28 November–1 December 2024
We are delighted to share the sparkling programme of events for this years Hay Festival Winter Weekend
“New ideas, joy and hope – what better ingredients for a year-end festival to wrap one
year and help us spring into the next? We’ll offer a world of different experiences at Hay
Festival Winter Weekend 2024, sharing a heady dose of entertainment alongside some
bold visions for the future. Returning to the centre of Hay-on-Wye in the grounds of Hay
Castle, we’ll build on the success of last year’s sold-out event by offering access to more
Festivalgoers than ever, live and online. Join us!” Julie Finch Hay Festival Global CEO
Over four days, more than 70 acclaimed artists take part in over 60 events, launching the best new fiction and non-fiction, exploring creative solutions to some of the biggest
challenges of our time, and spreading festive joy in conversations, candle-lit storytelling,
comedy, music, and workshops.
Guests include novelists Ali Smith and Paula Hawkins; actors Rupert Everett, Paterson
Joseph and Luke Evans; broadcaster and campaigner Carol Vorderman; former
Australian PM Julia Gillard; statistician David Spiegelhalter; classicist Natalie Haynes;
poet Theresa Lola; Uncanny host Danny Robins; foreign policy specialist Chloe Dalton;
comedians Russell Kane and Vic Reeves; broadcaster Cerys Matthews; musician Arun
Ghosh; supervet Noel Fitzpatrick; and historians Sarah Clegg and Jonathan Dimbleby.
Events will take place in a specially built 350-seater marquee in the grounds of Hay
Castle, in the Castle’s Clore workshop space, plus venues around town, including St
Mary’s Church, The Poetry Bookshop, and North Books.
Supported by the Powys Shared Prosperity Fund, the Festival weekend sees the Welsh
book town’s independent shops, cafés and markets offer a warm welcome to
Festivalgoers within the stunning surrounds of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
Plan your visit with the help of this useful guide
Digital media partner TikTok will support Hay Festival Winter Weekend for the first time,
hosting some of the UK’s top creators while supporting development opportunities for
young creatives within the team.
Keep on reading for an in depth look at the programme
Great storytelling majors in the programme as novelist Ali Smith presents Gliff; Wales
Book of the Year winner Alex McCarthy talks The Unbroken Beauty of Rosalind Bone;
and Paula Hawkins offers The Blue Hour; while poet Theresa Lola shares her new
collection, Ceremony for the Nameless; Glyn Edwards offers In Orbit, actor Rupert
Everett shares his first ever collection of stories, The American No; and broadcaster
Danny Robins shares Into the Uncanny.
Following a year of elections and global upheavals, Wales today and the role of Britain in
the wider world comes into focus in conversations with campaigner Carol Vorderman
(Now What?: On a Mission to Fix Broken Britain), former Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard, Baroness Lola Young, and actor Paterson Joseph; while an expert panel
explores the year ahead in the Festival’s 2025 visions discussion.
Big ideas take centre-stage as new thinking comes to the fore in conversations with
statistician David Spiegelhalter (The Art of Uncertainty), Tom Chatfield (Wise Animals),
Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston (The Future Loves You) and astrophysicist Chris Lintott
(Our Accidental Universe); inspiring life stories mark the year’s end with hope as
Shaparak Khorsandi talks Scatter Brain and Jordan Stephens presents Avoidance,
Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs; and the BBC host a free live recording of their popular
Inside Science.
After another transformative 12 months at Hay Festival Global, CEO Julie Finch joins
Director of TATE Maria Balshaw for a conversation on the future of the arts, chaired by
BBC Media Editor Katie Razzall.
History and myth are reimagined with historian George Nash on Neolithic Tombs of
Wales; Jonathan Dimbleby on Endgame 1944: How Stalin won the War; and classicist
Natalie Haynes on Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth.
The natural world is explored and celebrated in conversations with actor and broadcaster
Caroline Quentin (Drawn to the Garden); writer Tom Bullough (Sarn Helen); Tom
Mustill (How to Speak Whale); Chloe Dalton (Raising Hare) and Noel Fitzpatrick (Dogs
and Their Humans).
There’s seasonal joy and inspiration to be enjoyed with comedian Jenny Eclair on Jokes,
Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir; broadcaster Kevin McCloud on 25 years of Grand
Designs; actor Luke Evans with Boy From the Valleys: My Unexpected Journey; food
writer Grace Dent on Comfort Eating; and Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) joins Nancy Moir
to present share their new art book, Painting Birds.
Families can enjoy a wide mix of activities including Russell Kane on Pet Selector!: A
hilarious guide to all the usual and unusual household pets, while Hay Castle hosts full day writing and book-art workshops, drop-in crafting sessions, and a special illustration
exhibition on Sir Quentin Blake.
Music rings out across the Festival weekend as performances in St Mary’s Church
include cellist Maxim Calver and Father Richard with his silent film performance; plus
Hay Shantymen, The Nonsense Singers, Cantorian Y Gelli, and the Hay Community
Choir entertain Festivalgoers with a series of pop-up sets around town; broadcaster
Cerys Matthews revisits the beloved fictional world of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood in a session of storytelling and music alongside jazz musician Arun Ghosh; while
historian Sarah Clegg explores the dark side of Christmas in a special event on The
Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas accompanied by
Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk and John Kirkpatrick.
Extra sparkle to live events comes from the town’s Market Square as a special guest
turns on the Christmas lights, Friday 29 November, in what has become an annual Winter
Weekend highlight.
And the Festival will draw on public nominations to crown the Hay Festival Book of the
Year following past wins for Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, Bonnie Garmus’
Lessons in Chemistry, Deborah Levy’s Real Estate, Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young
Naturalist, Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore’s Inventing Ourselves
and Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane’s The Lost Words.
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