Hay Festival 2022

Eighteen is a pivotal age, but what we’re like at this landmark age can tell us not just about ourselves, but the world around us. Author and social media sensation Alice Loxton introduces her new history of Britain, told through the lives of 18 figures throughout history when they were aged 18. Among those Loxton looks at are Elizabeth Tudor, the orphan facing deadly intrigue at court, and Richard Burton, the rugby-obsessed son of a Welsh miner.

Loxton is a historian and has pioneered bringing history to new audiences, with a social media following of more than 2 million. She regularly presents documentaries on History Hit, Channel 4 and the BBC and is author of Uproar! Scandal, Satire and Printmakers in Georgian London, nominated for Blackwell’s Book of the Year.

Start the day at Hay Festival with headline guests chaired by editors from The Independent reviewing the news, discussing the headlines and issues of the day, and revealing what’s breaking and trending online. A fascinating look at what’s tickling the nation’s fancy – and driving it to splenetic fury. Bring your coffee!

Among today’s guests are Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University Kehinde Andrews, author of The New Age of Empire, and award-winning director Havana Marking, whose documentary Undercover: Exposing the Far Right is screening at the Festival on 28 May.

Guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park lead a gentle walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye. The National Park is also home to a UNESCO geopark. During this walk, the Park’s Geopark Officer will offer a journey through deep time, exploring the geology of the hills.

Hay-on-Wye is located within 520 square miles of beautiful landscape that makes up the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. The National Park is driving change to bring about a sustainable future, meeting our needs within planetary boundaries. Their Hay Festival series of walks take you into the town’s local environment while offering the opportunity to learn more about the Park’s work and its treasured landscape.

Join Black Mountains foraging and wild herb expert Liz Knight for this demonstration and hands-on session, and learn how to bottle the essence of summer. Turning edible wild herbs and flowers into bitters to flavour drinks is a chance to capture the fleeting season. Using plants foraged locally, you’ll make your own artisan bitters to take away on the day.

Liz Knight is a foraging course teacher and author based near Hay-on-Wye. She’s been nibbling flowers since her twenties, when she became hooked – because wild food isn’t just free, nutritious and sustainable; it’s also often very delicious.

All aboard! Pamela Butchart needs your help because – big gasp – there’s been a Great Crisp Robbery. In her hilarious new book, Izzy and her friends are excited to find that their school trip involves an overnight train ride… but everything is strange. And, oh no! Their teacher has been kidnapped! Join Pamela for fun and silly stories, with lots of giggles and lots of crisps.

Pamela’s books include The Spy Who Loved School Dinners (winner of the Blue Peter Best Story Award), and My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat (winner of the Children’s Book Award).

See if you can help Selina settle the age-old question of which tastie-tastic rice dish is the best! In My Rice is Best, Shane’s favourite meal is a big, delicious, mouth-watering bowl of rice & peas. He believes it’s the best rice in the whole wide world and can’t wait to bring some in for his lunch at school. But how will he react when he discovers that his friend, Yinka, has also brought her favourite meal of jollof rice in for lunch?

Selina Brown founded Little Miss Creative, an award-winning Female Development Agency that empowers girls in schools across the UK, and launched the Black British Book Festival, celebrating new and emerging Black British authors.

Get your Hay day off to a brilliant start with our daily Ready, Steady, Music workshops! With different activities each day, these interactive, fun-filled sessions for mini musicians and their grown-ups will have you tapping sticks, roaring like dinosaurs, flying with unicorns, dancing with scarves, playing with parachutes and so much more. Come and meet our puppets, explore our range of instruments and listen to the beautiful sound of the cello.

Captivating young imaginations and creating lasting memories, these sessions offer a unique musical adventure. The perfect way to boost wellbeing, increase confidence, spark creativity and introduce children to the joy of music.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Legend has it that Hay Castle was built in a day by a giantess called Matilda who hurled a stone across the Wye at the end of construction. Find out about this story and more with this entry ticket that also allows you to visit the castle as many times as you like for a year. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for amazing views from the viewing platform.

This ticket allows you to visit the Castle at a time of your choice on the day selected, and also gives you entry into the 20th Century Welsh Artists exhibition on the second floor.

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.

Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Join us for an exclusive guided tour led by one of our passionate volunteer guides during Hay Festival 2025. Our knowledgeable guides will take you on a captivating journey through the castle, revealing tales of medieval knights, royal intrigue and the castle’s remarkable restoration. As you explore the castle you’ll gain unique insights into the lives of those who once called this place home. The tour also offers breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, providing the perfect backdrop for your visit.

Guided tours run daily at 11am and 2pm. Tour price includes entry into the Castle for a year including the current exhibition: 20th Century Welsh Artists.

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.

Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Step into the story with now>press>play! In between events, try out this immersive audio adventure for all the family. Hear every sound, move with the action and feel the magic of storytelling come alive around you.

