Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025

Join local musical duo Kairos, musicians Anna Lockett and Jill Horner, for a heartening and uplifting performance as they take over Hay Castle’s Great Hall. Expect beautiful harp, flute and recorders together with romantic, folk, baroque and contemporary musical arrangements – so make sure you don’t miss this musical interlude.

Join local musical duo Kairos, musicians Anna Lockett and Jill Horner, for a heartening and uplifting performance as they take over Hay Castle’s Great Hall. Expect beautiful harp, flute and recorders together with romantic, folk, baroque and contemporary musical arrangements – so make sure you don’t miss this musical interlude.

Kick off your Hay Festival Winter Weekend in style with an intimate night of conversation and stories under the stars with 90s rap rock legend Huey Morgan.

Grab a glass of mulled wine or a warming hot chocolate, and listen as the Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ frontman and Radio 6 Music presenter tells tales from his remarkable career.

Morgan’s memoir The Fun Lovin’ Criminal brings the grit and glamour of 1990s New York to life, as he tells the story of his ascent to stardom, the trials and triumphs of touring, and his life after leaving the Fun Lovin’ Criminals.

Morgan talks to journalist and broadcaster Nuala McGovern.

Take in the beauty of the booktown in the Christmas season, and be part of the Hay-on-Wye festival extravaganza this Festival Friday to kick off your evening of festive fun.

Memorial Square will be filled with festive spirit: watch as Santa passes by on a steam engine, partake in Christmas activities, and grab a delicious bite to eat and a warming drink ahead of the main event.

On this magical occasion, with Hay Castle as your backdrop, watch as the Christmas lights are switched on by Hay-on-Wye’s Citizen of the Year and a special guest, following in the footsteps of previous guests including Miriam Margoyles, Hamza Yassin and Luke Evans.

Co-hosted by Hay Town Council and Hay Chamber of Commerce.

Beloved Welsh actress and Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page shares heartwarming stories about her upbringing and candid reflections on life on and off the screen.

A unique chance to celebrate a leading contemporary actress, Page – who also starred in Love, Actually – will talk to Woman’s Hour presenter Nuala McGovern, reflecting on growing up along the glorious Welsh coastline outside Swansea, the culture shock of moving to London alone to pursue acting, and the chaos and joy of bringing up four children.

Page played the titular Stacey in the hit BBC show, which gave Barry Island and the Vale of Glamorgan a place in viewers’ hearts. Page’s memoir Lush! sees her tell her story for the first time and share honest thoughts on staying true to yourself when fame comes knocking.

For fans of sharp and satirical social comedies like Succession and The White Lotus, Olga Koch’s new show is comedy perfection.

Olga Koch Comes From Money, which was nominated for Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2025, is a head-on – and hilarious – confrontation of wealth and class.

Koch, whose father was once the deputy prime minister of Russia, uses her own story to interrogate what it means to have money, providing plenty of laughs and thought-provoking observations along the way.

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.

There’s a word for just about everything, and Susie Dent is here to enlighten you on a host of new (and old) vocabulary.

The lexicographer speaks to Gary Raymond about her new book Words for Life, in which she shares the definition and history of a word for each day of the year.

You’ll go away knowing the word for someone who loves to read in bed (useful for all Hay Festival attendees, we suspect) and the strange history of the word arse, plus expand your vocabulary to words you didn’t know you needed.

Dent is Queen of Dictionary Corner on Channel 4’s Countdown, and hosts TV and radio shows.

Raymond is a novelist, critic, editor and broadcaster, the presenter of The Arts Show for BBC Radio Wales and former editor of Wales Arts Review.

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.

Travel the world from Hay Castle with musician Olivia Preye as she takes us on a tour of the world’s music and her influences, from her early days of studying jazz at Guildhall to the gamelan of Indonesia and Indian classical music, she’ll also be dropping in some folk vocals accompanied by her shruti box and mandolin.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Hear a sneak peek of virtuoso guitarist Michael Poll’s music ahead of his concert at St Mary’s Church in the afternoon.

Poll is both a conductor and virtuoso guitarist whose music has over 1 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music, and was featured on the BBC and Classic FM.

Our pop-up music sessions offer magical interludes between events in the incredible Great Hall at Hay Castle.

Hay’s own Welsh-language choir lifts the spirits in this short performance between events.

Performing a variety of folk songs, rousing hymns and choral classics, this is a joyful celebration of Welsh music and culture.

The majority of the choir’s members are either learning Welsh or passionate about the language, with three first-language Welsh-speakers keeping a strict ear on pronunciation.

Our pop-up music sessions offer magical interludes between events in the incredible Great Hall at Hay Castle.

Criminal psychologist Julia Shaw investigates gangs who terrorise communities, committing horrendous environmental crimes against people and the planet.

In her book Green Crime, she looks at cases – including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Dieselgate emissions scandal, and the Shuidong wildlife crime syndicate – and reveals how, following their every move, are secret agents, vigilantes and scientists fighting to foil their criminal acts.

She talks to scientist, writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford about who commits these crimes against the planet, and how we can better protect our natural resources.

Get in the festive mood with a performance of seasonal classics, sung by women’s a capella group Decis.

The group, made up of members from Hay-on-Wye and the surrounding villages, perform from the gallery of Hay Castle’s Great Hall.

Got 2 Sing Choir performs uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies and festive classics, with plenty of fun and laughter.

Our pop-up music sessions offer magical interludes between events in the incredible Great Hall at Hay Castle.

Got 2 Sing Choir performs uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies and festive classics, with plenty of fun and laughter.

Our pop-up music sessions offer magical interludes between events in the incredible Great Hall at Hay Castle.

A decade after they last performed at Hay-on-Wye, Thrill Collins are back to light up Hay Castle.

Get ready to hit the dance floor as the skiffle-pop trio, renowned for transforming the greatest pop anthems of all time into jaw-dropping, high-energy medley marathons, provide the ultimate finale to the Festival.