Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad (The Bookseller of Kabul, Angel of Grozny) introduces us to three people whose lives have been shaped by the fall and rise of the Taliban – Jamila, Bashir and Ariana – as well their families, friends, foes and co-fighters. Jamila is a prominent women’s rights activist; Bashi is a Taliban commander; Ariana is a law student who had one semester left when the Taliban came to power.

Drawing on her thought-provoking new book The Afghans: Three Lives Through War, Love and Revolt, Seierstad shows us their stories – encompassing love, loss, revolution and war as well as the everyday rhythms of family life. Experience the lead up to the Taliban retaking power in 2021, how the first year of their rule unfolded, and where this leaves Afghans today and tomorrow. Seierstad talks to writer and journalist Sarfraz Manzoor.

An exciting new voice in fiction presents his latest book. McKenzie’s debut An Olive Grove in Ends was Guardian Novel of the Year 2022. Fast by the Horns is set in Bristol, 1980, in the tight-knit neighbourhood of St Pauls. Fourteen-year-old Jabari is proud of his position as the only son of revered Community leader Ras Levi. Raised in a world of sus laws and council neglect, Jabari finds hope in his Rastafari faith, with the comforting vision that one day believers will at last be free from oppression and prejudice. But a local firebrand activist has been arrested, and violence soon overflows, pulling father and son into its maelstrom. A chance encounter with a young Black child gives Jabari an opportunity for justice – or is it revenge? McKenzie talks to writer and TikTok creator Ben Mercer.

What happened to the people who fell into a world of conspiracy theories? Marianna Spring discusses her latest podcast series.

Who should I love? Can I love more than one person? Is jealousy good or bad? Will I ever love again? From singlehood to happily ever after, internationally renowned comic artist Alex Norris explores nuanced ideas on love in their fresh signature style in How to Love: A Guide to Feelings & Relationships for Everyone. Alex answers these questions, shares how they create their hit comics and reveals why a bright, silly and wonderful book all about love is just the thing you’re looking for.

Please bring your own notebook and pen or pencil to this event.

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

Brexit: who is responsible, how did it all go wrong and what can we do? As more and more people discover that the Brexit they were sold was based on falsehoods, FT public policy editor Peter Foster’s What Went Wrong With Brexit dispels the myths. Most importantly, he shows what a better future for Britain might look like.

Bold and incisive as ever, LBC’s James O’Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has made the UK a country of strikes, shortages and scandals in How They Broke Britain. He maps the web that connects dark think tanks to Downing Street, journalists complicit in misleading the public, and media bosses pushing their own agenda. The journalists discuss what Brexit promised but failed to deliver, with journalist Emma Graham-Harrison.

There is a prescription for whatever might be your poetic need or desire, from verses to soothe your soul and brighten your day to poems that offer comfort in times of trouble. The creator and editor of The Poetry Pharmacy is joined by special guests including writer and actress Lisa Dwan (TopBoy, Blackshore), actress Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Luther), and Dominic West (Brassic, The Wire) for an event of connection, imagination and inspiration.

It has now been more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the conflict is still ongoing, even though it garners fewer headlines than it used to. Writers Sofia Cheliak, Sasha Dovzhyk and Olesya Khromeychuk discuss what is happening currently in Ukraine, how to keep documenting the war and how to combat propaganda that undermines the war effort. Cheliak, Dovzhyk and Khromeychuk are all contributors to the book Ukraine Lab: Global Security, Environment, Disinformation through the Prism of Ukraine: 39 (Ukrainian Voices). They talk to journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev.

Drifting and directionless in her twenties, Marina Gibson escaped from the city to the country, where she picked up a fishing rod for the first time in years. It was a return to a childhood pursuit and a passion passed on by her mother. Through fishing, Gibson – founder of the Northern Fishing School at the Swinton Estate and an ambassador for Orvis, Costa and Angling IQ – found a source of serenity, refuge from a failing marriage and a connection to a tradition of female anglers stretching back generations. In Cast, Catch and Release Gibson follows the journey of the migrating salmon, and shares her own journey back to herself. Gibson talks to writer and broadcaster Horatio Clare.

Kaliane Bradley, a British-Cambodian writer and editor, talks to the author of Cahokia Jazz about her first novel, set in the near future. A disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering ‘expats’ from across history to test the limits of time-travel. Her role is to work as a ‘bridge’: living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as ‘1847’ – a man supposed to have died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition to the Arctic. As the true shape of the project that brought them together begins to emerge, both have to confront their past choices.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of food production, discussing the scale of the issue and a range of solutions.

