Kells 2014

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.

Take a journey into nature at night with brilliant young naturalist Dara McAnulty – author of Wild Child – and illustrator Barry Falls. They’ll walk us through nocturnal activity in five different habitats in Britain and Ireland – meeting hedgehogs and moths in the garden; bats, owls, foxes and badgers in woodland; glow worms on the coast; Manx Shearwater in the sky; and corncrakes, dormice and woodcock on the farm.

Learn about circadian rhythms, hibernation, echolocation, biofluorescence, murmurations, the dawn chorus and how to use the stars for orientation. Dara will share his tips on attracting wildlife and creating havens for nocturnal animals and insects, and shine a light on organisations doing their best to help wildlife to thrive. Dara and Barry talk to writer Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

Nibble on a witty new picture book that’s sure to become a firm family favourite. Mariajo Illustrajo is a Spanish author-illustrator based in the UK, whose playful and endearing books Flooded, Lost, I Hate Love Books and Oh, Carrots! have won a score of prizes and nominations.

Join Mariajo as she unveils her new story – where the mice are living happily under the floorboards until, one day, their peace is disturbed by some unexpected guests… humans! Curious, the mice set out to investigate and they find weird and wonderful human objects – maybe these guests are not so bad after all? But then our intrepid mouse narrator finds himself caught in a jar…

Come and learn how to make willow stars using willow grown in Herefordshire on the farm where The Cart Shed Charity operates. Simple weaving techniques will be taught and all participants will take home a star they have made from this beautiful, sustainable material.

The Cart Shed supports young people aged 10–25 and adults of all ages experiencing poor emotional wellbeing. Creative activities and emotional support given by skilled practitioners and clinicians empower people to overcome challenges and live life well. On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 May they’ll be demonstrating some of the techniques they use, on the Festival site.

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.

Come along on a relaxed and engaging guided walk exploring around the edges of Hay-on-Wye and enjoying its beautiful rural setting. Guided by Sarah Price, a professional walking guide who lives in Hay and knows its landscape intimately, this gentle walk of around three miles leads you out of the town and into scenic fields, peaceful woodland and along the historic River Wye.

Sarah will share stories of Hay’s past and present, and there will be space for pause and reflection, as well as a good chance of spotting some local wildlife. This walk is ideal for Festival-goers looking to stretch their legs, enjoy the countryside and experience a deeper sense of place.

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.

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Got 2 Sing Choir perform uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies, with plenty of fun and laughter.

Best known for taking on two of the biggest roles in UK politics – Home Secretary and Chancellor – Sajid Javid comes to Hay Festival to share the story of his personal and political life. Introducing his memoir The Colour of Home, Javid gives an insight into his young life as the son of Punjabi immigrants growing up in the 1970s, surrounded by poverty and racism, and how he rose from adversity to top jobs in government. From tales of run-ins with the police to discussing how he felt constantly caught between two cultures, this is a raw and honest conversation about personal resilience, and the chance to get to know the man behind the headlines. He talks to journalist and writer Aasmah Mir.

A provocative new story of contemporary immigration, hostility and politics. In A Better Life, divorced mother-of-three Gloria signs up to take in a migrant as a lodger. Most of the family welcomes the new arrival. But Gloria’s son, Nico – resenting having to move back into his childhood bedroom at the age of 26 – is more sceptical. He grows increasingly hostile to his mother’s altruism and the ‘migrant crisis’ in general.

Shriver is the award-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin and the National Book Award finalist for So Much for That. She talks to journalist Nicola Cutcher.

Ever thought about the story behind the story? From a fragment of an idea to a hard copy in your hands, the journey of an award-winning book can have as many twists and turns as the tale between the pages itself. In this special salon series, The British Book Awards (aka ‘The Nibbies’) bring you authors in conversation with members of their publishing teams, shining a light on the creative process behind the best-loved books.

Join The Bookseller’s Katie Fraser as she unpicks the publishing process with Natasha Bardon, publisher at HarperVoyager, and award-winning author Saara El-Arifi, whose 2026 novel Cleopatra reimagines the story of the iconic Egyptian queen.

