Hay Festival 2009

This year’s Christopher Hitchens Lecture is delivered by Matt Frei, lead presenter of Channel 4 News’ award-winning global coverage. Frei takes an in-depth look into America, analysing whether and how the country can still be saved from itself. His book Only in America chronicled the presidency of George W Bush, and he has interviewed five American presidents, including Trump. While based in the US he presented the BBC Radio 4 programme Americana.

Colm Tóibín reunites us with the heroine of his 2009 novel, Brooklyn, in his sequel Long Island. We find Eilis Lacey 20 years on, in the 1970s, living with her husband, Tony Fiorello, and children on Long Island, rather too close to her Fiorello in-laws. A shocking piece of news propels Eilis back to Ireland, to a world she thought she had long left behind and to ways of living, and loving, she thought she had lost. Tóibín is the current Laureate for Irish Fiction. His previous novels include The Master, The Testament of Mary and House of Names. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker multiple times, and has won both the Costa Novel Award and the Impac Award. He talks to Hay Festival President Stephen Fry.

Join WOW (Women of the World) founder Jude Kelly for an evening of optimism, determination and laughter, exploring the exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity, covering everything from money, sex, race and food to ageing. Extremely and equally suitable for men!

WOW is a network of arts festivals that celebrate the achievements of women and girls as well as highlighting the obstacles that face them. It was founded by Kelly, former Artistic Director of London’s Southbank Centre, in 2010.

Historian Corinne Fowler brings rural life and colonial rule together, sharing the ways in which the British Empire transformed rural lives, offering opportunity and seeking exploitation. She shows how the booming profits of overseas colonial activities directly contributed to enclosure, land clearances and dispossession in the UK, and how these histories continue to have an impact. Fowler’s most recent book is Our Island Stories: Country Walks through Colonial Britain, and she is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She co-authored the 2021 National Trust report on its country houses’ historical links to the British Empire, and is also author of Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections. She talks to Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, author and Professor of Human Rights and Political Philosophy at Birkbeck University, London.

There are no problems that cannot be improved by eating cheese. Fact. The award-winning comedian and International Cheese Judge guides us through the subtle art of pairing the best cheeses with a fine whine of your choosing, so whatever your whinge there’s cheese to match. Brigstocke is one of our most talented, versatile comedians, mixing satirical state-of-the-nation gags with top rate observational humour, killer impressions and important content about dairy produce.

Self-avowed ‘internet sensation’ Josh Berry comes to Hay Festival for the first time to deliver his specific brand of character and impressions-laden stand-up comedy. He reflects on his journey from being born in Crewe to becoming a fully fledged member of the Guardian-reading North London ‘wokerati’.

After being called a beta male last year, Berry is eager to explore the topic of masculinity and reflect on what place that concept has in the modern world, especially given the fall of Andrew Tate and the many crying meltdowns of Jordan Peterson on Twitter. He cannot wait to spend most of the set making fun of the audience for things that also apply to him.

“A remarkable new talent” – Rob Brydon.

N.B. The posh bashing will likely be interspersed with some more polite routines about the tennis.

NATO this year marks its 75th anniversary, and discussions around its purpose, achievements, faults and usefulness have never been louder. Journalist Peter Apps takes a look at the history of NATO, from the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises, and the chaotic evacuation from Kabul.

Peter Apps is global defence correspondent for Reuters news agency and is currently on sabbatical as executive director of the Project for Study of the 21st Century (PS21). Apps reported from Sri Lanka during the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. In September 2006, he broke his neck in a minibus crash while covering the conflict, leaving him largely paralysed from the shoulders down. He returned to work in a wheelchair nine months later, using voice recognition software to resume his writing career. Of the 20 or so countries he has reported from, more than half have been since the injury.

Join the alto saxophonist for an evening of uplifting music. Whether playing a proud role in his local Leicester community, lending his talents to perform for the city’s first Black mayor George Cole or paying homage to his Afro-Caribbean roots with songs charged with the righteous energy of reggae music, musician and spoken word artist Marcus Joseph aspires to be an instrument of change.

Start your day with an hour of yoga blending movement, mantra, meditation and breathwork. The classes support detoxification and regeneration – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Our daily yoga classes are brought to you by a collective of ten highly skilled practitioners, all local to Hay-on-Wye. Each practitioner has their own style, but with all you can expect a mindful, student-focused practice with clear cueing and functional sequencing.

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, these classes are open and accessible to all. Practitioners will adapt to different levels of experience, providing options for deepening or softening within poses so that each student takes what they need from the practice. Beginners and experienced students are most welcome. Yoga mats are provided.

