Returning for its first in-person spring event since 2019, Hay Festival is the world’s leading festival of ideas, bringing readers and writers together in sustainable events to inspire, examine and entertain.
The programme includes the Hay-on-Earth series – in which the latest environmental science, sustainable policies and creative responses to the climate crisis are brought into focus – while leading writers and sustainability experts launch new work and celebrate the natural world.
HAY-ON-EARTH AND THE NATURAL WORLD
Hay Festival has unveiled the full programme for its 35th spring edition in Hay-on-Wye, with more than 500 in-person events over 11 days.
This includes the Hay-on-Earth series, a sustainability-focused programme of events throughout the 11 days of the Festival, exploring current issues, new developments and technical advances.
Events kick-off Thursday 26 May with the four-part Hay-on-Earth Forum: Reconnections hosted by Hay Festival sustainability director Andy Fryers and featuring Adele Nozedar (The Tree Forager), Lizzie Harper(Hedgerow Handbook), Anna Jones (Divide: The Relationship Crisis Between Town and Country), Hannah Bourne-Taylor(Fledgling), and a discussion on land, people and farming futures with Minette Batters, Nick Palmer and Rob Penn.
Over the following ten days there are conversations with leading writers and sustainability experts including George Monbiot(Regenesis), Karen Armstrong (Sacred Nature), Joe Shute (Forecast: A Diary of the Lost Seasons), Elizabeth Cripps (What Climate Justice Means and why we Should Care), Rebecca Nesbit (Tickets for the Ark), Sophie Pavelle (Forget me Not: Finding the Forgotten Species of Climate-Change Britain), Isabel Losada (The Joyful Environmentalist), Oliver Milman (The Insect Crisis) and Paul Polman (Net Positive); plus Alice Bell and Peter Stott talk climate change denial history; Danny Dorling, Jukka Siukosaari and Katja Pantjar present Finntopia; Sara Vaughan and Aja Barber discuss sustainable fashion; Feargal Sharkeytalks river pollution; Brigitte Baptiste and Partha Dasgupta discuss biodiversity; Darren Moorcroft, Clare Pillman and Rob Penn ask if trees are the solution; Alexandre Antonelli (Hidden Universe: Adventures in Diversity) takes part in the Kew Gardens Platform; Jane Davidson, Bryychan Carey and Greg Lynall discuss solar stories; Ellen Miles, Nick Hayes, Daniel Raven-Ellison and Louisa Adjoa Parker ask if nature is a human right; Bhaskar Vira and Emily Shuckburgh discuss how we might use the climate crisis as an opportunity for a more equitable future; and Martin Wright, Mark Lynas, Nina Skorupska and Harriet Lamb look at clean energy and national security.
The Festival’s four-part Oceans Futures series with Lloyd’s Register Foundation asks experts to explore the impact of the climate crisis on ocean ecosystems with Nicolette Jones (The Plimsoll Sensation: The Great Campaign to Save Lives at Sea), Vincent Doumeizal (Seaweed Revolution), Ruth Boumphrey (Searchlight) and Charles Clover (Rewilding the Sea).
Leading travel and nature writers celebrate the natural world in conversations with Susan Ogilvy (Nests), Patrick Barkham (Wild Green Wonders), Benedict Allen (Explorer: The Quest for Adventure and the Great Unknown), Anna Fleming (Time on Rock: A Climber’s Route into the Mountains), Ben Rawlence (Treeline) and Amanda Owen shares Celebrating the Seasons with The Yorkshire Shepherdess; while Amy Liptrot (The Instant) talks to Horatio Clare; Kate Noakes and Rosie Hayles discuss all things Hay-on-Wye; and off site Wayfaring Walks see writers lead guided tours of the natural surrounds with the Brecon Beacons Natural Park team.
Tickets are on sale now at hayfestival.org/wales.
