Fiction

Experience a live recording of The Working Class Library, a podcast that explores and reclaims working class people’s contribution to literature. Join hosts Richard Benson, author of The Valley and editor of The Bee, and Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, in their quest to establish a new catalogue of working-class books that tell a different story to the established British literary traditions.

For this live edition of the podcast they will be joined by special guest, Mid Wales-based Maya Jordan, author of Chopsy: Resistance Tales of a Working Class Woman. Together they’ll discuss the Welsh classic Queen of the Rushes by writer Allen Raine, which celebrates its hundredth birthday this year.

The Working Class Library podcast is a venture of The Bee, a new magazine of writing by working class writers, published by New Writing North.

Meet Gab Torr, who discusses their debut novel with acclaimed poet Joelle Taylor. Hard Place is the story of Billy, whose new flatmates Sid and Rhoda are the kind of people who talk very seriously about taking accountability, adhering to the flat’s community guidelines and holding space for one another. Slowly Billy becomes enmeshed in their radical, vulnerable world, but as her past catches up with her, all must reckon with what they truly stand for.

Torr discusses writing about activism and queer experiences, and their writing journey so far. They are a 2021 London Writers Awardee, and their writing was longlisted for the 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize.

Ali Smith discusses her latest novel, Glyph – a playful and inventive story which questions the boundary between imagination and reality, skilfully blending the fiction of childhood ghosts with the facts of real-life wars.

It tells the story of sisters Petra and Patch, who make up a ghost as children. In adult life, the estranged siblings are brought back together when Petra finds a phantom horse kicking the furniture to pieces in her bedroom.

Smith talks to artist and filmmaker Sarah Wood, who in her own work interrogates the relationship between history and personal memory. Smith is author of several novels and short story collections, and is a winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The perfect session if you love new ideas, original thinking and passionate speakers.

Here we present Trump’s America, moving memoir and the power of fiction all on one ticket! Space scientist Maggie Aderin says her destiny was always written in the stars, journalist Simon Jenkins asks whether America can survive Trump, and best-selling author Elif Shafak talks about the power of fiction to connect us all. Chaired by the BBC’s international editor, Jeremy Bowen. We guarantee you’ll leave having learnt something new – something you Heard at Hay Festival.

How did a globally-celebrated novel become a multi-award-winning film? An extraordinary opportunity to go behind the scenes of Hamnet with author/screenwriter Maggie O’Farrell and producer and founder of Hera Pictures Liza Marshall to hear the secrets of creating one of the most acclaimed literary adaptations of recent times. O’Farrell takes you inside the process of translating her story to the screen, sharing the choices, challenges and discoveries that shaped the film. Marshall uncovers the collaborative magic that turned vision into reality. They’ll also talk tantalisingly about their next project together – based on O’Farrell’s new novel Land.

Come and join three editing and publishing experts for an unmatched opportunity to refine your creative writing ideas. Silk Road Slippers writing courses are for writers of all levels, and have been described by the Financial Times as “a revelation”.

You’ll complete a short writing exercise, then share your work for immediate constructive feedback. The Silk Road Slippers team – publishing legend and former Bloomsbury editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle, best-selling author and historian Alex von Tunzelmann and editorial consultant Faiza Khan – will address style, substance and storytelling. This intensive yet welcoming environment will help you take your creative skills to the next level.

Maggie O’Farrell, the award-winning author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, gives an exclusive preview of her highly-anticipated new novel, Land, ahead of its publication. Inspired by O’Farrell’s own family history and by the Irish landscape to which she has a deep personal attachment, Land is a multi-generational epic exploring love, loss and the ties that bind us to place and time. In this special event, O’Farrell discusses her craft as one of today’s most captivating storytellers, and reflects on the huge success of the film adaptation of Hamnet, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. This session is unmissable for lovers of literary fiction, fans of historical, character-driven novels and anyone intrigued by the art of beautiful, immersive writing.

 Blackly funny and razor-sharp, John Lanchester introduces his new novel about two very different women, brought together by a betrayal and a hit television show. In Look What You Made Me Do, Kate’s idyllic life takes a dark turn when she watches young screenwriter Phoebe’s new series, Cheating, and sees what she thinks are details about her life and intimacies that only she and her husband would know. In this story of resentment and entitlement, the two women are drawn towards a battle only one of them can win.

Lanchester discusses the inspiration behind the book, his career and more, with literary journalist Alex Clark. This is an unmissable event with a writer whose best-selling novel Capital was adapted into an International Emmy Award-winning television series.

Prepare for a barrage of rapid-fire wit and satirical humour as friends Kathy Lette and Arabella Weir ask some of the big questions of our day: is satire dead in the Trump era? Is the sisterhood still powerful? Do women give up sex when they get old, or get old when they give up sex?

The pair also discuss Lette’s hilarious new novel. In The Sisterhood Rules, twin sisters Isabel and Verity have been blown apart by a major betrayal. But when their mother goes missing, the sisters have to join forces to find her before she makes a dreadful mistake.

A roller-coaster ride through comedy, female friendship and writing. The message for women? Never let a penis come between us.

Travel from Pakistan’s sophisticated cities to its rural farmlands, as Daniyal Mueenuddin discusses his debut novel and its real-life influences with journalist Sathnam Sanghera, author of several books on the British Empire.

Mueenuddin was a lawyer working in New York before he returned to manage the family farm in Pakistan. Now he’s become an author too. His book weaves together the stories of a dozen characters, including Yazid, who rises from abject poverty to be the trusted servant to an affluent gangster, errand boy Saqib, trusted to lead his boss’s new farming venture, and Gazala, a young teacher who falls for Saqib before learning about his plans to skim money from the farm’s profits.

Mueenuddin and Sanghera discuss portraying modern Pakistan, writing about family and what inspired This is Where the Serpent Lives.

Experience evocative storytelling that bridges page and screen, in this screening of BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning actor Monica Dolan’s narration of the Jane Austen classic.

Dolan gives a captivating reading performance of Austen’s poignant tale of enduring affection, in which a rekindled love tests pride and regret as Anne Elliot navigates societal pressures and second chances.

The Read is a series of outstanding performance readings of iconic British novels. Each episode offers a richly immersive celebration of literature.

Expect a dynamic discussion with one of our most talented and innovative contemporary writers, as we celebrate both an international literary award winner and 39 years of Hay Festival this year.

The winner of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – joins us to discuss their winning book in conversation with Irenosen Okojie, herself an award-winning author and chair of the judging panel.

This global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, from the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. Named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas, it honours his 39 years of creativity.