Star-studded line-up for return of Hay Festival

THE Hay Festival has announced its 2022 line-up, with more than 500 in-person events for the first time since 2019.

The 35th spring edition of the festival in Hay-on-wye will see talks, music and comedy performances, lectures and more, over 11 days from Thursday, May 26, until Sunday, June 5.

Visitors will be able to watch the likes of Hollywood stars Damian Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch as the former takes part in an afternoon of poetry alongside Stephen Fry, David Harewood and Lemn Sissay, while Doctor Strange star Cumberbatch will lead an all-star cast at a Letters Live event.

Musicians Jarvis Cocker and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page are among the stars offering up their life stories on stage, along with actress Minnie Driver.

This year’s programme launches the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate regarding some of the biggest issues of our times.

Award-winning writers, policymakers, pioneers and innovators from around the world take part, seeking solutions to everything from the climate crisis to global conflicts.

The BBC’S Lyse Doucet will be at the festival site following her time reporting on the frontline in Ukraine, while lockdown PE star Joe Wicks and The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades are also on the bill.

Welsh highlights will include novelists Nicola Davies, Caryl Lewis, Rebecca F John, Julie Owen Moylan, Jenny Valentine, Alex Wharton and Manon Steffan Ros presenting new work, while poets Gillian Clark and Robert Minhinnick share new collections, and Publishing Wales hosts a discussion on the nation’s books industry.

Opera stars Bryn Terfel and Rebecca Evans are to perform a special Platinum Jubilee concert and Max Boyce is to present his new Hymns & Arias book.

The festival begins with the Programme for Schools before HAYDAYS and #HAYYA events for families encourage young readers to get creative throughout the half-term week.

Events will take place at the main Dairy Meadows site, in St Mary’s Church in Hay and at a new festival theatre in the grounds of the recently restored Hay Castle.

The festival site is free to enter, with a range of pop-ups to explore, including the Festival Bookshop, HAYDAYS courtyard, Make & Take Tent, and a host of exhibitors, market stalls, cafes and restaurants.

To see the full line-up of lectures, shows, showtimes and more, visit hayfestival.org/wales or call 01497 822629.

Tickets go on general sale at noon on Friday.