Hay Festival 2026

An hour of movement and breathwork, led by a highly-skilled Hay-on-Wye practitioner, to start your day at Hay Festival with open heart and mind. Whether you need grounding and recharging before a busy day at the Festival, an opportunity to stretch and move your body, or simply an hour to focus on your breathing, this yoga class is open and accessible to all. The class leader will adapt to different levels of experience, so that each student takes what they need from the practice.

Please bring your own yoga mat and wear loose, comfortable clothing. Booking is essential. Contact Clare Fry at hello@larchwoodstudio.com with questions relating to these classes. Alert your practitioner at the start of class if you have any injuries.

The insiders’ guide to what’s happening in the news. Former political and foreign correspondent Robert Nisbet brings together a panel of insiders to discuss, debate and dissect the day’s news. You’ll get the background you might not know, the analysis that helps you understand and the insight that reveals what the stories shaping our world really mean for us all. With security expert Gordon Corera and former Conservative cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.

Why do we stare at sunsets? Why do we get a rush from the view from the top of a mountain? What is it about the extraordinariness of nature that inspires awe? And why don’t we feel it when we’re doing the supermarket shop? Two writers have the answer. You have to go to the edge. Turn your back on big cities, the establishment, the centre of any received authority and journey to the wilderness – real or metaphorical.

Cal Flyn takes us into the wild in her book The Savage Landscape, addressing our yearning to be inspired by extreme nature. Charles Foster argues that all the best ideas happen at the edges, in his book The Edges of the World. They talk to broadcaster and Countryfile presenter Sean Fletcher.

What can a comic book tell you about your health? Cartoonist and GP Dr Ian Williams shares how he found his voice through coining a new genre of ‘Graphic Medicine’, in this illustrated talk exploring the growing intersection of comics, autobiography, illness and healthcare.

William’s The Bad Doctor series of graphic novels draws upon his own struggles with OCD. His new book The Sick Doctor, inspired by his experience of cancer treatment, is out later this year.

Watch a selection of short films, curated by MUBI, throughout the morning. The day’s schedule will be listed each morning at the venue – pop along and take a look.

Read graphic novels and comics for adults and kids! Come and visit the Graphic Novel Reading Room to discover a wide range of genres including non-fiction, graphic medicine, travelogue, journalism, memoirs and many more. Hundreds of titles will be provided for you to browse and read, and you can finish whole books in one sitting.

This oasis of visual storytelling will be open throughout the day for you to drop in. It’s located in the Bookshop Garden – look out for the blue & white striped marquee next door to Shepherds Ice Cream.

Please note that under 16s need adult supervision at all times and that some books contain adult themes.

Step into the magical world of Bird & Blend Tea Co., discover the secrets of tea mixology and create your own perfect blend in an immersive and interactive Tea Mixology Experience led by an expert mixologist. This hands-on workshop invites you to taste up to six unique blends and test your tea knowledge with an engaging and fun tea matching game.

With expert guidance, you’ll get to craft two custom tea blends to take home and pair with your next fave book! You’ll also learn about different tea types and brewing tips to enhance your tea-making ritual at home. There’ll be an opportunity to ask questions, plus you’ll get a goody bag with free samples. Visit the Bird & Blend Tea Co. stand afterwards for a free gift with purchase (find a special token in your goody bag). Book now – it’s going to be TEArrific!

Come on a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye, led by guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Learn about the historic environment of the town and its surroundings.

Hay-on-Wye is located within 520 square miles of beautiful countryside that makes up the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. The National Park is driving change to bring about a sustainable future, meeting our needs within planetary boundaries. Their Hay Festival series of walks take you into the town’s local environment while offering the opportunity to learn more about the Park’s work and its treasured landscape.

Please wear appropriate footwear and outdoor gear. Walk level: easy.

Come armed with pencils and paper as cartoonist Neill Cameron leads the spectacular Phoenix Comic Book Draw-Off. Expect hilarity and lots of fun in this interactive show that’s perfect for the whole family. Cameron, the creator of the bestselling Donut Squad series, will be joined on stage by Thiago de Moraes and Laura Ellen Anderson from the world of The Phoenix comic for a show-down worthy of any comic book battle.

And if you’re inspired to create your own comic book, visit the on-site Phoenix Comic Books take-over with appearances from Bunny Vs Monkey and Donut Squad, as well as Phoenix Comic Club drop-in sessions so you can learn how to draw your own characters across the Phoenix Comic Books.

