Hay Festival 2026

Join Booker Prize–winning author Douglas Stuart for an unforgettable conversation about his deeply moving new novel, John of John. With the intensity and raw truth that made Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo modern classics, Stuart dissects masculinity, the search for love, and the profound peril of family secrets. He discusses how he chooses his deeply human themes and how he manages to illuminate the quiet resilience of ordinary lives. A must-attend event for readers who crave fiction that speaks straight to the heart.

Stuart talks to writer, radio presenter and Church of England priest Reverend Richard Coles.

Join world-renowned public health expert, Devi Sridhar, for a fascinating, myth-busting conversation about what really determines how long – and how well – we live. Forget the simple eat better, move more, sleep well mantra; Sridhar argues that good health depends as much on public policy as personal choice. In conversation with bestselling science writer Professor Dan Davis, she explores how things like clean water, safe transport, and strong community health systems can transform lives. Drawing on powerful real-world examples, this lively and insightful discussion reveals how smarter policies can help us all live longer, healthier lives. Thought-provoking, hopeful and urgently relevant.

For lovers of the craft of fiction, this is an unmissable discussion on how the modern Western novel became a global form, with four great writers. Hisham Matar, Kiran Desai and Kamila Shamsie talk to Pankaj Mishra about the challenges and opportunities of representing a complex world and global identities in fiction.

The session is hosted by Equator, a political and cultural magazine founded to tell stories traditionally neglected by Western narratives.

A night of fast, funny and fabulous improvisation with Paul Merton and Suki Webster. Expect games, scenes, stories, songs and laugh-out-loud surrealism, all deftly conjured up on the spot and based on suggestions from you: the audience! These masters of comedy improvisation are joined by special guests, and guarantee a night of raucous entertainment.