Hay Festival Book Club is working with Farshore, the award-winning children’s imprint of HarperCollins, to mark the centenary year of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, illustrated by E.H. Shephard.
Promoting monthly reading selections, Hay Festival Book Club encourages audiences to follow their curiosity and imagine the world anew through great literature.
Hay Festival celebrations culminate on Sunday 18 January – A.A. Milne’s birthday and the National Pooh Day – with a free online event on the book’s impact and legacy.
Audiences can register for the free event now at hayfestival.org/book-club.
First published on 14 October 1926, A.A. Milne’s classic children’s story introduced a gently humorous world full of lessons on friendship and kindness, brought to life in E.H. Shepard’s iconic illustrations of Winnie-the-Pooh, and his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo.
Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said:
“We are delighted to be working with Farshore to celebrate a momentous anniversary in English Literature and our culture more widely. Winnie-the-Pooh sparked a storytelling empire and inspired millions of people around the world on their reading journeys – an appropriate starting point for the UK’s National Year of Reading, offering contemporary audiences much to respond to and reflect on.”
Cally Poplak, Managing Director and Publisher for HarperCollins Children’s Books and Farshore said:
“We are thrilled that Hay Festival has chosen Winnie-the-Pooh as their first Book Club pick of 2026, Pooh’s 100th year and the National Year of Reading. For over 100 years readers young and old have continued to appreciate Pooh and friends’ adventures, and we hope the Hay Festival Book Club enjoy diving deeper into Hundred Acre Wood.”