Please contact Clare Fry at hello@larchwoodstudio.com with any questions relating to these classes. As capacity is limited, we recommend booking in advance to avoid disappointment.

Come to Andrew Giles’ farm with local vet Barney Sampson and agronomist Jonathon Harrington to see how his herd of dairy cows produce most of their milk from grass. You can enter the milking parlour and help to milk some of the cows. Learn how the cows are fed and find out how their four stomachs enable them to digest grass. You can taste samples of the dairy products, and a local cheese maker will explain the art and science beneath the rind.

With thanks to Andrew Giles for welcoming us to his farm.

A fantastic opportunity to see behind the scenes of this unique and historic building. Visit at a time of your choice during Castle opening hours.

Lord Sebastian Coe has unrivalled experience of the world of sport, as a double Olympic gold medallist, architect of the London 2012 Olympics, President of World Athletics, politician, businessman and champion of sport as a path to individual fitness, national pride and international collaboration. He talks to journalist Matthew d’Ancona about the ever-expanding role of sport in 21st century society, and the controversies and opportunities that lie ahead.

Start your day at Hay Festival with our daily news review. Join our leading journalists and special guests as they take us behind the headlines with insider perspectives, insights and an eye on what’s next. Strong coffee recommended!

Today’s guests include comedian Marcus Brigstocke, the British Antarctic Survey’s physician Gavin Francis, former Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening and science journalist Layal Liverpool.

The historian of the mental afterlife of conflict examines the civil wars that engulfed Britain in the mid-seventeenth century – the most destructive in the island’s history. The wars left lasting scars on the British cultural and political imagination, and the memory of that turbulent decade in the 1600s continues to haunt the politics of the present. Dr Imogen Peck asks what, in a time of global instability, we might learn from the successes and failures of early modern states, exploring some of the surprising parallels between early modern and modern approaches to cultural memory and issues of national reconciliation. Author of Recollection in the Republics, Peck is Assistant Professor in British History at the University of Birmingham and Director of the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures.

In 2022, when the Cymru men’s team reached the World Cup for the first time in generations, the immediate instinct of the delirious players was to drag folk singer Dafydd Iwan onto the pitch for an impromptu rendition of Yma o Hyd. It was an act that speaks volumes for the nation’s links between football and culture, two pillars of Welsh life indelibly entwined. Gŵyl Cymru Festival was launched soon after – a collaboration between the Football Association of Wales and Arts Council of Wales – comprising a series of arts and football events across the nation and beyond that continues into 2024. This event is a celebration of the special relationship between sport and culture, and how Cymru’s supporters – the famous Red Wall – have embraced creativity. We’ll be joined by special guests from the worlds of football and the arts.

Guides from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park lead a walk through the beautiful surrounds of Hay-on-Wye. Two of the Park’s ecologists introduce wayfarers to some of the area’s captivating nature.

Hay-on-Wye is based within 520 square miles of beautiful landscape 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.

Join Polly Clark of Mountain Yoga Breaks and Lee Craigie of The Adventure Syndicate for a two-hour off-road bike ride in the beautiful Wye Valley. Clark and Craigie have enormous amounts of guiding and coaching experience, and they’re passionate about encouraging more people, especially women, to realise that mountain biking is for them.

To take part in this session you need to be able to ride a bike, but no off-road riding experience is necessary. The event will start and finish at Drover Cycles, Forest Road, Hay-on-Wye HR3 5EH.

Are you a budding veterinarian or fascinated by animals? Animals come in all shapes and sizes, and they are just as different on the inside as they are on the outside. Come and explore how animal bodies work, and the amazing things they can do, with children’s author, TV presenter and vet Dr Jess French. From a whale’s enormous heart and an owl’s sensitive ears, to a tortoise’s tough shell and an insect’s unusual eyes, Jess will take you through her favourite weird and wonderful animal facts and answer curious questions.

Enjoy the touchy-feely delights of Dog, T-Rex, Mermaid, Penguin and lots of That’s not my… friends in this sensory storytelling adventure for little ones. Led by incredible professional storyteller George Hoyle, with fun songs, bubbles and more...

Get your Hay day off to a brilliant start with our daily Ready, Steady, Music workshops! With different activities each day, these interactive, fun-filled sessions for mini musicians will have you tapping sticks, roaring like dinosaurs, flying with unicorns, dancing with scarves, playing with parachutes and much more. Come and meet our puppets, explore our instruments and be accompanied by the beautiful sound of the cello.