Join award-winning picture book author/illustrator Sophy Henn for a double storytime following the exploits of a ghostly pair of friends. Sophy will read I Hate Everything!, her irresistible tale about finding the positives when your day seems completely rubbish, as well as the new sequel I Want Everything! This celebration of the things in life that really matter is guaranteed to turn your frown upside down. Then Sophy will help you to draw some ghosts, and make your very own pet one to take home!

Sophy is creator of the much-loved Bad Nana fiction series, the Pom Pom series and the Ted board book series. She was World Book Day Illustrator in 2015 and 2016.

Join award-winning comedian and writer Melanie Owen for a fun, interactive comedy workshop. Like getting laughs? Got an idea that an audience would love? From the chaotic to the ridiculous, this session will bring those ideas to life! Write stand-up, sketches or sitcom scenes, get loud and find your funny bones.

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

Step inside Hay Castle – a border stronghold shaped by myth, power and reinvention. Visit the current BorderLands exhibition delivered in partnership with Meadow Arts, and enjoy full access to the castle, from cellar to rooftop. Explore rooms layered with stories, including Matilda’s room, the Richard Booth space, historic costumes and the castle cellar.

Experience the new, interactive exhibit on the second floor, then climb to the viewing platform for wide views across the Wye Valley. Your ticket also includes unlimited return visits for a full year, so you can come back as the seasons – and the castle – change.

This ticket allows you to visit the castle at a time of your choice on the day selected, and also gives you entry into the Meadow Arts BorderLands exhibition.

Step inside Hay Castle during Hay Festival 2026 and explore a place shaped by power, survival and reinvention. Led by an expert volunteer guide, this tour traces 800 years of life inside the castle – from medieval plots and royal whispers to its rescue, restoration and reimagining as a place for ideas today. You’ll move through rooms, stairways and towers, hearing stories of the people who lived, schemed, dreamed and partied here. Along the way, take in sweeping views across the Wye Valley – a reminder that this is a border castle, built to watch and be watched.

Guided tours run daily at 11am and 2pm. Tour price includes entry into the Castle for a year including the current exhibition: BorderLands.

Join lifelong friends Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins as they ask each other the questions they’re too embarrassed to ask anyone else. We all have things in our life that we should know by now, but don’t. In a live recording of their Audible Original podcast, Mel and Sue tackle their ignorance head on, and along the way help us all feel a little better about our own ignorance.

A must-attend event for Classics lovers with a world-class expert in Greek mythology. Daniel Mendelsohn has produced a brand new translation of The Odyssey, poised to become the authoritative English-language version of this magnificent, endlessly enjoyable masterpiece. He talks about the joys and challenges of translating such an iconic piece of work and why the story still appeals to modern audiences.

Mendelsohn is editor-at-large of the New York Review of Books, and author of An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

Understanding the need for and art of protest has never been more important, as across the world people stand up against injustice. Graphic novelists Scarlett and Sophie Rickard and Myfanwy Tristram discuss writing about protest, the link between art and activism, and why the comic book is the perfect medium to discuss raising our voices against injustice.

This Slavery by the Rickards is adapted from a novel by radical author Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, who was the first working-class woman to have a novel published in Britain. It tells the story of sisters Rachel and Hester Martin, one of whom agitates for reform, while the other submits to the slavery of a patriarchal marriage. For Noisy Valley, Tristram visited the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, inviting people to recount their memories of the times they’d refused to take things lying down.

Since childhood, poet Bethany Handley felt most at home out in the wilds of the Welsh countryside. That all changed when she became a full-time wheelchair user in her twenties and suddenly found herself padlocked out of the landscapes she belonged to. Public rights of way are currently blocked in 32,000 places in England and Wales. Handley talks to investigative journalist Nicola Cutcher about My Body is a Meadow, describing what nature means to her and why we all need to work together to make the countryside open to all.

Handley is an award-winning writer and poet who campaigns for disability rights and better access to nature. Nicola Cutcher is an investigative journalist living on the Welsh/English borders.

Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Print: Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Watch out for chaos as Louie Stowell reveals the hilarious new doodle-packed instalment in her best-selling series about a diminutive Norse god. Loki, the mighty trickster god, has been banished by Odin for bad behaviour to live on Earth as an eleven-year-old boy. Things he cannot do on Earth: reveal his awesome godly powers. Things he must do on Earth if he wants to get back home: go to school, do good deeds, write a diary. He’ll also have to sort out the chaos that erupts after the goddess Freyja arrives in town – or face terrible consequences… Louie will share the inspiration behind Loki’s escapades and demonstrate some doodles!

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

Do you know who you’re going to vote for at the next election? Or are you one of the millions of people who now describe themselves as politically homeless? Former Downing Street Director of Communications Guto Harri discusses why we’ve lost our loyalty to the traditional parties with Private Eye journalist Adam Macqueen, polling analyst Scarlett Maguire and former Conservative Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt.

Chef, businesswoman and Great British Bake Off presenter Dame Prue Leith opens up about her extraordinary life via the pages of her favourite books. Leith’s CV is impressive to say the least. She started her first business at the age of 20. By 30, she’d opened Leiths, the Michelin-starred restaurant that made her name. She’s been a director of companies including British Rail, Woolworths and the Halifax Bank, and chair of the Royal Society of Arts. And still she finds time to read. Here she shares the books which have held a particular resonance for her through her life. Expect straight-talking and strong opinions and, of course, a fabulous pair of glasses.

Hay Festival is proud to support the National Year of Reading

Inventor and educator Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu takes us on a fun and informative deep dive into the world of chain reactions that underpin our everyday existence. Sharing personal anecdotes about how chemistry has shaped her life, as well as scientific insights, Uchegbu explains how our bodies and our world are held together by chemical bonds.

Uchegbu is professor of pharmaceutical nanoscience at University College London, and president of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Talking to geneticist and science communicator Dr Adam Rutherford about her new book Chain Reaction, she’ll leave you thinking about the world around you in a new way.

Whether you’re a parent, grandparent or just love cartoon strips, you’ll find much to entertain in this frank discussion and live cartoon drawing about early parenthood. Writer and cartoonist Becky Barnicoat talks while she draws as she introduces her graphic novel memoir Cry When the Baby Cries. In conversation with novelist Emma-Jane Unsworth, she explores everything from the anatomy of the hospital bag to the tyranny of gentle parenting. It’s an antidote to parenting books and a very human take on the messiness of new motherhood. Barnicoat has drawn for the New Yorker, the Guardian and more, and has illustrated books including Holding the Baby by Nell Frizzell.

Come and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2026 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg. See these rising stars at Hay Festival first!

Join hosts James Briefel and George Pundek for a live recording of their popular film podcast Pulp Kitchen, which celebrates all things cinema. Their show blends informed discussion with a relaxed style, creating a space where audiences can share and develop their passion for movies.

Print: Join hosts James Briefel and George Pundek for a live recording of their popular film podcast Pulp Kitchen, which celebrates all things cinema. Their show blends informed discussion with a relaxed style, creating a space where audiences can share and develop their passion for movies.

A BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert series exploring the music of Edvard Grieg and others. This last of three recitals recorded for broadcast features Guy Johnston (cello) and Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano), who perform a programme including Grieg and Britten.

Programme:

Benjamin Britten Sonata in C for cello and piano, Op 65

Edvard Grieg Cello Sonata in A minor, Op 36

Calling all keen detectives in the making! We have a murder mystery to solve – and we’re going to have a lot of fun while we do it. Alasdair Beckett-King, creator of the world’s finest detective Montgomery Bonbon, is asking for your help to crack the case in his new book. In Scandal on the Stage, a playwright collapses on stage, whispering “Murder!” – but the cast all have rock-solid alibis…

Alasdair – a stand-up comedian seen on Mock the Week and Comedy Central Live, as well as the author of the Bonbon series – will show you how to walk, talk and detect like a sleuth. One with a great sense of humour.

Join award-winning comedian and writer Melanie Owen for a fun, interactive comedy workshop. Like getting laughs? Got an idea that an audience would love? From the chaotic to the ridiculous, this session will bring those ideas to life! Write stand-up, sketches or sitcom scenes, get loud and find your funny bones.

Please bring your own notebook and pen to this event.

Come on a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye, led by guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Learn about the historic environment of the town and its surroundings.