We’re having a party to celebrate Pooh turning 100! Come and join us for this special Winnie-the-Pooh family show, hosted by Waterstones Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, co-writer of the film Goodbye Christopher Robin.

We’ll enjoy readings from special guests including: actor and Winnie-the-Pooh fan Emma Thompson; How to Train Your Dragon author/illustrator Cressida Cowell; Wonka actor Paterson Joseph; and Jane Riordan, author of the Winnie-the-Pooh prequel and sequel story collections written in the style of AA Milne.

Ottoline and Goth Girl author/illustrator Chris Riddell, who was inspired by the illustrations of EH Shepard, will be live illustrating throughout. This is a heartwarming show for the whole family to celebrate all things Winnie-the-Pooh in his 100th year.

Ever wondered what aliens really look like? What do they wear, how tall are they, are they really green? Decide for yourself when you design your very own alien in this event with sci-fi fanatic and creator of The Unexplained series, Adam Allsuch Boardman.

Get your creative cogs turning with the intriguing ‘exquisite corpse game’, then move on to building your alien’s backstory. Using prompts from real-life UFO sightings and folk art, you’ll imagine their history and form your own intergalactic tale to share with your friends. Adam will also explore the science behind supernatural research and suggest how spectacular sightings link to popular culture.

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.

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Got 2 Sing Choir perform uplifting songs from top of the charts to golden oldies, with plenty of fun and laughter.

In this rare and personal conversation, BBC news presenter Sophie Raworth interviews her sister, the economist Kate Raworth, about her groundbreaking book Doughnut Economics. Kate is at the forefront of rethinking how the economy works, so that everyone can live well without compromising the planet. During this intelligent and thought-provoking session, Kate and Sophie explore the challenges of how we meet people’s needs within the Earth’s environmental limits; and ponder the parallel lines of their own careers and how they’ve inspired each other along the way. Warm, insightful and full of humanity, this is a must for those who enjoy smart, accessible discussion about the world’s biggest challenges – and how we might fix them.

An homage to Afghanistan and its people from two veteran foreign correspondents. Afghanistan has been beset by war and turmoil for decades, and yet its people do not give up hope. Foreign correspondent Jon Lee Anderson and the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet share their experiences of covering Afghanistan since the 1980s, the people they’ve met and stories they’ve heard, and why Afghanistan means so much to them.

Anderson is a seasoned war and international reporter. To Lose a War collects his writing from Afghanistan from the late 1980s. Doucet’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul is the story of the Inter-Continental Kabul hotel, a symbol of power and cosmopolitanism, and the people who work there. They talk to investigative journalist Oliver Bullough.

From Sappho to Virginia Woolf and James Baldwin, LGBTQ+ writers have told their stories throughout history – excavating the queer experience and laying a foundation for the writers of today. Santanu Bhattacharya, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Joelle Taylor talk to actor and writer Carys Eleri about the stories that shaped them, finding (or not finding) themselves in the characters they came across growing up, and their journeys to writing.

Bhattacharya’s Deviants is about three generations of men from the same family, all dealing with social taboos and laws criminalising homosexuality, and the legacy they leave. Millwood-Hargrave’s Almost Life is about a couple whose love story spans decades and time together and apart. Taylor’s new poetry collection Maryville explores dyke counterculture through a cast of characters who meet in a butch bar.

The best-selling author of An American Marriage returns to Hay Festival to talk about her luminous and deeply moving new novel about mothers, daughters and friendship. She talks to Tanya Burr, who runs monthly bookclub Chapter, a space for readers to celebrate literature and connect through thoughtful discussion.

In Kin, Vernice and Annie are inseparable, brought together by the shared absence of their mothers. Growing up in the segregated America of the 1950s and 1960s, the women are led down different paths. A treat for fans of literary fiction, this event is a chance to hear from Jones – the author of five novels – about her work and inspirations. An American Marriage won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and was one of President Barack Obama’s summer reading lists.