Speakers include remarkable individuals leading climate and biodiversity resilience projects, igniting hope and progress in their neighbourhoods and the wider community. We want you to share your ideas and to be inspired by those making a difference. Be part of the change in this two-hour thought laboratory.

Gabriel Gatehouse dives back into the labyrinthine rabbit warren of American conspiracy theories to explore how millions of Americans have become convinced their democracy has been highjacked by a sinister Deep State cabal. Where did this story come from? And what are the prospects for the survival of the American political system?

Our connection to nature is essential both for our own health and the health of the environment. Author and naturalist Mark Cocker and Right to Roam’s Nick Hayes and Nadia Shaikh join Green MP Caroline Lucas to explore the interconnections that underpin the natural world and explore a new moral framework for relating to nature, putting belonging before ownership and co-dependence above competition. Lucas is a Hay Festival 2024 Thinker in Residence, questioning norms, finding new perspectives and challenging us to action.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, who won the accolade in 2021 for denouncing the regime of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, speaks to journalist Misha Glenny about her work. Her latest book How to Stand Up to a Dictator is a call to the world to raise awareness about social media misinformation and a manifesto about press freedom. Ressa was arrested by Philippine authorities in 2019; her conviction for cyberlibel was seen by many as an attempt to silence her criticism of Duterte’s government.

Two Titans of the comedy scene share their experiences on stage, screen and in real life with BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed. Actor and comedian Helen Lederer (author of Losing It) is best known as Catriona, the dippy journalist in Absolutely Fabulous. Her memoir Not That I’m Bitter reveals how choppy the waters could be for women struggling to be seen and heard in the world of comedy. Doon Mackichan played comedy characters in the hugely popular Brass Eye and Smack the Pony, but throughout her career she’s challenged stereotypes. In My Lady Parts, she examines how we can say no to objectification, in an industry that has been exposed for its deep-rooted sexism.

Activist Sylvia Vasquez-Lavado discusses her inspiring work against sexual violence and her memoir In the Shadow of the Mountain with journalist Kirsty Lang. A businesswoman named one of the twenty most influential Latin Americans in Silicon Valley, Vasquez-Lavado was struggling with past trauma when she discovered mountaineering. In 2014 she founded Courageous Girls, a non-profit organisation that helps survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking find their inner strength through mountaineering. The following year she became the first Peruvian woman to reach the summit of Sagharmatha (Mount Everest), and in 2018, the first woman from the LGTBQ+ community to climb the seven highest summits on each continent.

Coco Mellors introduces her new novel, Blue Sisters, in which the titular sisters reunite in New York to stop the sale of their childhood home. The Blue sisters are Avery, a strait-laced lawyer living in London; Bonnie, a boxer who is now working as a bouncer in LA; and Lucky, the rebellious youngest, a model in Paris whose hard-partying ways are finally catching up with her. They are reeling from the death of Nicky, their beloved fourth sister, and discover that it’s only by returning to each other that they can navigate their grief, addiction and heartbreak. Mellors’ debut novel Cleopatra and Frankenstein is being developed for television by Warner Bros. Mellors talks to the internet’s resident librarian Jack Edwards.

An adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.

Gloriously Gothic and unnervingly contemporary, Jeanette Winterson’s Night Side of the River is a blend of chilling short stories and the author’s real-life encounters with the supernatural. Winterson explores grief, revenge and the myriad ways in which technology can disrupt the boundary between life and death. Our lives are digital, exposed and always on. We can find out everything about our world, but we know little about the world of ghosts. They wander the metaverse just as they haunt our homes and our memories, seeking new ways to connect, to live among us, to remind us, to tempt us, to take their revenge. These are the stories of the dead – of those we’ve lost, loved, forgotten…and feared.

Stuart Goldsmith, who has featured on TV shows around the world and is the regular studio warm-up comic for the Graham Norton Show, hosts a night of comedy featuring Ania Magliano and Ahir Shah. Magliano’s 2023 stand up show, I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This, was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show, and sold out its entire Fringe run before the festival began. Shah is the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, and starred in the short films Ahir Shah’s Summer and Ahir Shah’s Life Lessons.

Brought to you by Little Wander, the team behind the Machynlleth Comedy Festival.