Hay Festival 2026

Poems are made to read OUT LOUD! Jump into the spellbinding world of spoken word poetry with children’s author and award-winning performance poet Joseph Coelho (Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2022–24). In this interactive session with dynamic performances and delightful rhymes from his poetry compendiums, you’ll put your own rhyming skills to the test, tackling tongue twisters and learning how to recite poems loudly across the room, and softly, in a friend’s ear. By the end of the session, you’ll be writing poems that jump off the page and into your mouth!

Mae cerddi wedi cael eu gwneud i gael eu DARLLEN ALLAN YN UCHEL! Neidiwch mewn i fyd hudolus barddoniaeth perfformiadol gyda’r awdur plant a’r bardd perfformiadol Joseph Coelho (Llysgennad Plant Waterstones 2022–24), sydd wedi ennill sawl gwobr. Yn y sesiwn ryngweithiol hon, sy’n llawn perfformiadau deinamig a rhigymau hyfryd o’i gasgliadau o farddoniaeth, byddwch yn profi sgiliau ysgrifennu rhigwm eich hun, ac yn taclo cylymau tafod ac yn dysgu sut i lefaru cerddi’n uchel ar draws yr ystafell, ac yn ysgafn, yng nghlust ffrind. Erbyn diwedd y sesiwn, byddwch yn ysgrifennu cerddi sy’n neidio oddi ar y dudalen ac i mewn i’ch ceg!

Explore your power to create the future with Children’s Laureate Wales Nicola Davies as she traces a gentle story about moving, making connections and mapping a better world. When a young girl moves to a new country, her mum helps her draw a map to understand her unfamiliar surroundings. They draw the new neighbourhood, new friends and special places to help her navigate change. But important things from the past are missing, so the girl makes the map bigger to include them. When misfortune strikes, can she keep redrawing, and find belonging?

Dewch i archwilio eich gallu i greu’r dyfodol gyda Bardd Plant Cymru, Nicola Davies, wrth iddi adrodd stori dyner am symud, creu cysylltiadau a mapio byd gwell. Pan mae merch ifanc yn symud i wlad newydd, mae ei mam yn ei helpu i lunio map er mwyn deall ei hamgylchoedd anghyfarwydd. Maen nhw’n tynnu llun o'r gymdogaeth newydd, ffrindiau newydd a mannau arbennig i’w helpu i ddod yn gyfarwydd â newid. Ond mae pethau pwysig o’r gorffennol ar goll, felly mae’r ferch yn gwneud y map yn fwy i’w cynnwys nhw. Pan mae anffawd yn taro, ydy hi’n gallu parhau i ychwanegu pethau at y map o’i bywyd, a dod o hyd i ffordd o deimlo fel ei bod hi’n perthyn?

The perfect session if you love new ideas, original thinking and passionate speakers. Here we present science, history and fiction all on one ticket! Presenter Dallas Campbell reveals why space flight is built on science fiction. Actor and author Tony Robinson tells us why history is the best thing on Earth. And legendary author Katherine Rundell discusses the power of reading for pleasure in a time of AI. Hosted by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, who’ll open the Festival with poetry. We guarantee you’ll leave having learnt something new – something you Heard at Hay Festival.

Join Clive Anderson and guests for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy in this special live recording of Radio 4’s long-running variety show. Guests include stand-up Athena Kugblenu, comedian Robin Morgan, chef Georgina Hayden plus Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers.

Hear first-hand from a pioneer who changed the world. Visionary inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee tells the remarkable story of how he created the World Wide Web. He reveals This is for Everyone as part memoir, part manifesto, reminding us that he gave the web freely to the world, and urges us to work together to protect it as a force for good. He talks to John Thornhill, innovation editor at the Financial Times.

Barbara Erskine’s Lady of Hay became an instant best-seller on its publication in 1986, and has remained in print ever since. Devoted and new fans alike will be delighted with her new edition that now includes an extra chapter. Erskine celebrates the book’s 40th anniversary and discusses bringing the story right up to date, with Emma Corfield-Walters, owner of independent bookshop Bookish.

