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!