Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025

Two of Britain’s leading historians – Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga – open a year of reflections on the United States of America, as it prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence.

The consequences of America’s experiment in democracy are still unfolding, and the contradictions, battles and ideals that continue to define it are still under debate.

Churchwell and Olusoga look at what the formation of America meant for the world, whether its vision of liberty has come true, and whether American democracy can survive the challenges it now faces.

Churchwell is chair of public humanities at the University of London and author of Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream.

David Olusoga is professor of public history at the University of Manchester and author of Black History for Every Day of the Year, and co-host of the podcast Journey Through Time.

How did little-known kickboxer and failed reality star TV Andrew Tate rapidly rise to become an icon for a generation of young men? And is there any stopping the dangerous ideology he has unleashed?

Award-winning documentary maker Jamie Tahsin, who has been investigating Tate since 2019, leads us backstage at Tate’s world, sharing insights gained through spending time with the man himself.

From going behind-the-scenes at his Bucharest compound to breaking down how Tate – who is facing criminal charges in countries including the UK – weaponises marketing techniques to spread the message of his “manosphere”, a world that centres men, misogyny and masculinity, Tahsin exposes Tate’s dark secrets and the machine that made him.

Tahsin speaks to Ben Mercer, an expert on sport, social media and masculinity.

Celebrate and support young Welsh musical talent by taking in a performance from South Powys Youth Music. Hear the local student ensembles as they perform in the inspiring surroundings of Hay Castle’s Great Hall.

The local charity aims to provide children and young people in Brecon and Radnorshire with music lessons, helping them develop skills to fulfill their musical and personal potential.

Queen of the high street Mary Portas breathed new life into iconic department store Harvey Nichols and revolutionised the way shop window displays are used forever, before going on to found her own creative empire.

Portas, judge of this year’s Hay-on-Wye window display competition, speaks to acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Decca Aitkenhead about how she turned Harvey Nichols, a fusty and fussy shop that was mostly associated with dowagers in the 1990s, into Harvey Nicks, a trend-setting favourite of style icon Princess Diana and a leader in outrageous, headline-grabbing window displays.

Sharing candid behind-the-scenes stories and gossip from the early days of her career, Portas offers a glimpse at the creative risk taker whose impact continues to be felt on our high streets.

Acclaimed Welsh fiction writer Cynan Jones introduces Pulse, a collection of short stories filled with vulnerability and tension. From the tale of a man heading into the snow to hunt down the bear that has been taking stock from farms in the valley to a story of a fierce storm that threatens to bring down a tree on powerlines over a family’s home, Pulse demonstrates Jones’ power as one of the finest contemporary voices in literary fiction and captures the beauty and brutality of rural life.

Jones, who wrote the screenplay for an episode of the BAFTA-winning crime series Hinterland and has won the Wales Book of the Year Fiction prize, speaks to the Guardian’s chief theatre critic Arifa Akbar. Jones also contributed to Seren Books’ New Stories of the Mabinogion series which published modern re-worked stories from the Celtic Mabinogion myth cycle by contemporary Welsh authors.

Take to the fresh air with broadcaster and author Kate Humble, and explore the border between England and Wales, which wraps itself tightly around Hay-on-Wye.

As well as taking in the beautiful countryside, chat to Humble about her mixed livestock farm Humble by Nature, her love of the countryside and work on television, and about why she thinks taking a daily walk is as essential as that first cup of tea to make her feel good for the rest of the day. Mountain guide Sarah Price of Walk Hay will join her in leading the walk.

Celebrate and support young Welsh musical talent by taking in a performance from South Powys Youth Music. Hear the local student ensembles as they perform in the inspiring surroundings of Hay Castle’s Great Hall.

The local charity aims to provide children and young people in Brecon and Radnorshire with music lessons, helping them develop skills to fulfill their musical and personal potential.

The Greek myths you think you know are thrown into new light by Nikita Gill and Natalie Haynes, two of the most engaging and exciting voices in retellings, seen together in a rare appearance.

