Welcome to our 2024 Hay Festival Winter Weekend Programme.
If you are unable to attend in person, don't worry, you can buy an online pass for front row access from the comfort of your own home. You can also pre-order signed copies of the books for this year's events or visit the Winter Weekend online bookshop for unsigned copies.
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 in the year afterwards. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for the amazing views from the viewing platform.
This ticket also gives you entry into the Beasts, Battles & Books exhibition, a look at the work of one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake.
Get the best view of the Christmas lights from the viewing platform at the top of Hay Castle’s historic Norman tower, and watch the switching on with castle director Tom True.
Champagne and canapés included in the ticket price
Battles, borders, books and breakfast! Come and explore Hay Castle with its director Tom True, who will give an introduction to the history and invite you to get to know some of the characters from the castle’s past. He’ll also talk about running Hay Castle for the past two years.
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 in the year afterwards. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for the amazing views from the viewing platform.
This ticket also gives you entry into the Beasts, Battles & Books exhibition, a look at the work of one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake.
Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.
Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.
The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.
Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.
Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.
The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.
Packed with drawing, comics, reading aloud in silly voices and lots of laughter, this interactive workshop gives children a chance to tap into their creativity and imagination.
Kids will get to create their own knight character before helping The Brothers McLeod write a comedy adventure.
The Brothers McLeod are author, screenwriter and voice actor Myles McLeod, and illustrator, animator and director Greg McLeod. Together they created the Knight Sir Louis series of funny books for children, the latest of which is Knight Sir Louis and the Cauldron of Chaos.
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 in the year afterwards. Explore Matilda’s room, the castle’s costumes and cellars, and the Richard Booth Archive, and make your way right to the top for the amazing views from the viewing platform.
This ticket also gives you entry into the Beasts, Battles & Books exhibition, a look at the work of one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake.
Take a peek inside the mind of Hay Castle’s Storyteller in Residence, Tom Bullough, as he talks about his creative process and his innovative new project, Tarddle/Source. Bullough tells Hay Castle director Tom True about how life has changed since his book Sarn Helen won the 2024 Wales Book of the Year award and also introduces Tarddle/Source, an audio-visual project which follows the River Wye from the Wales-England border to its source in the Cambrian Mountains, recording the stories, hopes and concerns of the people of the Wye Valley. Bullough will screen extracts from the project and consider the role of story in addressing the climate and nature emergency.
Tarddle/Source will be hosted by Hay Castle from January 2025.