The Platform is a new space for young, emerging artists to share their work with Hay Festival audiences. Spanning a diverse range of art forms, The Platform aims to elevate and develop outstanding creative artists at the start of their careers. Join us to discover and support some of the best young talent working in the UK today.
Hay Festival’s 2024 Writers at Work/Awduron wrth eu Gwaith give a public reading of their current work. An opportunity to experience the best Wales has to offer in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Writers at Work is a creative development programme for emerging Welsh talent at Hay Festival.
A BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series marking the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. In this third, and slightly longer, of four recitals recorded for broadcast, the Leonore Piano Trio and Lawrence Power (viola) perform Le Beau’s Piano Quartet in F minor, Op 28 and Fauré’s Piano Quartet No 2 in G minor, Op 45.
Create fantasy worlds with Cressida Cowell! Plunge into the imagination of the multi-million-selling author and illustrator of How to Train Your Dragon as she introduces her latest fantasy adventure Which Way Round the Galaxy. She’ll help you create your own magical world and characters, all while illustrating live on stage. Bring along your ideas books to show Cressida at the signing.
Whether you’re in the forest, your own backyard or the city, there are so many exciting ways to engage with nature – and forester Peter Wohlleben has the best ideas for doing it. He has the knowledge, from pressing flowers, harvesting algae and skipping stones to observing spiders and even building your own mini sailboat. Learn how to decode nature’s messages, identify plants and animal tracks, record and preserve your finds and more, with Peter’s activities to help you explore the outdoors.
In this workshop with expert tutors from Citrus Arts, you’ll learn the basics of juggling and object manipulation, skills that you can continue to practise and improve on your own at home. Try out hula hooping, diablo and more, in true Big Top style.
Join Polly Clark of Mountain Yoga Breaks and Lee Craigie of The Adventure Syndicate for a two-hour off-road bike ride in the beautiful Wye Valley. Clark and Craigie have enormous amounts of guiding and coaching experience, and they’re passionate about encouraging more people, especially women, to realise that mountain biking is for them.
To take part in this session you need to be able to ride a bike, but no off-road riding experience is necessary. The event will start and finish at Drover Cycles, Forest Road, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5EH.
Draw your sabre and take on friends and family for the Hay Festival fencing crown in this have-a-go session with Fencing Cymru/Welsh Fencing. Learn the skills of this fast-paced Olympic sport in a safe and friendly environment before stepping onto the piste – en garde!
Gain a rare insight into our greatest playwright by one of our greatest actors. Dame Judi Dench describes every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career in a series of intimate conversations with actor and director Brendan O’Hea (associate artist at Shakespeare’s Globe), inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters and backstage shenanigans. Drawing on her memoir Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, interspersed with vignettes on mentors, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she discusses everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, all peppered with her mischievous sense of humour.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction-winning author of The Power introduces her new novel, in which a group of misfits plan an audacious heist with the future of the world at stake. When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to be working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. She may have left the cult, but if her father's apocalyptic warnings are starting to come true, how much future is left? Meanwhile, in a mall in Singapore, survivalist Lai Zhen flees from an assassin. She’s cornered and desperate. Suddenly, a piece of software appears on her phone telling her how to escape. But if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her? Martha and Zhen’s worlds collide and set in motion an explosive chain of events.
Aged 15, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was world number one in the 50m breaststroke. Over the next three years, she would become a double British champion, sports personality of the year in Kenya, and make the Great British Olympic team as the first Black woman to swim for Britain. She made history, but chose to walk away from it all. Ajulu-Bushell shares how she achieved victory and what it cost her to do so, physically and mentally. Laying bare the pressures of success and meditating on Blackness and identity, Ajulu-Bushell is honest and heartfelt. Lahiri talks to Creative Producer Heather Marks.
Geri Halliwell-Horner – author, singer, producer and musician – joins us at Hay Festival for a celebration of Girl Power. Geri has created Rosie Frost, a new kind of hero for today’s young readers. She talks about her creative career, writing for children and the inspiration behind her adventure novel. Bring your questions for the Q&A with Geri.