Poet Gill and writer and broadcaster and rock star mythologist Haynes discuss their work, and delve into why they – and we – are so fascinated by new takes on some of the world’s oldest stories. In Hekate: The Witch, Gill relates in verse the story of the goddess of magic and witchcraft, who is raised by Hades and Styx in the Underworld, where she encounters beauty and horror. Haynes’ No Friend to This House is a reimagining of the life of Medea, based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, and tackles Medea’s power, her relationship with Jason, and the rippling effects of her actions. Both tales are electrifying and spine-chilling – the perfect pairing for a dark November evening.

As Wales prepares for next year’s Senedd elections, Reform is mounting a huge challenge to the established political landscape, threatening the biggest upset in Wales for a century.

Our panel of experts, who live and breathe Welsh politics, look at what lies ahead, from whether Labour can keep their 100-year winning streak going and why Reform has so much momentum to what the electoral maths means for the country’s first Plaid Cymru First Minister, and what impact the election will have on the rest of the UK.

Ruth Mosalski, the political editor of Wales Online; multi-award winning investigative journalist and Guardian columnist Will Hayward; and presenter of BBC Wales’ flagship politics TV programme, Politics Wales, Teleri Glyn-Jones, speak to Rob Osborne, award-winning journalist, presenter of Wales This Week, and National Correspondent for ITV Wales.

Step back into your childhood with John Turrell, and reminisce about school playground games from years past.

Based on more than 20 years of research into children’s games and child-lore across Herefordshire and Worcestershire between 1880 and 2010, Turrell’s book Acky, Acky 1, 2, 3! is a deep dive into the games played – from tag to What’s the Time Mr. Wolf – the songs sung and the rhymes that were chanted by children in the streets and in school playgrounds across the two counties.

This event, ironically not suitable for children, is an uncensored look at games and their contribution to social history, and why children’s games are still alive and thriving. Expect fun and, of course, games. Turrell is a former teacher, and researcher with a long-time interest in children’s play and language.

PLEASE NOTE: Readers will find examples of offensive language at various points in the book. This book records the words used by the contributors without any attempt to censor them.That does not mean that any of them are condoned or approved of, but that actual usage is kept in the interests of social history and recording the reality of children’s play. Readers may find the racial language, the slurs and stereotyping offensive – it was and still is.

Two veteran journalists with first-hand experience of Afghanistan offer a deep insight into a country betrayed by the West and Taliban alike, and assess the ongoing impact of its turbulent politics on its allies.

The BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet first visited Kabul’s Inter-Continental Hotel – opened in 1969 and a symbol of the country’s hope for modernisation – in the late 1980s. Returning to the hotel multiple times in the decades since, she uses it and its workers as a lens into the country’s modern history in her book The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Sune Engel Rasmussen offers another perspective in Twenty Years: Hope, War, and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation, drawing on over a decade of reporting to tell how 9/11 shaped – and shattered – the lives of young Afghans.

In the 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth, there is no sign of our love for one of the nation’s most celebrated authors diminishing.

Rounding off a year of celebrations and discussions at Hay Festivals about Austen, join Rachel Parris in conversation with academic Sarah Churchwell about the enduring legacy of the Pride and Prejudice scribe, and offer up a new understanding of her work and why it continues to speak to us.

Comedian Parris’ Introducing Mrs Collins is a fictional look at Pride and Prejudice’s Charlotte Lucas, who in Austen’s original pursued stability in a marriage to Mr Collins. In Parris’ book, a spark is lit in Charlotte when an unexpected visitor turns up at her Kent home. Parris is a founding member of the critically acclaimed touring improv comedy group Austentatious, and co-hosts the podcast How Was It For You with her husband Marcus Brigstocke.

Actor, artist, and conservation activist James Murray MBE looks at the current crisis facing our rivers from pollution, overextraction and poor management.

Murray grew up in Hereford and is a passionate campaigner for improvements in river quality, including the River Wye. The river, which is protected for its importance to rare wildlife including endangered Atlantic salmon, is suffering ecological decline and under threat from agricultural run-off, sewage pollution, climate change and other pressures.

A lifelong fly fisherman, Murray founded Activist Anglers in 2023 to empower and educate anglers to protect their local waterways. James is an ambassador for the Atlantic Salmon Trust; he also hosts the acclaimed podcast The Last Salmon and is instrumental in Project White Hart, a pioneering salmon restoration effort for the Test and Itchen chalkstreams where he lives.

