Hay Festival 2014

The screenwriter discusses his work. He is the co-creator with Mark Gatiss of Sherlock and the lead writer on Doctor Who. He’s been Executive Producer in the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras and wrote the fiftieth birthday episode The Day of the Doctor. 

When you stand in front of a work of art in a museum or exhibition, the first two questions you normally ask yourself are 1) do I like it? and 2) who’s it by? When you stand in front of a work of art in an auction room or dealer’s gallery, you ask these two questions followed by others: how much is it worth? how much will it be worth in five or ten years’ time? and what will people think of me if they see it hanging on my wall? A wry, intimate, and revealing exploration of how art acquires its financial value, from a senior director at Sotheby’s. Chaired by Hannah Rothschild.

There are 10,500 species of birds worldwide and wherever they occur people marvel at their glorious colours and their beautiful songs. Part natural history and part cultural study, Cocker’s study describes and maps the entire spectrum of our engagements with birds, drawing in themes of history, literature, art, cuisine, language, lore, politics and the environment.

The origin and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. The astronomer explains how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system’s layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed.

Everything But The Girl made nine albums and sold nine million records. One half of the band (with her husband Ben Watt), Thorn gives a wry look at the realities of a pop career. There are thrills and wonders to be experienced, yes, but also moments of doubt, mistakes, violent lifestyle changes from luxury to squalor and back again, sometimes within minutes. Also see event 67

Celebrating the life and work of the Colombian writer, founder of the Foundation for New Journalism, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, News of a Kidnapping and Love in the Time of Cholera. He won the Nobel Prize in 1982 and was the Patron of Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias.

An unmissable line-up of award-winning YA talent, including Anne Cassidy whose new book Finding Jennifer Jones is the long-awaited sequel to the sensational Looking for JJ, Keren David, whose novel Salvage is receiving rave reviews, and Sally Nicholls, author of the award-winning bestseller Ways To Live Forever, whose new book Close Your Pretty Eyes, a dark psychological thriller, is out now. A lively conversation ranging across themes of identity, belonging, and social and personal responsibility in YA fiction.

Chris Haughton, Oliver Jeffers and Rachel Bright make art. Rachel is a picture book maker and commercial illustrator – and our Hay Festival illustrator this year. Oliver is an award-winning picture book maker and painter who has recently collaborated on projects with TED and U2. Chris Haughton is a rising star in art and design. Join them for a fascinating conversation about their working lives. For all design, illustration and art fans.

12+ years (YA)

The ideas shaping our lives today – with leading artists and thinkers. Presenter Rana Mitter will be joined by guests including PJ O’Rourke and the Freakonomics authors Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner to discuss decision-making, the balance of power between baby boomers and the Y generation, and whether rationality is overrated. Broadcast Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10pm. This recording will be broadcast at 10pm on Wednesday 28 May.

Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult over 18.

FREE BUT TICKETED

As lead singer and songwriter of The Kinks, the iconic rock legend inspired generations of musicians, from The Who and The Clash to The Ramones and Black Sabbath. Since The Kinks disbanded, he has embarked on a solo career and continues to tour and record.

Since the early days of the Raj, cricket has been entwined with national identity and Pakistan’s successes helped to define its status in the world. In recent years its cricketers have been a prey to problems which have threatened Pakistan’s very existence: fall out from the ‘war on terror’, sectarian violence, gangsterism and corruption, deep-seated crises in education, health and the environment, and a shortage of effective leaders. For twenty years, Pakistani cricket has been stained by the scandalous behaviour of the players involved in match-fixing.

On a summer morning in Sarajevo a hundred years ago, a teenage assassin named Gavrilo Princip fired not just the opening shots of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history, when he killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Yet the events Princip triggered were so monumental that his own story has been largely overlooked, his role garbled and motivations misrepresented. Chaired by Liz Thomson.

In their new show Marcus du Sautoy and Victoria Gould use theatre, mathematics and humour to navigate the known and unknown reaches of the universe. The show is directed by Dermot Keaney and was developed in association with the Science Museum and the award-winning theatre company Complicité. Also see event 122

The British oak is the iconic tree of Britain and its people. The specialist tree writer and photographer explores the environmental, cultural and economic aspects of oak, and reveals remarkable images and anecdotes of our greatest trees past and present.

The Super Furry Animals founder plays his new album – drawn from his investigative concert tour of the American Interior, retracing the steps and looking for the grave of a relative called John Evans. Evans left Wales for Baltimore in 1792 and walked into the wilderness of the Allegheny Mountains in search of a lost tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans, believed to be the descendants of Prince Madog. ‘I took his cue and travelled through the Midwest playing gigs and writing songs. In St Louis I picked up Kliph Scurlock from The Flaming Lips, who joined me on drums.’ See a preview here Also see event 163

The comic from San Francisco, known here for his unpredictable improvisations on Whose Line Is It Anyway? brings his comedy proopcast to Hay for one night only. ‘Some of the boldest comedy on the podcasting frontier right now.’ Rolling Stone Magazine

Come and celebrate the 21st birthday of the dynamic Welsh indie publishing house with a gala reading party featuring its award-winning writers and hosted by Lewis Davies and Susie Wild.