Hear the chants of ‘Women, Life, Freedom’, as strong as they’ve ever been, echoing through generations of Iranian women protesting imposed, patriarchal restrictions. Inspired by the ‘rebel poet of Iran’ Forugh Farrokhzad, new publication Iranian Women’s Voices brings together the perspectives of creative women in Iran and the diaspora, as they reflect on art, the constraints of present-day Iran and their dreams for the future.

Join this afternoon of poetry, film and Iranian music, presented by WritersMosaic, with writer and translator Shara Atashi, poet author Sana Nassari, poet and performer Marjorie Lotfi and musician Roya Araba. The event is introduced by historian Colin Grant and features the extraordinary documentary photography of Hengameh Golestan, whose work captures women protesting the oppression of the Iranian authorities.

Tom Gates and his hilarious homework diary are celebrating 15 years in 2026. Come and enjoy this laugh-out-loud event filled with his adventures, doodles, friends, foes and caramel wafers! You’ll be kept busy with everything from games and storytelling to a live draw-along with much-loved author/illustrator Liz Pichon, where she’ll show you how she brings her best-loved Tom Gates and Mubbles characters to life.

Whether you’re a fan of the books, love the TV series (or both!) or you’re new to Tom and his friends, this event will be pure fun.

Come and learn how to make willow stars using willow grown in Herefordshire on the farm where The Cart Shed Charity operates. Simple weaving techniques will be taught and all participants will take home a star they have made from this beautiful, sustainable material.

The Cart Shed supports young people aged 10–25 and adults of all ages experiencing poor emotional wellbeing. Creative activities and emotional support given by skilled practitioners and clinicians empower people to overcome challenges and live life well. On Friday 29 and Saturday 30 May they’ll be demonstrating some of the techniques they use, on the Festival site.

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.

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.

Acclaimed historian and writer Andrea Wulf brings to life the extraordinary story of George Forster, the 18th-century writer and explorer known for documenting Captain Cook’s second voyage around the world. His writings on the people and cultures he encountered transformed how Europeans understood the wider world. Drawing on Forster’s vivid letters and personal accounts – much of them never-before published in English – Wulf reveals a man of dazzling intellect and visionary thinking. For history-lovers and those interested in forgotten figures who shaped the modern world. She talks to the host of the BBC’s In Our Time, Misha Glenny.

Enjoy an afternoon with award-winning stage, screen and voice actor Richard Armitage, best known for his roles in North & South, The Hobbit trilogy and Oceans 8. Armitage turned author with his first novel Geneva in 2023, and now comes to introduce his second – psychological thriller The Cut.

The book is set in a village where, 30 years previously, one of Ben Knott’s school friends was murdered and another was convicted of the crime. The village has tried to move on, but as a movie is filmed in the area, Ben begins to recognise the storyline from his own past, and it becomes clear the killer is back.

Armitage discusses writing the book with literary journalist Alex Clark, revealing which film experiences he used as inspiration, and shares the difference between writing and acting.

Experience evocative storytelling that bridges page and screen, in this screening of Luke Thompson’s narration of Oscar Wilde’s only novel, a dark, glittering masterpiece that explores the seductive power of beauty and the ruin of the soul.

The Bridgerton actor delivers a spellbinding performance of Wilde’s haunting tale of beauty, vanity and moral corruption, where eternal youth comes at a terrible price, in this mesmerising film production.

The Read is a series of outstanding on screen performance readings of iconic British novels. Each episode offers a richly immersive celebration of literature

A chance to see an unforgettable and unique music-play about the life and work of the composer Andrzej Panufnik. Award-winning writer and actor Tama Matheson and award-winning pianist Clare Hammond deliver an emotional performance about Panufnik, one of the 20th century’s great artistic voices.

From Panufnik’s early musical awakening in war-torn Poland, to near-death encounters under Nazi occupation and oppression under Soviet rule, all culminating in a heart-stopping car chase, Matheson and Hammond perform a hilarious, heartbreaking and harrowing show about a life shaped by courage, loss and unbreakable artistic integrity.