Murray, who has starred in The Crown and Masters of the Air, will be in conversation with investigative journalist Nicola Cutcher, who co-produced a documentary about the polluted state of Britain's rivers and is a lead campaigner for Friends of the River Wye.

Murray combines his passion for conservation with creativity. This event is also a chance to see one of Murray’s paintings from his Creatures of Light series, where he sank 10 canvases in key salmon rivers across the UK, including the Wye, during spawning season, retrieved them, then painted on them.

Hear from one of Britain’s best-loved authors, Sebastian Faulks, as he takes us on a journey through his life and writing career.

In his memoir, the author shares stories of his post-war rural childhood; not one, but two daring escapes from boarding school; the booze-sodden heyday of his time as a journalist on Fleet Street; the delirium of a jetlagged American book tour; and the writing of the award-winning Birdsong in his brother’s house in 1992.

There will be politics, psychiatry and frustrated ventures into the world of entertainment and all analysed with his signature patience and rueful humour. Sharply perceptive and alive with a generous wit, Fires Which Burned Brightly is a work of subtle yet profound intelligence and warmth. Faulks talks to writer and critic Erica Wagner.

MP Kim Leadbeater knows all too well how the world of politics can be rife with tension, disagreement and even violence. But she also knows better than anyone that politics is a place that demands compassion, and that all sides can operate with respect and care.

Leadbeater, who became MP for Batley and Spen a few years after her sister Jo Cox was murdered, is behind assisted dying legislation which passed the House of Commons last year.

A year on from that landmark achievement, Leadbeater talks to broadcaster and founder of the ThinkTank Compassion in Politics, Jennifer Nadel, about the state of British politics today, how laws can solve some of the difficult problems society faces, and what we can do to combat the divisive discourse the UK is currently seeing.

Floral artist Layla Robinson creates an incredible everlasting floral piece live on stage, as she discusses her creative process and offers inspiration on how to brighten up your home with flowers.

Robinson, who lives locally and is the author of Everlasting Blooms, will speak to writer and editor Kitty Corrigan about her passion for sustainability and how she weaves it into all her work, and about growing and drying her own flowers. In Everlasting Blooms, Robinson sets out 25 floristry projects that can be done at home.

This is a chance to experience the work of a renowned floral artist in the heart of the wild and beautiful landscape that inspires her every day.

Feel the Hay Shantymen’s soaring voices all around as they fill Hay Castle’s 13th century Great Hall with their renditions of foot-stomping seafaring songs and traditional shanties.

The historic setting of the castle makes this performance an immersive experience, with the chance to relax beside the Great Hall’s roaring fireplace offering an interlude in your busy festival schedule.

Peek behind the curtain of the critically acclaimed adaptation Slow Horses, with author Mick Herron and actor Jonathan Pryce.

The pair speak to Jay Hunt, creative director for AppleTV+ and chair of Hay Festival, about bringing the grit and high-stakes drama of Herron’s acclaimed Slough House espionage series to the screen, and why they think the show, which also stars Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas, has been so successful and celebrated.

As Slow Horses’ fifth season airs, hear from Herron about adapting his books for the screen and from Welsh actor Pryce about bringing retired MI5 officer David Cartwright to life. The latest book in the Slough House series is Clown Town, in which Diana Taverner sees an opportunity for blackmail when someone threatens to expose the ugly side of state security.

Celebrate the craftsmanship that has shaped our surroundings, with award-winning broadcaster and art historian James Fox, and hear about some of the country’s last remaining master craftspeople.

Fox’s book Craftland chronicles the traditional crafts of the British Isles, for generations what we made with our hands shaped our identities, built our communities and defined our regions. Craftland chronicles the vanishing skills and traditions such as thatching, hedgelaying and weaving which used to govern every aspect of life.

Fox, director of studies in History of Art at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, talks to writer and broadcaster Kate Humble, known for promoting traditional rural crafts and skills through her smallholding, Humble by Nature. The pair discuss why skills passed down the generations must not be allowed to disappear, and celebrate the craftspeople who keep them alive.