Hay Festival 2025 Full Programme

What are words? They’re the beginning of our stories: portals to treasured memories, to the strange sayings that seem to be unique to our own families and the beloved people that say them to us. So, what was your gran’s favourite word for a time-waster? How did your dad answer the question ‘What’s the time?’ And just how many responses are there to the daily query ‘What’s for dinner?’

Even better, how do these words change as they travel across our regions? Join Rosen for a tour of the British Isles and all its vernacular idiosyncrasies, through his ‘Almanac’ of the weird and wonderful words we use. He reflects on the joys of English, for anyone who loves language – whether following its rules or breaking them.

When was the last time you really stayed away from your phone? Or picked it up just to do the one task you intended, and didn’t fall into scrolling through your apps for hours? There is little doubt that we’re addicted to our smartphones, but interacting with the online world is an essential component of modern life, so it’s difficult to work out how to step away and find a balance.

In this offline session Dr Kaitlyn Regehr discusses her book Smartphone Nation: Why We’re All Addicted to Screens and What We Can Do About It, and shows how to keep the advantages and joy of the internet while also identifying the dangers. Look out for tips on how to withdraw when we’re being over-reliant on our devices! Regehr is an associate professor at University College London. She talks to presenter, writer, DJ, social activist and founder of Showerbox, which brings free showers to enhance the lives of those facing homelessness in London, Sarah Lamptey.

Sir Anthony Seldon is a leading political and social commentator, well-known for his biographies of UK prime ministers. Here he takes a look at two of the most turbulent, drawing on exclusive interviews to give the definitive accounts of Johnson’s and Truss’s premierships.

After his dramatic rise to power amid the Brexit deadlock, Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. From Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic to the crisis in Afghanistan, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Partygate scandal, his government ultimately unravelled after just three years.

But in the space of just 49 days Liz Truss challenged him for the badge of most disastrous premiership, as she attempted to remould the economy, triggered a collapse in the value of Sterling and was forced on a series of embarrassing U-turns.

Seldon is founder of the Museum of the Prime Minister. He talks to Literary Editor of the Financial Times, Frederick Studemann.

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Comic artist Dix launches his first solo graphic novel, The Idris File, a historical thriller that reads like The Banshees of Inisherin meets Raiders of the Lost Ark. A young teenager discovers that his quiet seaside Welsh village harbours Nazi horrors beneath its dreary, overcast skies.

Dix and actor Jim Broadbent collaborated on the acclaimed graphic novel Dull Margaret. They have reunited for ‘Wrong’, an exhibition of sculpture and painting at The Table, a gallery in Hay-on-Wye. Dix’s paintings on original 1970s wallpaper capture his comedic half-memories and influences from that time, coupled with often disagreeable verse. Jim’s creations are influenced by his life in film and stage. Odd characters challenge the viewer to make sense of their peculiar predicaments in surreal theatrical dioramas.

Join the pair in this event as they discuss their curious art and influences with writer and filmmaker Pete Jones.

We’re entering a new era – and our old narratives around global affairs, politics, technology and the environment no longer capture the complexity of today’s realities. We urgently need positive new stories to inspire collective action and decision-making.

Join BSR (Business for Social Responsibility)’s Sustainable Futures Lab in this highly interactive and creative workshop, to explore new opportunities presented by ‘shocks’ across different domains, from wars to AI to climate upheavals, and weave these into positive new narratives around innovation, collaboration and a reimagined future.

The session will be hosted by Christine Diamente, who leads BSR’s Business Transformation team, Jacob Park, who leads BSR’s Sustainable Futures Lab, Charlene Collison, who leads BSR’s Collaborations, and Margot Brent, who leads BSR’s strategy practice.

Join our celebrated pizzaioli for an entertaining, hands-on workshop that will teach you everything that you knead to know about how to make pizzas. Since nothing complements pizza quite like a perfect glass of wine, let us pair and enjoy Italian wine together with your pizza creations.

This 90-minute session includes snacks, a 12” pizza of your own creation and complementary wine throughout. Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

What does the return of Trump to the US presidency mean for Europe? For a start, it’s bolstered his far-right allies, like Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, while a new era of American protectionism – including the possibility of tariffs – threatens an already divided Britain and Europe. But it’s not just the economy that will be affected by Trump’s second term; there will also be an impact on Europe’s security and its efforts to combat climate change.

To discuss how Europe might respond, Misha Glenny, Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, is joined by: historian Anne Applebaum (Autocracy, Inc), who has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe; Alastair Campbell, a campaigner and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s director of communications and strategy; and Edi Rama, the 33rd and incumbent prime minister of Albania and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania.

Surviving in the wilderness has long been associated with men, yet many remarkable women also choose to live and work in wild and challenging landscapes. Presenter and author Philippa Forrester (Wild Woman) and journalism lecturer Sarah Lonsdale (Wildly Different) share their stories of women who choose to live wildly.

Forrester considers the grit and determination required for women to maintain connections to wildlife, and highlights female conservation heroes and other extraordinary women working in nature. Lonsdale tells the globe-trotting tales of five women who fought for the right to work in, enjoy and help to save the wild places of the Earth. In conversation with Sarah Lamptey, presenter, writer, DJ, social activist and founder of Showerbox, which brings free showers to enhance the lives of those facing homelessness in London, they ask: how do women claim their place in the remote and lovely parts of our planet?

What makes people believe in conspiracy theories? Why have they taken over our political sphere? And how do we counter them before it’s too late? Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey, co-authors of Conspiracy Theory, pull back the curtain on conspiracy theories, from the bizarre to the sinister, and look at how conspiracism has become a booming industry, a political strategy and a pseudo-religion, and something that’s a threat to the foundations of liberal democracy.

