Hay Festival 2026

Begin the day with a guided tour of Hay Castle led by its director, art historian Tom True. Explore the castle’s layered history, meet some of the characters who once shaped it and hear how it is being reimagined today as a place for ideas, art and thoughtful encounters. The tour includes time to experience the castle’s new interactive interpretation on the second floor, followed by coffee and pastries.

Coffee and pastry included in the ticket price. Meet in the Great Hall.

How writers can give a voice to those who need it. Two authors talk about why they weave themes of gender, violence, identity, social justice and human rights into their work. Lebanese author Rabih Alameddine and British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak talk to writer and translator Daniel Hahn about the importance of creating stories that give a platform to silenced voices.

Alameddine’s 2025 National Book Award-winning The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a darkly comic family saga celebrating love across six decades, through the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother. Shafak’s latest novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky, connects the lives of three strangers across time and space through the everlasting influence of two rivers, the Tigris and the Thames.

In a single lifetime, Christianity has witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history, bringing liberation for some and fury and fear for others. Oxford University professor Diarmaid MacCulloch places recent changes into the 2,000-year-long tale of Christians trying to make sense of sexual desire. MacCulloch is author of the award-winning A History of Christianity, adapted into a six-part BBC television series.

Join writers and editors of the Times Literary Supplement along with special guests for a live recording of their weekly podcast on books and culture.

Come and join three editing and publishing experts for an unmatched opportunity to refine your creative writing ideas. Silk Road Slippers writing courses are for writers of all levels, and have been described by the Financial Times as “a revelation”.

You’ll complete a short writing exercise, then share your work for immediate constructive feedback. The Silk Road Slippers team – publishing legend and former Bloomsbury editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle, best-selling author and historian Alex von Tunzelmann and editorial consultant Faiza Khan – will address style, substance and storytelling. This intensive yet welcoming environment will help you take your creative skills to the next level.

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.

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. You’ll be joined by local experts who will give their insights into this treasured landscape.

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.

Just Visiting is a heartening and humorous piece of theatre, woven from real memories and explored through storytelling and puppetry. A gentle dance through grief to discover joy and meaning.

About Face is a professional learning disability theatre company based in Herefordshire, which has developed a reputation for highly creative, unusual, and thought-provoking work. Created from the actors’ own stories, this show captures grief from many angles; personal yet universal, poignant and funny. Audiences are invited to laugh, cry and connect with the most human experience which unites all of us.

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.

Join professional walking guide Sarah Price and Elizabeth Simpson of Elizabeth Simpson Coaching for a guided circular walk through the stunning surroundings of Hay-on-Wye. Designed for creatives and anyone seeking fresh thinking, this walk will help you step out of the ordinary and into inspiration.

Along the route, Elizabeth will introduce nature-based coaching exercises to enhance creativity and problem-solving. You’ll set an intention for the walk, engage in sensory awareness practices and use simple breathwork techniques to unlock clarity. Through mindful observation and interactive exercises, you’ll explore new perspectives on a creative challenge or personal goal. By the end of the walk, you’ll have shifted your mindset, released limiting thoughts and gained fresh insights – whether you’re working on a book, facing a decision or simply seeking renewed energy.

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.

Maggie O’Farrell, the award-winning author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, gives an exclusive preview of her highly-anticipated new novel, Land, ahead of its publication. Inspired by O’Farrell’s own family history and by the Irish landscape to which she has a deep personal attachment, Land is a multi-generational epic exploring love, loss and the ties that bind us to place and time. In this special event, O’Farrell discusses her craft as one of today’s most captivating storytellers, and reflects on the huge success of the film adaptation of Hamnet, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. This session is unmissable for lovers of literary fiction, fans of historical, character-driven novels and anyone intrigued by the art of beautiful, immersive writing.

Step inside the shadowy world of money-laundering – one of Britain’s top investigative journalists reveals the secrets, the scandals and how it might finally be stopped. Oliver Bullough, best-selling author of Butler to the World and former Reuters’ reporter, introduces his new book Everybody Loves Our Dollars, in which he reveals how organised criminals move dirty money around the world, and how they turn their incomes into legitimately recognised wealth.

Hear about Bullough’s conversations with convicted money launderers and the people who prosecuted them, and learn more about the shadowy financial system that turns dirty money into clean, in this fascinating event that will change the way you look at money.

Rediscover the incredible life and career of the man who saved the world from nuclear war in 1962 when he negotiated an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. U Thant was the longest-serving Secretary-General of the United Nations (1961–71) and held almost celebrity status during a golden age of diplomacy. Now his grandson Thant Myint-U, an award-winning writer and historian who himself served with the UN, takes a fascinating and hugely entertaining look at U Thant’s life. Talking to the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet about his biography Peacemaker, he traces his grandfather’s rise from schoolteacher in a small Burmese backwater in 1947 to the centre of global politics just two decades later.

Two Welsh writers discuss the erosion of memory and the art of the memoir with writer and translator Daniel Hahn in this luminous conversation about what is being lost and what we can hold on to.

Novelist Francesca Rhydderch recounts her struggle for a neurological diagnosis in It Might Not Be True: A Memoir of Life and Love. In danger of fighting a losing battle – with time, memory, herself – she learns there are ways to live in the present by making peace with the past.

Poet Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s fourth collection Milk Wood Memoir explores how the paths of her home town of New Quay – walked by Dylan Thomas and likely an inspiration for Under Milk Wood – are slowly collapsing into the sea due to coastal erosion.

Get ready to be inspired, amazed and totally fascinated by the incredible human body with the nation’s most-loved doctor! Dr Ranj will guide young curiosity seekers on an exciting adventure exploring every nook and cranny of the wondrous world within us: from the powerhouse of the heart to the bustling networks of the brain.

The BAFTA-award-winning TV presenter, musical theatre star and best-selling author will share fun facts about what makes us tick from his new book Dr Ranj’s Human Body Encyclopedia, top tips on wellbeing and keeping your body healthy and happy, as well as reminders of everything that makes every single one of us special.

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.