Poetry

Three of the most exciting voices on publisher Faber’s poetry list read from their latest collections. Kunial’s England’s Green was shortlisted for the 2023 TS Eliot Prize; its poems find the true and the timeless in the lived everyday and invite the reader to look again at the places and the language that we think we know. Laird’s Up Late is a powerful collection reflecting on the strange and chaotic times we live in; it contains a sequence meditating on a father’s dying, which won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. Sullivan, who won the TS Eliot Prize in 2019 for her debut Three Poems, performs from Was it for This, an exhilarating exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time.

Everyday Sexism Project founder Laura Bates discusses empowerment and a new system for an integrated and respectful society with her panel of guests. Author Winnie M Li exposes the abuse in the film industry in her latest book, Complicit. Sadaf Saaz is a poet, writer and women’s rights activist and Mandu Reid is the Leader of the Women's Equality Party.

Bates is a Hay Festival 2023 Thinker in Residence, questioning norms, finding new perspectives and challenging us to action. Her most recent book is Fix the System, Not the Women.

Dublin poet and playwright Stephen James Smith presents an evening of vibrant spoken word. Smith’s poetry videos have amassed over 2.5 million views, and his short film My Ireland, a companion to a poem of the same name he wrote as a commission for St Patrick’s Festival, was screened at the London Film Festival.

Have some fun with Michael Rosen, former Children’s Laureate and much loved author and poet, creator of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, A Great Big Cuddle and Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. Michael is a hugely popular performer – come along and join him for stories, poetry, humour and entertainment for all ages.

Twitter’s unofficial poet laureate Brian Bilston presents an hour of poetry and laughter as he reads from work including his latest book Days Like These. Expect poems that will take the blues out of Monday, flatten the Wednesday hump and amplify that Friday feeling, from January through to December.

The poet discusses his deeply humane and brutally hilarious boyhood memoir Toy Fights with broadcaster and journalist Sarfraz Manzoor. Born in Dundee, Paterson spent his boyhood on a council housing estate, dodging kids who wanted to kill him in a game of Toy Fights and obsessing over everything from origami to sex and Scottish football cards. The first 20 years of his life – for better or worse – shaped who he would become. His story is one of family, money and music, as well as schizophrenia, hell, narcissists, debt and the working class. Paterson has won some of the country’s most prestigious poetry prizes, and spent 25 years as a poetry editor.

Drop in and watch aspiring performers, musicians and designers from Hereford College of Arts come together to create an uplifting, joyous short outdoor performance celebrating the poetry of the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho.

Former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and instrumentalist John Sampson join forces for a unique event of words and music. Duffy performs some of her much-loved poems as well as new work, interspersed with musical interludes by Sampson, a multi-instrumentalist who plays the trumpet, recorders and a plethora of early and obscure wind instruments such as the crumhorn, gemshorn, and cornettino. Duffy and Sampson have collaborated for 20 years, playing venues including Buckingham Palace.

Then Before is a sound installation devised by sound artist Wajid Yaseen. Poems are presented in a multi-speaker, immersive listening installation, realised and activated by narration, music, found-sound, foley and spatialisation – a form of ‘sound or sonic poetry’. Then Before uses a selection of poems by writers Alice Kemp (a poet informed by states of dream, disturbance, and subtle trance), Jack Underwood (curator of the Faber Poetry Podcast and author of Happiness, A Year in the New Life), and Shamshad Khan (poet and resilience coach, author of Megalomaniac), sonified and with spatialisation by Yaseen.

Modus Arts have performed at the Arnolfini Bristol, ICA Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Whitechapel Gallery, Laban and the Freud Museum in London. Text–Sound–Art is a platform for exploring how poets and sound artists can work together to extend poetry into soundscape, and sound into wordscapes to create new meaning and enhance both disciplines.

Then Before is a sound installation devised by sound artist Wajid Yaseen. Through the work, Yaseen presents poems in a multi-speaker, immersive listening installation, realised and activated by narration, music, found-sound, foley and spatialisation – a form of ‘sound or sonic poetry’.

The installation uses a selection of poems by writers Alice Kemp (a poet informed by states of dream, disturbance, and subtle trance), Jack Underwood (curator of the Faber Poetry Podcast and author of Happiness, A Year in the New Life), and Shamshad Khan (poet and resilience coach, author of Megalomaniac).