Dunt spent many years working in Westminster as editor of Politics.co.uk. He is a columnist for The i newspaper, and a host on the Oh God What Now and Origin Story podcasts. Lynskey has written several books, including the just-released Everything Must Go, an exploration of our fantasies of the end of the world.

One in five people will have an affair in their lifetimes – but the reasons behind the affairs might not be what you think. Psychotherapist Juliet Rosenfeld shares the secrets, lies and motivations behind real affairs, and considers the psychological and childhood roots that may help explain why an affair happens.

Rosenfeld’s new book looks without judgement at five different true stories of people who had affairs, from a man who left his wife in the delivery suite to visit his young mistress to the psychologist who put attraction to a patient above career ethics. A psychoanalytic psychotherapist and author, Rosenfeld has a special interest in couples and the difficulties they encounter in long term relationships. She talks to award-winning investigative journalist, documentary maker and presenter Catrin Nye.

Irish author Roisín O’Donnell was an Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2025. She speaks to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mexican author of Liliana’s Invincible Summer, Cristina Rivera Garza, about her urgent first novel Nesting.

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.

The latest film from iconic writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette), Priscilla is a moving, nuanced and visually ravishing exploration of the dark side of celebrity, delicately retelling and re-examining one of history’s most complicated love stories.

West Germany, late 1950s. Teenage Priscilla Beaulieu (Golden Globe nominee Cailee Spaeny) receives an invitation to a party with Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi, Saltburn). Already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar at this time, Elvis becomes someone entirely unexpected in their private moments together: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Coppola presents the unseen story of their long courtship and turbulent marriage: a great American myth spanning decades and oceans, from the army base where they met to his dream-world estate at Graceland.

Faithfully adapting Priscilla’s own memoir, and anchored by Spaeny’s Venice Best Actress winning performance, this is a mature and masterful cinematic feast for the senses that sees Coppola at the very top of her game.

“A transportive, heartbreaking journey into the dark heart of celebrity… Sofia Coppola at her best” – Rolling Stone

Come and experience the magical, progressive sound of Cerys Hafana, from Machynlleth, Wales, where rivers and roads meet on the way to the sea. She’s won over audiences from Green Man to the Eisteddfod and from BBC 6 Music Festival to Celtic Connections.

Hafana is a Welsh triple harpist and composer who mangles, mutates and transforms traditional music. She explores the creative possibilities and unique qualities of the triple harp, and incorporates found sounds, archival materials and electronic processing.

Edyf, her second album, is inspired by material found in the National Library of Wales archive, including fragments of Psalm tunes, hymns about doomsday and philosophical musings on the length of eternity, and was selected as one of the Guardian’s Top Ten folk albums of 2022. Her latest EP The Bitter is an innovative exploration of some dark English and Scottish ballads.

Join the Aberystwyth Book Club live at Hay Festival for a chance to earwig on the book club team as they dive into their latest pick. Recorded for BBC Radio Wales.

Al Murray is back with his alter ego, the Pub Landlord, making sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to but want to discuss anyway. In Guv Island, the Pub Landlord takes a look at politics, TikTok addiction and more.

Murray has toured as the Pub Landlord for more than 20 years and won accolades including the Edinburgh Comedy Award. His books include Watching War Films with My Dad and, most recently, Command, an entertaining and sharp analysis of the key allied military leaders in World War II.

Why do we need art? What does it do for our communities? How can it transform us?

These are some of the questions artists Bette Adriaanse and Brian Eno attempt to answer in this discussion about the social power of art. The pair have collaborated on social projects, and their conversation led to working together on What Art Does, a book that assembles the ideas Eno has developed during his working life.

Eno studied art at college before joining the band Roxy Music, and he spent five decades making music with people including David Bowie and Grace Jones. His visual art has been shown internationally in over 200 venues and he is involved in activist work.

Adriaanse is an artist who writes novels and short stories. She teaches in art schools and co-founded TRQSE – a network of artists and scientists who work together on social projects, which is where she met Eno.

Podcast series The Kill List tells the gripping story of a four-year true crime investigation centred on the dark web, but with real world victims across the globe. In this event, podcast presenter Jamie Bartlett and host Carl Miller share the story of how Miller, a British journalist, secretly intercepted hundreds of paid murder orders on a scam hitman-for-hire website on the darknet.

They follow his journey from first making the disturbing discovery; his race against time to warn those in danger; and the increasingly urgent battle to persuade the global authorities to get involved. Miller’s collaboration with the police agencies around the globe has led to 34 arrests and 28 convictions to date across 11 countries.

Jamie Bartlett is the presenter of several hit BBC podcasts, including The Missing Cryptoqueen. Carl Miller is a tech journalist and founder of CASM, the digital research team at the think tank Demos UK.

Len Pennie is an English/Scots performance poet sensation. Her electric debut collection Poyums is funny and fiercely feminist, whether she’s writing letters to her younger self, advocating for women’s rights or adapting fairy tales to process an abusive relationship.

Come to hear her bold, unashamedly frank take on loving, learning, surviving, growing and giving, covering her passionate opinions from minoritised languages to survivors of domestic abuse and the destigmatisation of mental illness. Don’t miss this chance to see an epic talent on the rise.

And I have done more than just simply get by

So much more than escape or survive

Through the galvanisation of love, time and patience

I’ll take hold of my story and thrive.

After life that was seldom what life ought to be

Through laughter and love I’ll be whole

This story is mine from the cover to spine

And the narrative I will control.