Join the much-loved author/illustrator of Ottoline and Goth Girl to dip a toe into the underwater secrets of his new fantasy adventure. In A Mermaid’s Diary, we meet shy mermaid Atalanta Scrimshaw, who lives a quiet life in the backwater of Sleepy Cove. But Atalanta must break out of her comfort zone when unscrupulous developers threaten to transform her home into a seaside golf resort.

The former Children’s Laureate will share insights into this tale full of his stunning illustration and signature allusive wit. Can Atalanta enlist her friends’ help to stop the development from destroying her home?

Discover more about Black British history with actor and author Paterson Joseph, as he takes us back in time to meet ten inspiring, rebellious and brave children. Goddaughter to the Queen of England. Human rights activist. Librarian and author. Former slave… The ten were all born when slavery was still legal, but went on to change the world for the better, helping to secure their own freedom and the freedom of so many. Paterson will tell the stories of the ten aged ten, and answer the question: how did these inspirational people change the world?

Paterson is one of Britain’s best-loved actors (Vigil, Noughts & Crosses, Wonka, Peep Show) and author of award-winning historical novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Ten is his first book for children.

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.

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Love To Sing, returning to Hay Festival following their upbeat performance in 2025, is a double gold award-winning, inclusive popular music choir based in Pembridge, Herefordshire. The choir promotes togetherness, fun, belonging and a shared passion for singing.

A major new portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. Biographer and royal expert Hugo Vickers uses previously unseen sources and personal recollections to illuminate her life as never before. Join Vickers as he discusses the life of Queen Elizabeth II with author and historian Alex von Tunzelmann, from her childhood growing up in the shadow of the Blitz to her many years as the figurehead for our country. A brand-new perspective into one of the most significant figures in recent history.

An unmissable opportunity for literature lovers to hear from one of this generation’s most celebrated writers. Colm Tóibín talks about his new short story collection, The News from Dublin, with the Times Literary Supplement’s politics and fiction editor Toby Lichtig.

Transporting us across continents and eras, the collection captures the complexities of family dynamics, the pull of the past and the quiet revelations that define ordinary lives. Tóibín is author of many novels, including Long Island, an Oprah’s Book Club Pick, and Brooklyn, which won the Costa Book Award and was adapted for a BAFTA-winning film starring Saoirse Ronan.

Be part of a powerful and inspiring discussion about dramatic climate stories that don’t just sound the alarm but help us imagine what it means to live, adapt and dream in a fast-changing world, driving us towards hope for the future.

Judge Simon Savidge welcomes the winner of the second Climate Fiction Prize to celebrate and examine why their novel has earned this prestigious award. Tracing climate fiction’s rapid emergence as one of the most vibrant and necessary spaces in contemporary storytelling, they’ll delve into the role fiction can play in helping us change climate futures by forging new cultural narratives. If creatives are the antennae of society, the winning novel and its themes tell us something profound about this moment in time.

Experience a live recording of The Working Class Library, a podcast that explores and reclaims working class people’s contribution to literature. Join hosts Richard Benson, author of The Valley and editor of The Bee, and Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, in their quest to establish a new catalogue of working-class books that tell a different story to the established British literary traditions.

For this live edition of the podcast they will be joined by special guest, Mid Wales-based Maya Jordan, author of Chopsy: Resistance Tales of a Working Class Woman. Together they’ll discuss the Welsh classic Queen of the Rushes by writer Allen Raine, which celebrates its hundredth birthday this year.

The Working Class Library podcast is a venture of The Bee, a new magazine of writing by working class writers, published by New Writing North.

MasterChef 2024 winner Brin Pirathapan blends British seasonal produce with tastes and techniques inspired by his Sri Lankan heritage, building flavour from the ground up in a live demo turning ordinary ingredients into something spectacular.

As the winner of “the best final in 20 years” according to judge John Torode, expect a more-than-entertaining afternoon where staple ingredients become meals packing some serious punch.