Then Before is part of Modus Arts’ Text-Sound-Art programme which is a platform for exploring how poets and sound artists can work together to extend poetry into soundscape, and sound into wordscapes to create new meaning and enhance both disciplines

Modus Arts have performed and installed at the Arnolfini Bristol, ICA Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Whitechapel Gallery, Laban and the Freud Museum in London.

Then Before is a sound installation devised by sound artist Wajid Yaseen. Through the work, Yaseen presents poems in a multi-speaker, immersive listening installation, realised and activated by narration, music, found-sound, foley and spatialisation – a form of ‘sound or sonic poetry’.

The installation uses a selection of poems by writers Alice Kemp (a poet informed by states of dream, disturbance, and subtle trance), Jack Underwood (curator of the Faber Poetry Podcast and author of Happiness, A Year in the New Life), and Shamshad Khan (poet and resilience coach, author of Megalomaniac).

Then Before is part of Modus Arts’ Text-Sound-Art programme which is a platform for exploring how poets and sound artists can work together to extend poetry into soundscape, and sound into wordscapes to create new meaning and enhance both disciplines

Modus Arts have performed and installed at the Arnolfini Bristol, ICA Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Whitechapel Gallery, Laban and the Freud Museum in London.

​Then Before is a sound installation devised by sound artist Wajid Yaseen. Through the work, Yaseen presents poems in a multi-speaker, immersive listening installation, realised and activated by narration, music, found-sound, foley and spatialisation – a form of ‘sound or sonic poetry’.

The installation uses a selection of poems by writers Alice Kemp (a poet informed by states of dream, disturbance, and subtle trance), Jack Underwood (curator of the Faber Poetry Podcast and author of Happiness, A Year in the New Life), and Shamshad Khan (poet and resilience coach, author of Megalomaniac).

Then Before is part of Modus Arts’ Text-Sound-Art programme which is a platform for exploring how poets and sound artists can work together to extend poetry into soundscape, and sound into wordscapes to create new meaning and enhance both disciplines

Modus Arts have performed and installed at the Arnolfini Bristol, ICA Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Whitechapel Gallery, Laban and the Freud Museum in London.

How does growing up in rural Britain impact a poet’s work when their cultural heritage has deep roots elsewhere? Poetry organisation Apples and Snakes presents an hour of poetry and conversation with three dynamic spoken word poets hosted by literary activist Rufus Mufasa. Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a British-born Barbadian-raised choreo-poet. Her debut poetry collection Cane, Corn & Gully was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize. Malaika Kegode is a writer, performer and creative producer based in Bristol whose work is focused on uplifting and celebrating the overlooked and misunderstood. Saili Katebe is a writer born in Zambia and based in the South West of England who is signed to Nymphs & Thugs, the UK’s leading spoken word record label.

Come and hear the writers share and discuss some of their recent work. The Hay Writers’ Circle is a dynamic group, active in Hay for more than 40 years. It offers three competitions annually for poetry, fiction and non-fiction, each of which is open to both members and non-members. There is an active work in progress group for those working on longer projects. The Circle has an ongoing, productive relationship with a local primary school.

Get ready for an energetic freestyle performance from wordsmith, hip hop artist and poet Karl Nova. He’ll bring to life pieces from his latest book, telling stories that are humorous, personal and inspirational.

The Curious Case of Karl Nova is Karl’s follow-up to his debut Rhythm and Poetry, which won the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA) in 2018.

Spoken word collective Landschaft blend multilingual poems with hip hop, electropunk and video art. This trio – Grigory Semenchuk (Ukrainian), Ulrike Almut Sandig and Sascha Conrad (both German) – present an exhilarating fusion of techno, poetry and film that crosses language boundaries. No German or Ukrainian required.

In this event, Connor Allen will announce the new Children’s Laureate Wales for 2023–25 and welcome them on stage for their first ever appearance as Children's Laureate Wales here at Hay Festival.

Join Connor, the current Children’s Laureate Wales, for a lively and interactive poetry event featuring poems from his upcoming new collection, Miracles.

Ian McMillan hosts his cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, writing and performance.

We are thrilled to welcome back the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage for this special event looking back on his career – with readings from the earliest collections to his book of lyrics, Never Good With Horses, and some new poems.