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

An opportunity to get crafting! Activities differ every day, including everything from print-making to junk modelling with recycled materials. Get messy and creative: your imagination is the 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.

Draw your sabre and take on friends and family for the Hay Festival fencing crown in this have-a-go session with Fencing Cymru/Welsh Fencing. Learn the skills of this fast-paced Olympic sport in a safe and friendly environment before stepping onto the piste – en garde!

Come to the Family Garden for a pizza masterclass with Kitchen Garden Pizza. In this one-hour session your imagination and creativity will be fed along with your belly! You’ll get your hands messy with freshly grown and foraged ingredients, make and top your own dough and observe the pizzaioli at work at the wood-fired oven. And while you wait for your pizza to cook, you can decorate your own pizza box!
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.
Dairy-free and gluten-free options available.

Our panel of experts talk to Dr Peter Olusoga – senior lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and host of the award-winning performance psychology podcast, Eighty Percent Mental. They share long-term strategies and offer unique advice on looking after your physical and mental health.

Dr Federica Amati is a medical scientist, researcher and head nutritionist at ZOE, and combines nutrition, medical science and public health advice in her book Every Body Should Know This. Dr Alex George’s The Mind Manual shows readers how to assess their mental health and understand their own normal. George is a TV doctor, bestselling author and Youth Mental Health Ambassador to the government. Ultra-athlete Josh Llewellyn-Jones was born with cystic fibrosis and given a 10% chance of surviving his first night due to complications. He’s now a World Record-holding endurance athlete and founder of the extremely inclusive and inspirational Lift Club, a community focusing on the mind, body and health.

Chilean author Benjamín Labatut shines a light on the ethics of science in a disturbing triptych tracing the path from the fundamentals of mathematics to the delusions of artificial intelligence. It focuses on John von Neumann, a titan of science and a Hungarian wunderkind with exceptional mathematical powers. He designed the world's first programmable computer, invented game theory, pioneered AI and helped create the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But when illness unmoored his mind, his work pushed further into areas beyond human control.

Blending fact and fiction, Labatut takes us to the frontiers of rational thought, where invention outpaces human understanding and leads us to the brink of Armageddon. He talks to Hay Festival President Stephen Fry about The Maniac, his first book in English.

The world of sport has a new opponent: climate change. A world championship marathon was recently held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun. Athletes needed oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California. Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns. Golf courses are sinking into the sea. But with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment, jobs, fitness and health, this is an industry we can’t afford to lose. Sport ecologist Madeleine Orr argues that there are ways to mitigate the worst elements of climate change. Through interviews with athletes, coaches and politicians in her book Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, she describes how the sports world can fight back.In conversation with Claire Taylor, a World Cup-winning English cricketer, Chair of Cricket at the MCC and a management consultant.

Hay Festival’s 2024 Writers at Work/Awduron wrth eu Gwaith give a public reading of their current work. An opportunity to experience the best Wales has to offer in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Writers at Work is a creative development programme for emerging Welsh talent at Hay Festival.

Internationally bestselling author AF Steadman comes to Hay Festival to introduce the third book in her blockbuster series, Skandar and the Chaos Trials. Get ready for unlikely heroes, elemental magic, sky battles, ancient secrets and ferocious unicorns. Find out about her original inspirations for the Skandar series, which has been translated into over 45 languages and is set to hit the big screen with Sony Pictures. Come prepared to create your own bloodthirsty unicorn, take part in the Chaos Cup and discover elemental magic!

Meet the little dinosaur who is the greatest secret agent in the world! Spyceratops has all the skills: sneaking, peeking, blending in, daredevil manoeuvres. She has all the kit: groovy gadgets, loyal sidekick, awesome spy-mobile. And now the perfect opportunity has arisen for her to share her espionage expertise with you as she uncovers Grandad’s secret plotting. Join Alex Willmore, bestselling illustrator of I Did See a Mammoth! and The Runaway Pea, in this dino-tastic event.

In this workshop with expert tutors from Citrus Arts, you’ll learn the basics of juggling and object manipulation, skills that you can continue to practise and improve on your own at home. Try out hula hooping, diablo and more, in true Big Top style.

Come and meet Muffin the Mule and his friends, and enter the enchanting world of puppets brought to you by Will McNally, grandson of Jan Bussell and Ann Hogarth. Muffin and other characters from the BBC television programme will be appearing to celebrate Muffin’s new book, Muffin and the Passage of Time, written by Benjamin James Huxley. During the show Will McNally will talk about how Muffin the Mule became famous, while entertaining the children and taking the parents and grandparents on a trip down memory lane.