Radio 1 DJ Greg James and author Chris Smith will switch on Hay-on-Wye’s Christmas lights Friday 27 November 2026 as part of Hay Festival Winter Weekend.
The free switch-on event, hosted by Hay Town Council and supported by Hay Chamber of Commerce, will take place at 6:15pm in Memorial Square, accompanied by carol-singing, food stalls, mulled wine and entertainment to start the Festival weekend.
Hay Festival Winter Weekend will run Thursday 26–Sunday 29 November 2026. Tickets are on sale at hayfestival.org/winter-weekend
Greg James is a Radio 1 DJ, television presenter and author, and has hosted the station’s flagship breakfast show since 2018. Chris Smith is a solo author of acclaimed Frankie Best Hates Quests, Clarity Jones and the Magical Detective Agency and The New Famous Five, a series inspired by Enid Blyton.
They are founding members of the Primary School Library Alliance – a campaign launched by Penguin Random House and the National Literacy Trust to address the lack of investment in UK primary school libraries – and were awarded the Ruth Rendell Literacy Award in 2024 for their work promoting literacy in schools. They will appear at the Festival to discuss their new festive children’s book Secret Santa.
Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said:
“We’re thrilled to be joined by Greg James and Chris Smith for our Christmas lights switch-on. Their stories have brought joy to so many young readers, and there’s no better way to launch Hay Festival Winter Weekend than by bringing the whole town together for a magical evening under the lights. See you there!”
Greg James and Chris Smith said:
“We’re honoured to be taking part in the official Christmas light switch on in Hay-on-Wye ahead of our Hay Festival Winter Weekend event and to help spread the magic of Christmas around this wonderfully bookish town. Just like the characters in our book, we are number one fans of Christmas and we can’t wait to meet the families of Hay to share this joy. Speaking to young readers at events is one of our favourite experiences as authors and we always hope to make children laugh, feel inspired and generally have a joyful experience celebrating the fun and magic of stories. We hope that Secret Santa will resonate with any young readers who loves Christmas or a good old spy story.”
Hay-on-Wye Town Mayor Fiona Howard said:
“Christmas in Hay is always a magical time, and the lights switch-on is one of the highlights of our community calendar. We're delighted to be working alongside Hay Festival to bring everyone together for an evening of festive fun and to celebrate everything that makes our little town so special.”
Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2026 will offer a world of different experiences, as writers, artists and world-changers mark the turn of the season with new ideas, 26–29 November.
Taking place in the grounds of Hay Castle in the heart of “the world’s first booktown” Hay-on-Wye, Wales, more than 60 artists will participate over four days.
Headline guests include novelist Kate Mosse; poets Simon Armitage, Owen Sheers and Alex Wharton; historian David Olusoga; singer-songwriter David Gray; Radio 1 DJ Greg James; actors Lucian Msamati, Caroline Quentin, Maxine Peake and Greg Wise; comedians Lucy Porter and Kiri Pritchard-McLean; physicist Jim Al-Khalili; journalists Luke Harding and Charlotte Higgins; former Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf; former Buddhist monk Sam Yo; Witches of Scotland campaigners Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi; psychotherapist Julia Samuel; potter Keith Brymer Jones; and curators of the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry exhibition Sue Brunning and Lloyd de Beer.
Launching the best new fiction and non-fiction, the programme will see participants engage with some of the biggest questions of our times, while spreading festive joy in candle-lit storytelling and one-off music and comedy performances.
Over the Festival weekend, the Welsh booktown’s independent shops, cafés and markets offer a warm welcome to Festivalgoers within the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
Select events will be live-streamed to audiences around the world through the Festival’s online pass, on sale now at hayfestival.org/onlinepass
A free KS1 Programme for Schools will open Hay Festival Winter Weekend thanks to funding from The Moondance Foundation. Events will offer Primary School pupils from state schools in Wales free access to Festival events over two days, part of a wider outreach project throughout the autumn and into the New Year.
Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said:
“The changing seasons give us permission to pause and slow down. As we head into our 40th year and reflect on the past four decades of our charity’s impact, Hay Festival Winter Weekend offers us an opportunity to gather around stories with warmth, humour and generosity and reflect on the rapidly changing world around us in an intimate, cosy setting. Join us this winter and experience a world of different ideas.”
Programme in detail
New books lead Winter Weekend with writers Liv Little (Bitter Melon), Olly Smith (Death by Noir), Cathy Rentzenbrink (The Agatha Christie Cure), Matthew Sweet (The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland), Kate Mosse (Autumn: The Story of a Season), Nick Harkaway (The Taper Man); former Buddhist monk Sam Yo (The Monk’s Mindset); and physicist Jim Al-Khalili (On Time); Nicholas Jubber delves into Monsterland: A Journey Around the World’s Dark Imagination; while actor Maxine Peake shares the titles that have shaped her in the Festival’s My Life in Books session.