On the beach you find a bottle with a map inside: an X marks the spot of buried treasure! Squawker the parrot gives you a magic telescope which whisks you away to Cap’n Sardine’s pirate ship. There you walk the plank, hop on a wooden leg, look through a telescope and eventually spot Treasure Island. Will you find the golden coins?

Two letters have been occupying the attention of industry, business, politics and more recently: AI. Academics and intergenerational experts Richard and Daniel Susskind offer a roadmap on how to approach AI, whether we should be scared, how we can best use and regulate it, and whether it’s good or bad for humanity.

Professor Richard Susskind CBE KC is the world’s most cited author on the future of legal services and a leading expert on the impact of AI on society. He is President of the Society for Computers and Law, and in 2024 was appointed Special Envoy for Justice and AI to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Daniel Susskind is a Research Professor in Economics at King’s College London and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University. He is the author of books including A World Without Work and Growth: A Reckoning.

Two contemporary writers discuss the power and playfulness of language, and introduce their new novels, with critic and author Stephanie Merritt.

Natasha Brown’s Universality is about a journalist who sets out to uncover the truth after a man is bludgeoned with a solid gold bar on a Yorkshire farm. It’s a celebration of the force of language from the Granta Best of Young British Novelist 2023 and Observer Best Debut Novelist 2021. Her debut novel Assembly was Foyles Fiction Book of the Year.

Coe’s The Proof of my Innocence is a political critique wrapped up in a murder mystery that involves an almost 40-year-old literary enigma. He is the award-winning author of 14 novels, including The Rotters’ Club and Middle England.

When cook Cherie Denham and photographer Andrew Montgomery conceived the idea of The Irish Bakery, they set out to portray traditional Irish cooking in the context of the island’s history and culture. Cherie’s recipes are accompanied by Andrew’s timeless images of landscape, people and food, with profiles of artisan producers by Kitty Corrigan. Winner of the Irish Food Writers Award for ‘Cookbook of the Year’, the book is for beginner bakers, expert cooks and lovers of Irish culture alike. Denham will demonstrate bread, biscuits and cake, which you can taste for yourself.

“I couldn’t love this book more!”– Nigella Lawson.

Join the Bafta-winning actor, Strictly champion and activist, and travel through time to find the fascinating story of communication. Discover ancient language and decipher secret codes, learn about the different ways we can send, or receive, a message, explore the first hieroglyphic ‘emojis’ and investigate how animals communicate.

There will be a BSL interpreter at this event

Bear can’t find his glasses. He must have left them at Giraffe’s house. On the way over, Bear sees all kinds of animals he didn’t notice last time: an elephant, a crocodile, a flamingo, a deer. And who’s this long spotty snake lying on Giraffe’s deckchair? Through his ingenious telling of this classic comical situation, Leo Timmers (Gus’s Garage, A Home for Harry) shows us how to enjoy the world through different eyes. Join Leo as he reads us his book and then guides you to create a drawing of your very own Bear.

Please bring your own sketchbook and pencils to this event.

How far would you go to find your way home? Find out with Zoology graduate Brogen Murphy, who’s turned their fascination with flora, fauna and clean technologies into a gripping tale of survival in the wilderness. Twenty-five years from now, no humans are allowed in the Wildlands – a vast area in Britain where wolves, lynx and bison roam free. The only exception is a high-speed train line that crosses right through the heart of the project.

Thirteen-year-old Astrid and her little sister, Indie, are onboard when their train slows to a brief, unexpected stop… and they find themselves accidentally left behind. They have only a rucksack, a phone without signal – and each other. As every wrong turn takes them deeper into the Wildlands, do they have the ingenuity and determination to survive?

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.

In this arts-based workshop you’ll use collage and printmaking techniques to design a Sirens of Sustainability character to protect our rivers, waterways and oceans.

University of Worcester staff and students from the Department of Illustration and the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society (ICPBS) return to Hay Festival with their engaging workshops to inspire young creatives. All materials and equipment provided – just bring your imagination!

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only 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.

Step into the story with now>press>play! In between events, try out this immersive audio adventure for all the family. Hear every sound, move with the action and feel the magic of storytelling come alive around you.

On a school trip to NASA, you and your classmates are accidentally sent on a mission to Mars. Over the 300-day journey, you have to guide the shuttle on its course, repair damage from a meteorite and learn how to survive in zero gravity. Will you ever make it back home?

The extraordinary courage of Gisèle Pelicot has changed how we see victims of sexual assault, and the trial of her husband Dominique Pelicot has gone down in history. Now, their daughter Caroline Darian bravely shares her story, offering a first-hand insight into the story of the Gisèle Pelicot trial, giving a voice to women who have been silenced and sharing how she and her mother are rebuilding their lives.

Darian talks to broadcaster and activist Jameela Jamil about the moment she found out her father was capable of some of the worst crimes imaginable and why she and her mother made their private trauma into a public fight. This courageous and important discussion highlights that shame should be placed on the perpetrators of sexual crimes.

