Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025

Join us this Hay Festival Winter Weekend and be taken on a behind the scenes journey of the upcoming Amgueddfa Cymru exhibition, and explore fresh perspectives on the celebrated Welsh artist's work and life in the experienced hands of the senior curator of the exhibition Lucy Wood, and senior paper conservator at Amgueddfa Cymru Fiona McLees, and is a chance to gain fresh new perspectives on John’s work and her artistic legacy.

Gwen John, a groundbreaking modern artist. Gwen John’s work is both instantly recognisable and era-defining. She is known for the quiet strength of the solitary women in her portraits and the reflective stillness of her interiors. Gwen John defied convention to forge her own, independent existence. She trained at the progressive Slade School of Fine Art, then one of the few art schools that were accepting women on the same terms as men.

Ymunwch gyda ni ar gyfer Penwythnos y Gaeaf Gŵyl y Gelli wrth i ni fynd a chi ar daith tu ôl i’r llenni o arddangosfa sy’n dod fyny, gan archwilio persbectif newydd o waith a bywyd yr artist o Gymru trwy law profiadol uwch guradur yr arddangosfa Lucy Wood a Fiona McLees uwch gadwraethwr celf ar bapur yn yr Amgueddfa.

About the exhibition
Gwen John: Strange Beauties at National Museum Cardiff has been organised by Amgueddfa Cymru in partnership with National Galleries of Scotland, the Yale Center for British Art, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. The exhibition is generously supported by Principal funder, the Colwinston Charitable Trust. Amgueddfa Cymru are also grateful for support from the Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity, Friends of Amgueddfa Cymru, Art Fund, Michael Marks Charitable Trust, The Finnis Scott Foundation and The Gibbs Trust.

An irresistible session of music from one of Hay-on-Wye’s most fun-loving singing groups.

With diverse musical backgrounds, including folk, musical theatre, classical, pop, jazz, and Welsh music, expect an eclectic, unpredictable and lively 20 minutes of music.

Poet and performer Hollie McNish assesses the power of the word 'virgin' – a six-letter word that can pressure, judge, harm, praise, profit, or punish.

With her trademark mix of humour, fury and compassion, McNish – whose videos often go viral on social media – looks at the role the word has played in her life, including how ridiculously she ate creamy mashed potato with her family after apparently ‘losing’ her virginity.

McNish is the author of Lobster and Slug, and winner of the Ted Hughes award for new work in poetry with Nobody Told Me.

At a time when poetry has never been more popular, McNish performs from Virgin about love, loss, wolves and warm morning croissants. Expect strong language and adult content!

What does it mean to tell the stories of the Middle East in a time of conflict, displacement, and rapid change? How do reporters deal with challenging conditions? And what is the mental toll of covering war?

Renowned BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, British-Palestinian journalist Jehan Alfarra, and Aljazeera Middle East correspondent Imran Khan take us behind-the-scenes in a wide-ranging conversation about the power of personal narratives, the responsibility of journalists to amplify voices often unheard, and how to navigate truth.

They speak with Bethan McKernan, former Jerusalem and wider Middle East correspondent, who is now focusing on Wales in her role as Wales correspondent for the Guardian.

Doucet is the BBC's chief international correspondent and has led BBC coverage of events ranging from the Arab Spring to the Sudanese Civil War.

Alfarra is a British-Palestinian multimedia journalist, editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering Middle Eastern current affairs and politics, culture and human rights. She has lived and worked for years in both Gaza and London and has reported from across Europe and the Middle East.

Khan became a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in 2005 and is known for his extensive reporting from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Libya, Syria, Ukraine and more, as well He continues to work as a correspondent for Al Jazeera English, dividing his time between the Middle East, South Asia and London.

Marking two decades of Hay Festival in Latin America, this special conversation celebrates the region’s vibrant and diverse literature.

Authors Carlos Fonseca and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera join Cristina Fuentes La Roche, international director of Hay Festival, to discuss their own writing and the wider horizon of Latin American and Latinx literature published in English, considering the joyful and changing landscape of the last 20 years of the region’s literary scene.

Expect to leave this event with a host of expertly curated new book recommendations, and a desire to learn more about Latin America through its stories.

Fonseca is a Costa Rican novelist, essayist, and academic whose works explore art, history, exile, and the fragility of identity. He was included in Bogotá39 – Hay Festival’s selection of the best young Latin American authors – in both 2007 and 2017.

Guardiola-Rivera is professor of philosophy and human rights at Birkbeck, University of London, and an award-winning writer. The launch of his latest book, A Hopeful Political Imagination, coincides with the Festival.

Folklore and dark history are brought to life under the vaulted ceiling of Hay Castle’s Great Hall by the performance group Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk.

As the darkness settles over Hay-on-Wye, this is an unrivalled chance to see the innovative Herefordshire group tell stories through dance, song, music, customs and ceremonies in the most magical of settings.

Ahead of Hollie Starling’s event on working-class folk horror stories, let Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk get you in the mood for the mythical and mystical.

Comedy power couple Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke are joined by top comedian Mark Watson for an evening of conversation, chaos and plenty of laughs.

Spend Saturday night in the company of three of the UK’s sharpest and most acclaimed voices in comedy as they discuss life’s highs and lows and share their honest ratings on everything (yes, everything) from tinned fish to trips to the tip.

Parris and Brigstocke are the hosts of the podcast How Was It For You? and for this live recording they are joined by Watson who has won numerous accolades for his comedy, including Chortle awards and Time Out Comedian of the Year, and has been one of the biggest-selling acts at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past 20 years. He is also a novelist, and his latest book is One Minute Away, about a delivery driver who forms an instant connection with a customer.

A panel of literary stars take us on a lively tour of the year in books, as we get ready to crown the 2025 Hay Festival Book of the Year.

Oyinkan Braithwaite, Mick Herron, Natalie Haynes together with chair Adam Rutherford celebrate the books on the shortlist for the award. They'll discuss the books they have read, their favourite books of the year, those they raced through, the ones that languished unread, the ones they wished they had read and the ones as authors they wish they had written.

You can nominate your favourite titles now for the Book of the Year award; visit https://www.hayfestival.com/book-of-the-year/ and submit your titles by Wednesday 5 November.

Previous winners have included Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, Inventing Ourselves by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and The Five by Hallie Rubenhold – but who will triumph in 2025?

Prepare for a high-octane celebratory evening of all things books.

Author Hollie Starling speaks to poet Nikita Gill about the uncanny and unsettling, as she introduces a rousing and riotous anthology of folk horror tales by some of Britain’s best-loved working-class writers.

Hear tales of the wyrd and wonderful from Bog People, as Starling and Gill celebrate working-class culture and history. Our land might be green and pleasant, but the monsters that lurk beneath will send shivers down your spine.

Bog People’s contributors include A.K. Blakemore, Mark Stafford, Natasha Carthew and Salena Godden. Starling runs the page Folk Horror Magpie on social media. For more dark tales from folklore, drop in to see Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk, performing in the Great Hall of Hay Castle before and after this event.

Folklore and dark history are brought to life under the vaulted ceiling of Hay Castle’s Great Hall by the performance group Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk.

As the darkness settles over Hay-on-Wye, this is an unrivalled chance to see the innovative Herefordshire group tell stories through dance, song, music, customs and ceremonies in the most magical of settings.

Following Hollie Starling’s event on working-class folk horror stories, let Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk help you sink further into the world of the mythical and mystical.