Hay-on-Wye is located within 520 square miles of beautiful countryside that makes up the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. The National Park is driving change to bring about a sustainable future, meeting our needs within planetary boundaries. Their Hay Festival series of walks take you into the town’s local environment while offering the opportunity to learn more about the Park’s work and its treasured landscape.

Step inside Hay Castle during Hay Festival 2026 and explore a place shaped by power, survival and reinvention. Led by an expert volunteer guide, this tour traces 800 years of life inside the castle – from medieval plots and royal whispers to its rescue, restoration and reimagining as a place for ideas today. You’ll move through rooms, stairways and towers, hearing stories of the people who lived, schemed, dreamed and partied here. Along the way, take in sweeping views across the Wye Valley – a reminder that this is a border castle, built to watch and be watched.

Guided tours run daily at 11am and 2pm. Tour price includes entry into the Castle for a year including the current exhibition: BorderLands.

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Kairos is a duo of harp and flute/recorders from Oxfordshire, comprising Anna Lockett and Jill Horner. They enjoy making music in a variety of genres, and share a passion for using music therapeutically in the community. As Kairos, they explore creating their own folk arrangements and compositions, and experiment with arranging romantic, baroque and contemporary repertoire.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout introduces her new book. It tells the story of Artie Dam, who looks like he’s got life sorted. He’s a teacher, he’s been married for 30 years, he has friends and a great life. But inside he doesn’t feel he fits. Then he uncovers a secret that’s been kept from him – and it changes his entire world. Strout talks to Guardian literary critic Chris Power about the art of writing characters we can all identify with.

A Russian in Britain and an American in Russia share their unique perspectives. Jana Bakunina is an author who returned to her hometown after Putin invaded Ukraine, to find her once liberal friends and family now happy to go along with Putin’s regime. Jamison R Firestone is an American lawyer who was at the centre of exposing scandal, corruption and murder while working in Russia. Together they bring incredible insight to this discussion with the Guardian’s foreign correspondent Luke Harding.

Jana Bakunina’s The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation’s Soul describes her return to Russia only to find voices of conscience now silenced by dictatorship. Jamison R Firestone’s Rule of Lies: My Wild Ride Through Chaos, Corruption and Murder in Putin’s Russia reads like a spy novel but is a true account of his time working in Russia.

One of the most influential thinkers in the field of AI risk explains why superintelligent AI is a global suicide bomb. In this essential session, Nate Soares, co-author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies with Eliezer Yudkowsky, explains just why superintelligent AI could be catastrophic for our species, and how we stop it.

Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and one of its most senior researchers. He has been working in the field of AI alignment for over a decade, after previous experience at Microsoft and Google. He talks to Patricia Clarke, technology reporter at the Observer.

Experience evocative storytelling that bridges page and screen, in this screening of Boiling Point actor Vinette Robinson’s narration of Emily Brontë’s groundbreaking classic.

Robinson gives a spellbinding reading performance, bringing to life the intense and destructive love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw in this passionate rendering of the timeless novel, set against the haunting backdrop of the Yorkshire moors.

The Read is a series of outstanding performance readings of iconic British novels. Each episode offers a richly immersive celebration of literature.

Dennis the Menace has a special birthday wish – he wants to break the rules of reading! Beano’s Directors of Mischief and Mayhem, Craig Graham and Mike Stirling, help him in this jokey session, revealing their top-secret tips for creating the laugh-out-loud stories and comic strips in Beano, where Dennis has starred since 1951. They’ll also reveal insider info on how they’ve reinvented reading with their smash-hit latest Beano Boomic The Day We Got Lost in Time.

Join their Mischief Squad, as you help co-create the funniest Dennis the Menace comic strip of all time. This is the cheekiest, funniest, most creative show ever!

Wren James introduces their debut graphic novel, a funny and uplifting take on the ‘chosen one’ trope. In The Victors, Wren explores what happens after the chosen one has saved the world. In this interactive session they’ll discuss the process of creating an illustrated novel in collaboration with the artist, and give a crash course in visual storytelling, from comic book scripts to their work in a TV writer’s room on Netflix’s Heartstopper.

Wren is the award-winning author of many YA novels, including The Loneliest Girl in the Universe (previously published as Lauren James).

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative in these interactive sessions delivered by artists and discover that your imagination is the only limit.

Book for the session and you can drop in at any point during the 1.5 hour duration. Accompanying adults: please stay in attendance at all times, but you do not require a ticket.