Bring your sketchbook and follow creator Laura Ellen Anderson into the magical world of Miniopolis, a fun-filled land of minibeasts and moon magic. Meet an extraordinary cast of new characters including Marnie Midnight and her minibeast friends Floyd Flombiddium and Star Vonstrosity. Discover how Laura takes inspiration from the real world around us, create your own weird and wonderful Minibeast character and learn how to draw one of Marnie’s adorable friends.
In this workshop with expert tutors from Citrus Arts, you’ll learn the basics of juggling and object manipulation, skills that you can continue to practise and improve on your own at home. Try out hula hooping, diablo and more, in true Big Top style.
An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit.
Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.
Come and meet Muffin the Mule and his friends, and enter the enchanting world of puppets brought to you by Will McNally, grandson of Jan Bussell and Ann Hogarth. Muffin and other characters from the BBC television programme will be appearing to celebrate Muffin’s new book, Muffin and the Passage of Time, written by Benjamin James Huxley. During the show Will McNally will talk about how Muffin the Mule became famous, while entertaining the children and taking the parents and grandparents on a trip down memory lane.
Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.
To fix Britain’s inequality problem, the power needs to be moved out of Westminster, and taken North. That’s the assertion of Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, and Steve Rotherham, mayor of the Liverpool City Region. In this timely conversation, the pair – who have together written the book Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain – look at Northern voices and culture, the people, politics and events that have shaped both them and the North, and how we can spread political and economic power throughout the UK. Courageous and thought-provoking, this discussion offers a new vision for a fairer future.
From manifesto to biography and from historical fiction to coming-of-age story, four authors of books centring on queer people discuss their work. Chris Bryant is MP for Rhondda and was the first gay MP to celebrate his civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster. His novel James and John tells the story of what it meant to be gay in early 19th-century Britain through the lens of a landmark trial. Kenny Ethan Jones’ book Dear Cis(Gender) People is a powerful call to arms empowering cisgender people to be better allies. Wendy Moore’s Jack and Eve tells the real story of a jobbing actress who became Emmeline Pankhurst’s chauffeur and mechanic, and the daughter of a Scottish baron, who became public faces of the suffragette movement. Alana S Portero is a Spanish writer, poet and transgender activist whose novel Bad Habit explores coming of age in 1980s Spain, a place of vast social inequality but also one where social change was possible.
The Scottish National Coach and mother of champions Jamie and Andy brings her debut thriller to Hay Festival. The former Scottish international tennis player is not new to publishing – her memoir Knowing the Score was a Sunday Times bestseller – but with The Wild Card she’s served up an ace in the world of fiction. Join her for a first-hand account of her story about an ambitious player who puts her promising tennis career on hold to have a baby. Years later, a surprise entry to Wimbledon sweeps her up in a world she thought she’d left behind. But could the greatest comeback of all time destroy everything she’s sacrificed to protect?
There is no one who has a bigger impact on the mood of a workplace than the boss. But how do you ensure you’re one of the good ones, and not a figure that everyone complains about? Starting with his own background, Henry Engelhardt shares his advice on how to be a better boss, in conversation with Antonia Garrett-Peel, Senior Writer at Management Today. With almost 50 years’ working experience, starting with Poochie’s Hot Dogs at age 13, Engelhardt is a founder and CEO emeritus of Admiral Group, based in Cardiff. It is the largest private car insurer in the UK and the only FTSE 100 company in Wales.
The Platform is a new space for young, emerging artists to share their work with Hay Festival audiences. Spanning a diverse range of art forms, The Platform aims to elevate and develop outstanding creative artists at the start of their careers. Join us to discover and support some of the best young talent working in the UK today.
Plunge into the science of rewilding with biologist and author Ben Martynoga. He celebrates nature and the incredible ways it keeps us alive, and explores how we can welcome the wild on a personal and epic scale. River-nurturing wolves, tree-toppling beavers, climate warrior whales and even genetically-engineered woolly mammoths could all help us protect, revive and restore our planet to its full glory. Come and take an inspiring look at how we can rewild life so that nature – and humankind – flourishes for a long time to come.
In this workshop with expert tutors from Citrus Arts, you’ll learn the basics of juggling and object manipulation, skills that you can continue to practise and improve on your own at home. Try out hula hooping, diablo and more, in true Big Top style.
Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.