The iconic novel blends historical fiction with fantasy, when a journalist debunking the idea of past-life regression submits to hypnotism and finds herself reliving the experiences of Matilda, Lady of Hay, the wife of a baron at the time of King John. As the unspeakable treachery of the past becomes entwined with the present, it becomes clear that, 800 years on, the story is beginning again.

Buckle up for a riotous evening of boyish banter, rugby reminiscence and surprisingly personal stories of life beyond the pitch with James Haskell, Alex Payne and Mike Tindall. Haskell is a former rugby international; Payne is an experienced rugby broadcaster; and Tindall is widely considered to be one of the finest rugby players ever to put on an England shirt. In this energising mix of storytelling, friendship and mischief, the trio discuss everything from how they each started out in their careers to what’s wrong with the current game, via how to make a decent cup of tea. A great way to start the evening for anyone who enjoys authentic conversation with heart and humour. They talk to sports journalist Lauren Salter, one of the most recognisable faces in Welsh rugby broadcasting.

Join Andy Zaltzman for a recording of Radio 4’s flagship topical comedy show as he grabs the week’s headlines and hurls them at four of the nation’s best comedians and journalists. On the panel – Stephen Bush, Robin Morgan, Kiri Pritchard-Mclean and Chloe Petts.

Hear from one of our best-loved historical experts and actors, Sir Tony Robinson, about his debut novel for adults, an epic story of greed, ambition and betrayal. The House of Wolf moves between multiple characters across Rome, Wessex and Lindisfarne, and is a witty recreation of the Anglo-Saxons, Alfred the Great and the making of England.

Robinson discusses drawing on his own knowledge of history, how his acting career impacted his book, and moving from writing for children to adults. Robinson was the original presenter of Time Team, and has had a long acting career, including playing Baldrick in Blackadder and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Maid Marion and Her Merry Men, which he also wrote. He talks to antiques expert and television presenter Kate Bliss.

After a day of devouring ideas, get a taste of Mediterranean warmth and settle down to an evening of cooking and conversation with chef, food writer and stylist Georgina Hayden, as she demonstrates recipes from new cookbook MEDesque and talks to food editor Holly O’Neill.

Hayden’s fifth book travels through Spain, Italy, the Balkans and beyond to unearth everyday recipes with Mediterranean roots. With delightfully oozy gnocchi puttanesca, ‘nduja, pepper and three cheese lasagne, and salted honey butter madeleines, the recipes in the book are infused with her love of food, family and storytelling, inspired by a childhood spent in her grandparents’ Greek Cypriot taverna.

Pussy Riot bravely and flamboyantly harnessed the power of art and culture to resist Putin’s oppression. This is a rare chance to hear first-hand from its founder member Maria Alyokhina. She served time in a brutal Russian prison after performing the punk prayer ‘Virgin Mary, Banish Putin’ with her friends at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. In the face of a new prison sentence, she eventually escaped from Russia dressed as a food delivery driver.

Providing inspiration to a new generation of activists, Alyokhina, author of Political Girl, shares first-hand experiences of the way Russia treats dissidents, emphasises the importance of grassroots opposition and explains how she continues to oppose Putin’s regime. And as the UK government tightens restrictions on protests, we can learn from Alyokhina why standing up to state-sanctioned repression is vital. She speaks to investigative journalist Oliver Bullough.

This event will feature a series of readings with accompaniment by musician and multi-media artist Eric J. Breitenbach.

Great conversation interspersed with music from the Manics’ lead singer – an unforgettable way to hear the band’s story. Bradfield and Wire talk to Keith Cameron, the author of this definitive history of the band. They chart their rise to fame starting in the late ’80s in the stricken mining communities of south Wales, the tragedy of their bandmate’s disappearance, and their remarkable rebirth with the award-winning album Everything Must Go. An unmissable chance to hear from the legendary band that revolutionised the 1990s music scene.

Join author of Luna Loves Library Day, and former Waterstones Children's Laureate Joseph Coelho as he shares all the wonder and magic of Luna's trip to the library with her dad. Expect roaring dinosaurs, buzzing bees and a whole lot of love as Luna discovers the magic of books.

Get hands on with art and craft in the Make & Take Hub at Hay Festival.

Laura will be engaging pupils with her latest picture book I Am Strong Just Being Me, an empowering celebration of nature, kindness and poetry. Get ready to join in this interactive storytelling session.