Two gardeners reveal how connecting with their gardens helped them find solace and taught them how to live more sustainably. Poppy Okotcha and Kathy Slack discuss their own gardens, and share tips for sowing and growing your own plants, flowers and vegetables.

Okotcha’s memoir A Wilder Way chronicles her relationship with an ever-changing garden in Devon. She is a trained horticulturist and regenerative grower, and advocates for those who are underrepresented and marginalised in the world of horticulture and environmentalism. A regular contributor to the Royal Horticultural Society podcast, she was the ecological expert on Channel 4’s The Great Garden Revolution.

Slack’s Rough Patch draws readers into the world of the kitchen garden, revealing how she found refuge in a vegetable patch after she was forced to quit her high-flying career in London. She is a food writer, stylist, photographer and kitchen gardener who previously worked at Daylesford Organic Farm, before becoming a full-time writer and recipe developer.

Novelists Tessa Hadley and Rachel Joyce discuss their new work about sibling relationships and the hairline cracks that can appear in them, with critic and author Stephanie Merritt.

Hadley introduces her new novella The Party, which sees sisters Moira and Evelyn on the cusp of adulthood. When they meet two men with an intriguing air of sophistication, and are invited to a party, the sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them. Hadley is a winner of the prestigious Windham Campbell Prize for Fiction. Her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker.

In Joyce’s The Homemade God, family is everything – but as Goose and his three sisters search for answers about the death of their famous artist father, the things they learn about themselves, him and their new stepmother drive them apart before they can figure out his legacy. Joyce is author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and adapted for film in 2023.

Sample some tasty treats at this demo and tasting event with renowned chef Asma Khan. From her first appearance on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Khan has entranced with the magic of her cooking, transporting audiences across timelines and continents through tales of the food she grew up with and memories of her hometown of Kolkata.

Her cookbook Monsoon is a masterclass in taste, texture and balance between the six Ayurvedic flavours (Tangy, Bitter, Hot, Sweet, Sour and Salty). Her mouthwatering recipes range from Paneer Tikka Skewers and Monsoon Pakoras to Tamarind Prawns and Aubergine with Poppy Seeds.

Khan is widely recognised for her role as a social change advocate in the food industry. Her restaurant Darjeeling Express is known for its unique blend of street food, comfort food from Calcutta and royal dishes from her Mughlai heritage. The food is cooked by an all-women team who began, like Khan, as home cooks.

This thrilling event combines stories, classical music and art created live before your eyes. Author and illustrator James Mayhew (Once Upon a Tune) tells the stories of some much-loved pieces of music, accompanied by musicians and live drawing. Explore Debussy’s sunken city, be dazzled by Holst’s planets and fly like a Firebird with Stravinsky. Mayhew’s unique approach opens up great music for children and is exciting for parents too!

This much-loved musical conversation-starter asks its family audiences: 1) What kind of world would you like to be living in? and 2) What will you do to create that world?

Join Shea Ferren, Male Singer of the Year at the International Eisteddfod 2023, and Peace Child International’s David Woollcombe, for what may be the most consequential conversation you will ever have.

Driven by the magisterial songs of David Gordon (brother of Cat Stevens) and marking the 80th Anniversary of the United Nations, this show gets audiences to create a collective time machine to bring themselves back from two very different futures – one in which they follow UN guidance and create a safe, sustainable future, the other in which they don’t. If, as we hope, audiences choose the first option, the workshop focuses on answering the second question.

In this sustainable food session you’ll work with a rainbow of food and use all of your five senses to experience how it pops, snaps, smells and tastes. You’ll learn how a worm’s wiggle and a bee’s waggle help to create the ingredients we all love to eat. And you’ll travel through the stages of food’s fascinating journey, from its start as a seed in the soil, to the table via the dinner plate and everything – and everywhere! – in between.

Dr Michelle Darmody is a sustainable food education expert whose book Seed to Supper offers fun-packed ways for children to become better engaged with where food comes from.

In this arts-based workshop you’ll create a self-portrait, or a portrait of somebody or something else that you love, using DIY print-making processes, recycled materials and mixed media.

University of Worcester staff and students from the Department of Illustration and the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society (ICPBS) return to Hay Festival with their engaging workshops to inspire young creatives. All materials and equipment provided – just bring your imagination!

Drop in for this open-air performance with puppets, music and songs, for humans of all ages. A world premiere by Keith Temple, the show is created in tandem with music and art students at Kidderminster College.

Pod, the wilful Jack Russell terrier, has no idea that he’s a dog. Thanks to his scatter-brained owner, he’s grown up thinking he’s human… until a new addition to the family – Ella, the no-nonsense guinea pig – sets him straight on a few things. Pod begins to realise it’s not at all bad being a four-legged creature…