Live events during lockdown

It has – inevitably – been a bleak spring for the literary world, with bookshops closed and festivals cancelled. But amid the gloom came news that the Hay Festival would be going ahead online, with a “reshaped” programme from 18 to 31 May, featuring many of the authors who had been on the original line-up. Hay Festival Digital will live stream 80 free events, with interactive Q&As; speakers include Hilary Mantel, Stephen Fry, Maggie O’Farrell, Gloria Steinem and Roddy Doyle. There’s also a starry Wordsworth 250 celebration on 22 May, featuring readings by Benedict Cumberbatch, Margaret Atwood, Vanessa Redgrave and Jonathan Pryce, and a five-day schools programme (register at hayfestival.com). Other liveevents organisers making the leap into cyberspace (mostly via Zoom) include the How To Academy. It has some free talks – including novelist Will Self discussing Kafka on 19 May – as well as paid-for interactive digital masterclasses on a range of subjects (howtoacademy. com). 5x15 is taking its format (five speakers talking for 15 minutes each) online with a free streaming event on 18 May (5x15.com). Meanwhile the Lockdown LitFest, launched in March, hosts weekly talks with authors. Wordsworth scholar Jonathan Bate will feature on 20 May, and actress Miriam Margolyes is interviewing academic Janet Todd on 22 May (lockdownlitfest.com). Normally, the Aspen Institute is a forum for business and political leaders, but it’s now hosting free weekday webinars reflecting on what the post-pandemic world will look like. On 18 May, Peter Mandelson and others will discuss “The Future of Relations with China” (aspenuk.org).