This year’s programme offers a plethora of different perspectives as journalists and writers David Olusoga, Charlotte Higgins and Symeon Brown review the biggest news stories of the year in News Review; Scotland’s former First Minister Humza Yousaf talks about his family’s evacuation from Gaza; the Guardian’s international correspondent Luke Harding examines how Trump and Putin have changed the world; journalist Stephen Sackur explores investigations that shook the world; and culture writer Charlotte Higgins discusses art in a time of war (Ukrainian Lessons).
History is reimagined as graphic novelist Jack Lewis and poet Owen Sheers honour the victims of the tragic Aberfan Disaster 60 years on; while curators Sue Brunning and Lloyd de Beer discuss the Bayeux Tapestry’s blockbuster return to Britain after 1,000 years; academic Maryam Aslany explores the peasantry as the centre of our global history; local historian Heather Hurley revisits the world of Herefordshire steam trains; and broadcaster Will Millard tells the story of an island through the Ordnance Survey Archives in Mapping Britain.
Pleasurable pastimes come to the fore as potter Keith Brymer Jones reveals the unexpected history of pots and potters; author Matthew Myerscough discovers the restorative power of fossil-hunting (In Search of Sea Dragons); The Hebridean Baker reveals what makes a Scottish Christmas; while chef Thomasina Miers shares the secrets behind Mexican Feast.
Green stories are nurtured in conversations as actor Caroline Quentin talks to broadcaster Kate Humble about her new book, Drawn to Nature; environmental damage is discussed by journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor; and the sounds of the natural world are re-envisioned through music with zoologist Justin Anderson’s Animal Disco: Wilderness Sounds.
Women’s stories take centre stage as Witches of Scotland campaigners Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi investigate the history of the Witch Trials with How to Kill a Witch; while founder of Sex Talks Emma-Louise Boynton, columnist Kate Lister and adult-film director Erika Lust explore Lust, Flick, Pleasure: Female Desire; meanwhile laughter can be found in Middle-Aged Women Get Sh*t Done with comedians Lucy Porter and Kiri Pritchard-McLean.
There’s festive fun as Radio 1 DJ Greg James and his co-author Chris Smith offer up their new children’s book, Secret Santa; Reverend Kate Bottley and author Cole Moreton talk The Faith Almanac; TV presenter Kate Bliss and author Susan Stokes-Chapman discuss The Twelve Days of Christmas; and a literary reimagining of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols with Kate Mosse, Liv Little, Larry Lamb, Owen Sheers and Simon Armitage offers festive cheer.
Music resonates throughout Hay Castle and St Mary’s Church with pianist Andrew Zolinsky and Llareggub Brass Brand; while journalist Elizabeth Alker joins Jude Rogers on how 20th century classical music shaped pop; Grammy nominee singer-songwriter David Gray and conservationist Mary Colwell explore nature through an evening of music and conversation; and for those who dare, there’s a screening of the 1925 silent horror film The Phantom of the Opera, accompanied live by organist Father Richard Williams.
Family, grief and memory are woven into the programme as Olivia Harrison, widow of Beatles member George, shares photographs and stories from his posthumous collection, Third Eye; actor Greg Wise launches his new book Grief Talking; documentary-maker Eamon Bourke premières The Solway, documenting the discovery of his late mother’s family archives plus a Q&A with psychotherapist Julia Samuel; poet Luke Wright delves into his memoir (Later Life) of foster care and adoption; The Maclean Brothers tell the story of their 3000-mile row across the Atlantic; and Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules talks to journalist Charlotte Higgins about four generations of one extraordinary family.
The poet laureate Simon Armitage gives voice to the ancient poem Gilgamesh; while Children’s Laureate Alex Wharton shares Bright Lives: Poetry Celebrating Historical Black Figures in Wales; and actors Lucian Msamati and Greg Wise alongside theatre director Dominic Dromgoole spotlight British and Irish playwrights from the past century, including Samuel Beckett.
Supported by funding from The Moondance Foundation, a free KS1 Programme for Schools will open Winter Weekend with two days of talks and workshops from Laura Dockrill, Petr Horáček, Alex Wharton and Sophy Henn for Primary School pupils from four state schools in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales.
The Festival will draw on public nominations to award the Hay Festival Book of the Year following past wins for Anthony Shapland’s A Room Above A Shop, Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare, Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry, Deborah Levy’s Real Estate, Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist, Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five, and Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane’s The Lost Words.
Hay Festival celebrates its 40th spring edition in 2027, Thursday 27 May – 6 June.