Hay Festival 2020 Earlybirds

When will it open? What’s inside? What will it look like? The MD of Hay Castle Trust will report on the restoration project, recounting the low points and highlights of the journey so far, with bats, medieval arches, roof tiles – and 90,000 metres of scaffolding thrown in for good measure. A glimpse into the inner workings of a large-scale heritage conservation project and some of the lessons learned along the way.

Booksellers and friends, courtiers and admirers remember the maverick visionary Richard Booth, King of Hay and founder of the international Book Town movement, who died this year at the age of 80. Come and celebrate the life and times of King Richard.

“Dads: we become like them or we become their opposite. If they are absent, we pour energy into that void and it takes on any old random shape, like Terminator 2. Mind you, their over-presence can also be somewhat challenging. Maybe I do overplay the ‘Dad thing’, but I saw life through a big Dad-sized lens (probably meat-coloured, given the man’s brawn and his addiction to roasted proteins). I know, I know, the self-centred me generation – but it’s my honest experience of the world.” From one of Britain’s most popular and prolific comedians comes a hilarious and deeply moving memoir of life lived under the rule of a Silverback dad...