Are you ready
With this year’s Hay Festival fast approaching, festival CEO Julie Finch told Jenny White what’s in store – and how to get the most out of a visit to Wales’ festival of ideas
THE year’s Hay Festival offers something for everyone, from prize-winning writers and thinkers to household names, music, comedy and performance. It’s come a long way since it was founded in 1987 by the Florence family and a range of supporters who wanted to bring some of their favourite writers together for a gathering of ideas and creativity.
Its popularity exploded and, following early editions held in the local primary school, a bespoke festival site was developed at Dairy Meadows to allow more people to access the events. Since those early days, the festival’s mission has widened to encompass more education work, community engagement and international outreach. Last year, the festival became a charity with those principles at its centre.
Today, Hay Festival runs eight editions globally across three continents. Through the creative use of civic space for discussion and engagement across borders and barriers, its events are catalysts for change and promoters of free expression.
“Alongside these activities, we run a year-round programme aimed to inspire and engage the next generation of storytellers and world-changers, which continues to grow in popularity,” says Julie Finch, the festival’s CEO. “Our Scribblers Tour at the start of this year brought writers direct to young people all over Wales in a fortnight of full workshops, an area we are looking to expand on.”
She adds that one of the reasons the festival has flourished is its remarkable location in Wales’ “town of books”.
“There’s nowhere like Hay-on-wye, the world’s first book town nestled at the feet of the Black Mountains,” she says. “It’s a space where imaginations roam, where audiences of all ages are encouraged to follow their curiosity. It’s a borderland of exchange, engagement and action, and our community offers visitors the warmest welcome as we open our arms to the world.”
More than 100,000 people will pass through the festival this year, but they have room for more. Lots of events still have tickets on sale, accommodation can be found and day trips are made simple thanks to a park-and-ride system and public transport links.
Four major new projects add a bold flavour to proceedings this year. The festival’s Thinkers in Residence – activist Laura Bates, curator Will Gompertz, historian David Olusoga and writer Professor Charlotte Williams – convene artists and innovators to explore issues facing the world today and create new platforms to grow ideas. Ukraine’s biggest book festival, Lviv Bookforum, comes to Wales, co-curating events throughout the festival to spotlight great Ukrainian storytelling and the state of Ukraine today.
In addition, the Eurovision Book Contest will highlight literature in partnership with the Eurovision Song Contest team, just as Eurovision fever sweeps the UK this May.
And a new series, Planet Assembly, pioneers the use of civic space and engagement in exploring dynamic solutions to regenerate the planet, with the support of Hive Energy.
On top of this, Julie is excited about this year’s unexpected encounters and festival firsts – among them Booker Prize-winning novelist Margaret Atwood talking to actor Rob Delaney about processing grief, music superstars Dua Lipa and Stormzy discussing their love of books and writers Tom Bullough, Julie Brominicks and Horatio Clare exploring the political, cultural and mythical history of Wales.
“We also have an exclusive interviews with the International Man Booker Prize winner, we announce the next Children’s Laureate Wales, Prue Leith serves up her one-woman show, an all-star cast including The Crown’s Dominic West share poetry in our Poetry Pharmacy Gala, Richard Osman joins his brother Matt to talk about their writing careers... it will be an actionpacked 11 days of discovery,” Julie says.
Staging a festival of this size is a huge undertaking and the whole local community is very much involved.
“Hay Festival is itself a feat of the imagination,” she says. “The logistics and planning involved in transforming a field into the centre of the cultural world for a fortnight is enormous and, without a shared community vision, it wouldn’t happen. The support of audiences, artists, locals and stakeholders is what makes it possible each year and we work tirelessly to deliver on that.”
There’s nowhere like Hay-onwye... it’s a space where imaginations roam, where audiences of all ages are encouraged to follow their curiosity