Come and meet Muffin the Mule and his friends, and enter the enchanting world of puppets brought to you by Will McNally, grandson of Jan Bussell and Ann Hogarth. Muffin and other characters from the BBC television programme will be appearing to celebrate Muffin’s new book, Muffin and the Passage of Time, written by Benjamin James Huxley. During the show Will McNally will talk about how Muffin the Mule became famous, while entertaining the children and taking the parents and grandparents on a trip down memory lane.
Green grass, blue skies, white flannels and the gentle thwack of leather on willow; the quintessential image of cricket. The so-called ‘gentleman's game’ developed with the principle of fair play at its heart. But something is rotten at the core. The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket Report in 2023 found that cricket is riddled with structural and institutional racism, sexism, classism and elitism. Fry, Rafiq, Rutherford and Taylor discuss the big issues, examine the systemic biases and scrutinise the ongoing solutions to render the second most popular sport on Earth a game for everyone.
Stephen Fry is former President of the MCC and a lifelong cricket fan. Azeem Rafiq is a former Yorkshire County cricketer and England youth captain. Claire Taylor MBE is a World Cup-winning English cricketer. They talk to Adam Rutherford, scientist, author and player for The Authors XI cricket team.
The leading human rights lawyer, campaigner and former Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales argues for the vindication of human rights, attacked by opponents from across the political spectrum and populist and authoritarian movements worldwide. After the devastation of the Second World War, the international community came together to enshrine fundamental rights to refuge, health, education and living standards, for privacy, fair trials and free speech, and outlawing torture, slavery and discrimination. Their goal was greater global justice, equality and peace. That goal is now threatened by wars, inequality, new technologies and climate catastrophe. Outlining the historic struggles for human rights, Chakrabarti is an indispensable guide to the law and logic underpinning human dignity and universal freedoms. For human rights to survive, they must be far better understood by us all.
Lee Craigie, Rebecca Lowe and Kate Rawles and are no strangers to riding, and sometimes racing, their bikes very long distances in remote and challenging conditions. But what actually unites them is their motivation for doing so. These three women have all the funny, jaw-dropping stories that come from adventuring all over the world by bike; but, unlike traditional stories of derring-do, their aim is not to conquer or impress – it is to inform, inspire and unite us in leading healthier, happier, more sustainable lives.
Craigie (Other Ways to Win) has represented Scotland from the World Championships to the Commonwealth Games. Now retired from the sport, she devotes her time to projects that engage marginalised young people. Lowe (The Slow Road to Tehran) rode across the Middle East at the peak of the Syrian War, driven by a desire to learn more about the troubled region. Rawles (The Life Cycle) set out on an epic journey through South America on a self-built bamboo bicycle, meeting the extraordinary activists working to protect biodiversity.
After years of unexplained health problems, writer Polly Atkin was finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her thirties. She began to piece together what had been happening to her – all the misdiagnoses, the fractures, the dislocations, the bone-crushing exhaustion, the not being believed. She traces a fascinating journey, delving into the history of her two genetic conditions, uncovering how these illnesses were managed (or not) in times gone by and exploring how best to plan for her own future. From medical misogyny and gaslighting to the illusion of ‘the nature cure’, she examines how we deal with bodies that diverge from the norm, and why this urgently needs to change. Atkins talks about her book Some of Us Just Fall with Bethany Handley, an award-winning writer and disability activist from South Wales.
Writer and game designer Holly Gramazio – founder of the experimental games festival Now Play This and scriptwriter of the award-winning indie videogame Dicey Dungeons – talks about her debut novel The Husbands with bestselling author Naomi Alderman.
In The Husbands, Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband, and the evidence all says he’s right. Soon, Lauren realises that her attic is creating an endless supply of husbands for her: the hot one, the one who makes a great breakfast sandwich, the one who can calm her. But when you can change husbands as easily as changing a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good-enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one?
An evening workshop for parents/carers/guardians/teachers/interested grown-ups* with It Happens Education (ithappens.education) and Brook (brook.org.uk) discussing Relationships, Sex & Health Education (RSHE). Come and find out about the history of the subject, the big RSHE picture and look at some current UK data. What do we want for our young people? What do young people say they want? Why is it important to start these conversations at home? How should you navigate this tricky terrain as a family? We promise top tips, conversation-starters and lots of engaging discussions and activities.