Pirathapan’s new cookbook, Elevate: Everyday Ingredients, Incredible Flavours is all about enriching the day to day. Think sticky pork rice bowls, warming curries, zingy salads and bold takes on classic desserts, with practical tips and pro techniques, so you can learn not just how to best cook a fish, but how to fillet it too. He talks to writer and editor Kitty Corrigan.

A screening of Joachim Trier’s Cannes hit, a reworking of Louis Malle’s New Wave classic The Fire Within. This story of a young man’s fade-out is a triumph of sensitive insight and observation, a smart, sharp portrait that even finds within its heavy subject matter the chance for warmth.

Recovering drug addict Anders is given a day’s leave from his rehab center to apply for a job in the city. Over the course of one day and night, he tries to reconnect with his old friends and family in Oslo, where the ghosts of his past mistakes wrestle with the hope to see some future by morning.

Directed by Joachim Trier (2011). Film duration: 1 hour 35 minutes. Certificate 15.

How can you use art to protest injustice and galvanise others to resist? Caryl Lewis has imagined some answers, in her suspenseful new YA novel about teens finding their voices in the darkest of times. Join Caryl as she discusses dystopia, destruction and defiance, and shares advice for young writers embarking on their own creative journey.

Caryl takes us into the near-future of The Danger of Small Things, a world where all the bees have died and young girls are taken to camps and made to pollinate by hand. Against this frighteningly real scenario, she explores how art and literature might yet save us.

Sign up here for a masterclass in the art of burgers, BBQ and backyard culture with Anthony Murphy, Burger Chef of the Year 2023 and co-founder of the ultimate meat boutique, The Beefy Boys. While ‘Murf’ shares his barbecue skill and inducts you into the knack of the grill, you’ll devour a two-course tasting menu starting with an exclusive version of The Beefy Boys’ famous BBQ sharing platter.

This meaty medley will include the chef’s beef cheek, burnt ends, 12-hour smoked pork belly, 12-hour smoked brisket, hot link sausage and a slider version of the Butty Bach Burger, topped up with portions of BBQ beans, mac & cheese and creamy coleslaw. To round off the feast, sample a decadent, homemade brownie. A must for all griddled food fans and cookout converts!

Enjoy this 20-minute open-air performance between events. Love To Sing, returning to Hay Festival following their upbeat performance in 2025, is a double gold award-winning, inclusive popular music choir based in Pembridge, Herefordshire. The choir promotes togetherness, fun, belonging and a shared passion for singing.

Join outspoken national treasure Miriam Margolyes for an unfiltered look at everything from arseholes and apostrophes to the Vagina Monologues and Zoom. She talks to Welsh actor, singer and writer Carys Eleri about The Little Book of Miriam, an A to Z guide to her irrepressible and unstoppable world. Expect nothing less than an afternoon of unbridled hilarity, extraordinary stories and profound wisdom from a life well lived.

Spend an hour with British pop icon George Michael through the eyes of award-winning journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera, and be guided through the life, music and enduring legacy of one of Britain’s most loved recording artists. This is far more than a musical celebration – it’s a sharp, thoughtful exploration of fame, identity, sexuality, immigration, and belonging in Britain’s recent history.

Through personal reflections and cultural insight, Sanghera reveals why George Michael’s story continues to resonate a decade after his death, and with humour, heart, and fresh perspective, he illuminates the man behind the legend, and the society that shaped him. Sanghera talks to journalist and writer Aasmah Mir.

A must-attend Hay Festival conversation for fans, music lovers and anyone captivated by culture, identity and the art of storytelling.

What makes us who we are? Is it our background that creates our identities? Or our families, where we lived, how we were brought up and educated? The answer is all of the above, but more fundamental than any of these is our brain. Neurologist Masud Husain uses real-life examples of patients to show us how our brains create our identity and how that identity can be changed by brain dysfunction. Among his patients is a man who ran out of words, and a woman who stopped caring what others thought of her. Husain is professor of neurology and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford and a practising clinician with over 30 years’ experience. He talks to TLS arts editor Lucy Dallas.