Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Meet the characters of Vikki Heywood’s novel about the hidden lives of women, inspired by the real life of her former head teacher, who came out aged 70.

The titular characters in Heywood’s novel live in a leafy Buckinghamshire village, where they maintain their careful facade as respected local spinsters. But their public façade masks a story of passion; they met as suffragist activists in the 1900s, danced in London’s secret gay clubs between the wars, and comforted one another during the Blitz. Now they face heartbreaking decisions as changes begin to take place following the end of the war.

Heywood introduces her warm and witty debut, speaks about her real-life inspiration, and discusses how her life in the theatre influenced her writing. Heywood was executive director of the RSC from 2003 until 2012 and before that joint chief executive of the Royal Court Theatre.

Oyinkan Braithwaite caught the literary world’s attention with her first novel, the award-winning literary sensation My Sister, the Serial Killer which was a Sunday Times bestseller, longlisted for The Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Oyinkan is now at Hay Festival’s Winter Weekend to take us into the world of her glittering follow-up, Cursed Daughters.

Cursed Daughters is a brilliant cocktail of modernity and superstition, vibrant humor and hard-won wisdom, romantic love and familial obligation, in which Eniiyi falls in love and tries to break free of a family curse which has doomed the love lives of generations of women in her family. Don’t miss this chance to hear from one of the brightest new contemporary authors at work today as she talks to author and bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud.

Immerse yourself in the charming and comforting world of artist Charlie Mackesy’s beloved and award-winning bestseller The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, in this magical event.

Mackesy will introduce his new book Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm, while drawing live, giving an exclusive first-hand look at just how he creates his illustrations.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has reached more than 10 million readers around the world, and an animated short film adaptation was released in 2023, co-directed and co-written by Mackesy.

Mackesy began his career as a cartoonist, and his work can be found in books, prisons, and public spaces including Highgate Cemetery.

Mererid Hopwood is Professor of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University. She is a Welsh poet who won the bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and she translated The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse into the Welsh language, Y Bachgen, y Wahadden, y Llwynog a’r Ceffyl.