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Kairos is a duo of harp and flute/recorders from Oxfordshire, comprising Anna Lockett and Jill Horner. They enjoy making music in a variety of genres, and share a passion for using music therapeutically in the community. As Kairos, they explore creating their own folk arrangements and compositions, and experiment with arranging romantic, baroque and contemporary repertoire.

Have I Got News For You team captain and editor of Private Eye Ian Hislop comes to Hay Festival for a special session on his love of reading. He shares the stories that kept him company during a childhood spent living abroad, and talks about the books that have inspired him and – as reportedly the most sued man in Britain – helped him to switch off after a busy day holding the powerful to account. Hosted by Decca Aitkenhead, chief interviewer for the Sunday Times.

Two women, two different approaches to life, one goal – to live your best life. Celebrate the joys of getting older and learn how to live a healthier life as you age in this candid and fun discussion. Wellbeing expert Liz Earle shares the science, while chef, businesswoman and Bake Off star Prue Leith divulges details from her life as a modern woman in her 80s. They talk to journalist Gaby Huddart about embracing life, the tips they swear by to keep them feeling good, and why we should all look forward to ageing.

Earle’s latest book, How to Age, draws on cutting-edge science to show us how to strengthen our bodies, to look and feel more youthful. Earle is an award-winning author and co-founder of her eponymous global beauty brand. Leith’s Being Old…and Learning to Love It is packed with her trademark wit, wisdom and no-nonsense charm as she takes a spirited canter through the triumphs, challenges and surprises of ageing well.

How can our agricultural systems adjust to the changing needs of people and planet? The challenges range from rising energy costs and labour shortages to extreme weather events, but a high level of consumer trust, investment in agritech and a shift towards regenerative practices promise hope for the industry. Our panel of experts explores what the future of farming looks like, and how we can serve people’s needs while protecting the natural environment.

Adam Henson, Countryside presenter and well-known farmer; Philip Lymbery, global CEO of Compassion in World Farming International; and Deborah Meaden, business leader and fellow of the WWF, speak to journalist and Countryfile presenter Sean Fletcher.

Can humour help us understand our family histories? Stop-motion animator and writer Astrid Goldsmith talks to Donut Squad cartoonist Neill Cameron about family feuds, buried secrets and the unavoidable life admin after death, as explored in her debut graphic memoir, The Crystal Vase. Already an award-winning graphic storyteller, Goldsmith has an extraordinary talent for turning the heaviest moments in life into something funny, beautiful and bittersweet.

When her grandmother dies, it’s down to Goldsmith and her father to hire a van, drive to Germany and sort through her belongings. Family demands clash with a lifetime of clutter as they sort the heirlooms from the odds and ends, finding hidden histories and stories of survival among it all – from Nazi Germany to colonial Africa.

A screening of Lynne Ramsay’s uncompromising portrait of a woman on the edge. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in a frenzied pas de deux, Die My Love inflames the exposed nerves of delirium and desire.

Grace and her partner Jackson move into an old country house. She pursues her dream of writing, and the couple welcome a baby soon after. However, with Jackson frequently absent, and the pressures of domestic life weighing on her, Grace begins to unravel, leaving a path of destruction in her wake.

Directed by Lynne Ramsay (2025). Film duration: 1 hour 59 minutes. Certificate 15.

Join romance author Beth Reekles, creator of YA hit sensation The Kissing Booth, as she takes us through a fan-tastic journey into the world of fandoms, nerd culture and what it means to find a community where you belong – and, of course, that all important, fascinating insight into becoming a published author!

In Beth’s new novel For Real This Time, misfit and hardcore fangirl Anissa is finally coming out of her shell. She’s officially part of the group chat with the girls from college, and she’s even managed to bag work experience on the set of her favourite TV show. Things couldn’t be going better – until she meets the hot new actor behind her favourite character, and gets totally starstruck. Anissa’s about to realise that sometimes getting lost in the fantasy isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be…

What has Ben Elton done? What hasn’t he done? After no less than fifteen best-selling novels, writing for hit shows like Blackadder and The Young Ones, creating The Thin Blue Line, three West End plays and three musicals (and that’s only scratching the surface of writing credits), Elton has finally written something about his own life. Expect unvarnished, uncensored and undeniably funny recollections from 45 years of making the nation laugh. Elton talks to his friend, the actor and comedian Adrian Edmondson.