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Kevin Rowland talks to Irvine Welsh

Bless Me Father: From Dexy’s to Redemption

Hay Festival 2026, 

An exclusive opportunity to see two creative icons in conversation. Dexy’s Midnight Runners frontman, Kevin Rowland, speaks to best-selling novelist, Irvine Welsh, about his astonishing memoir. Rowland takes readers from the juvenile courts of his troubled teenage years to the success of Dexy’s Midnight Runners in the 1980s. With searing honesty, he also recounts the lows – including a serious cocaine addiction that left him bankrupt. Rowland and Welsh discuss resilience after adversity, iconic moments in British music, and how it feels to have had a major impact on our culture. For music lovers and pop culture buffs, as well as those who want a ring-side seat to lively and candid conversation.