxford Institute of Ageing.

Hereford Cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Ethelbert the King. But who was St Ethelbert? He played a significant role in the development of the church in Mercia. Following his beheading by King Offa in 794 pilgrims flocked to his shrine in Hereford Cathedral, which became a place of healing. Medieval writers elaborated stories of the saint and, although there are no traces of his original shrine, his story lives on and says important things about life and faith today. Tavinor is Dean of Hereford Cathedral.

Historically often considered as worthless morasses, peat bogs cover three per cent of the world’s land surface. They are unique records of history and today they are recognised as beautiful habitats providing environmental benefits from biodiversity to climate regulation. However, they are threatened by drainage, land reclamation for agriculture and peat cutting for fuel, which has significantly reduced the extent and condition of these ecosystems on a global scale. Transforming the management of wetland, peatland and waterlogged sites is crucial. Henry Chapman is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Birmingham and is a regular guest on archaeological programmes including C4’s Time Team.

Join Alison Eves (Royal Institution) and Charlie Gilderdale (NRICH Cambridge) for a workshop offering families the opportunity to work mathematically. Being resilient, curious, resourceful and collaborative are all great characteristics, which everyone can develop to be more mathematical. Come and share some problems selected from the popular RI Masterclass (rigb.org/education/masterclasses) and NRICH (nrich.maths.org/mathematically) collections, encouraging you to strengthen your mathematical muscles.

The intrepid team of researchers who brought you Custard, Culverts and Cake: Academics on Life in The Archers return with a hard-hitting exposé on the lives of the women of Ambridge. The Archers Academics are joined by actor and academic Charlotte Martin (a.k.a. Susan Carter) to examine the power of gossip in Ambridge, portrayals of love, marriage, and motherhood, female education and career expectations, women’s mental health and the hard-won right of women to play cricket.

From the bestselling author of Silence comes an illuminating examination of the joy of walking. From those perilous first steps as a toddler to great expeditions, from walking to work to trekking to the North Pole, the philosophical Norwegian adventurer explains that he who walks goes further and lives better. Kagge offers a meditation on the love of exploration, the delight of discovery and the equilibrium that can be found in this most simple of activities.

Tracing the twin lives and connected deaths of humans and trees in English verse, especially in the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Mew, Catherine explores the paralleling of plant and person, the way that tree-felling is represented in poetry, and moments when the distinction between the human body and the tree’s form starts to fade. Poetry records the passing of specific tree lives, borrowing aspects of the elegy – a form that traditionally records a human death – to lend importance to such losses. Catherine Charlwood is an emerging scholar in the environmental humanities at Oxford University. After speaking she will discuss the concepts further with Jane Davidson, Director of the award-winning Institute for Sustainable Practice, Innovation and Resource Effectiveness (INSPIRE) programme, and Brycchan Carey, Professor of English at Northumbria University and Chair of ASLE-UKI.