Hay Festival 2024

Enjoy a special live recording of Radio 4’s long-running variety show. Clive Anderson and guests offer an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.

The ecologist and the eco-designer discuss our landscape, how we have formed it and how we might continue to do so, in conversation with Welsh presenter and producer Meinir Howells. Graves gives a tour of the Welsh landscape, from the ffridd (mountain pasture) to the rhos (wild moorland). He dives deep into their history and ecology in his book Tir (‘Land’) offering hope for a future with richly biodiverse landscapes, still full of humans working the land. Environmental philosopher Marshall is noted for his investigations into eco-friendly cities of the future. In Sheeplands he examines the way sheep have contributed to the making of the modern world.

Is there any coming back from the ways in which capitalism and wealth inequality have shaped the world? Yes, argue economic thinker Grace Blakeley and former Treasury Minister Liam Byrne, but only if we rebuild instead of trying to fix broken systems. They discuss their ideas for radical and meaningful change with writer Oliver Bullough.

Want to reduce waste, use less energy when cooking but still achieve kitchen triumphs? The chef and bestselling food writer (A Modern Way to Eat, One: Pot, Pan, Planet) takes 12 hero ingredients that are guaranteed to make your food taste great, and gives 125 all-new dishes that you’ll want to cook on repeat. Think Double Lemon Pilaf with Buttery Almonds, Traybake Lemon Dhal, Miso Rarebit and Cherry and Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae. Jones shares tips distilled from her 20 years of experience, with practical advice on layering, texture and seasoning, plus plenty of ideas for vegetarian swaps. She talks to Welsh presenter and producer Meinir Howells.

Join author Gareth E Rees and academic Fiona Stafford on a journey through hidden spaces, forgotten gardens and natural and man-made phenomena that tell us about our past, present and future. Rees is author of Sunken Lands: A Journey through Flooded Kingdoms and Lost Worlds, which uncovers what our submerged past and shifting boundaries between land and water can tell us about our imminent future as rising sea levels transform our planet once more. In Time and Tide: The Long, Long Life of Landscape, Stafford combines local, literary and her own family history to look at the natural and human forces that transform places, and where we can find clues to the past.

Enjoy a special live recording of Radio 4’s flagship satire show featuring topical sketches and characters drawn from the worlds of celebrity and politics.

How can you fight something if you don’t know it exists? We live under an ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives: education, employment, healthcare and leisure; our relationships and mental wellbeing; even the planet we inhabit. So pervasive has it become that it seems unavoidable. But trace it back to its roots, and we discover that neoliberalism was conceived, propagated and concealed by the powerful few. It’s time to bring it into the light – and to find an alternative worth fighting for.

Environmental campaigner George Monbiot's previous book was Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. His latest is The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How it Came to Control Your Life).

How do you solve a murder, when everyone has the same motive? Magnifying glasses at the ready in this event with the bestselling author of the Detective Hawthorne novels. In the latest, Hawthorne is faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle – a man is shot dead within a quiet, gated community, and it appears that every neighbour has a reason to hate him. Horowitz talks about his characters and his work, which includes two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, three James Bond novels, and mystery novel Magpie Murders, recently adapted for the BBC with Lesley Manville.

Thomas Heatherwick – one of the UK’s most prolific designers – talks about his work, characterised by originality, inventiveness and humanity. He founded his studio in 1994 to bring together architecture, urban planning, product design and interiors into a single creative workspace, now comprising 200 makers and inventors. The team is currently working on more than 30 projects in ten countries, including Google's HQ in London. Recently completed are Bay View and Gradient Canopy, Google’s first purpose-built campuses in California, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town and Coal Drops Yard in London’s King’s Cross. Heatherwick talks to technology entrepreneur and creative leader Suhair Khan.

Nish Kumar has achieved huge success on the stand-up circuit with five rave reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, two of which have been nominated for the prestigious Comedy Award for Best Show. He’s starred in two series of his own show for BBC Radio 4, Spotlight Tonight, and has hosted The News Quiz and his own spoof news series, The Mash Report, for BBC Two. He’s appeared on QI, Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, Have I Got News for You and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe is his latest show-in-progress, coming fresh to Hay Festival!

Few are better placed to discuss how the UK can meet its climate and biodiversity obligations than Chris Skidmore, the former Energy Minister who resigned as an MP in protest at the government’s plans to expand oil and gas production in the North Sea. Skidmore, who was responsible for signing Net Zero into law and chairing Mission Zero, the largest independent engagement exercise on Net Zero conducted to date, outlines the key ways in which the UK can deliver its commitments as part of the global Net Zero strategy, highlighting not just the challenges but also the opportunities for new jobs and investment in a better way of living. In conversation with Nik Gowing, the Founder and Co-Director of Thinking the Unthinkable, and former BBC News Presenter.