Hay Festival has announced 44 earlybird events for next spring’s Hay-on-Wye edition, taking place 22 May–1 June 2025, ahead of the full programme release next March.
This is the Festival’s biggest ever earlybird event drop, hinting at the dynamic programme of 600+ events to come blending household names and new talent.
Tickets are on sale now to Hay Festival Members, Patrons and Benefactors at hayfestival.org/hay-on-wye. General sale begins at noon this Friday.
Launching the best new fiction and non-fiction, the 2025 Festival will offer insights and conversation around big global issues along with a diverse programme of entertainment. More than 600 writers, activists, pioneers and performers will take part.
Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said: “Hay Festival next spring has something for everyone in Hay-on-Wye. Here are 44 events to preview what’s to come, showcasing a world of different perspectives in a place where great minds meet.
“Join us to be inspired, provoked and entertained by conversations and performances that celebrate free expression and new ideas, and get involved with workshops and pop-up wonders.”
Events will take place across eight stages in the free-to-enter Festival site at Dairy Meadows in the Bannau Bryncheiniog National Park – which will offer a range of spaces for audiences to explore and enjoy, including the Bookshop, BBC Marquee, Wild Garden, Make & Take Tent, a host of exhibitors and market stalls, cafés, and the Family Garden ¬– as well as venues around Hay-on-Wye, including St Mary’s Church and Hay Castle.
Projects and themes woven throughout the programme will include the News Review each morning; the return of the Hay Festival Sports Day on Wednesday 28 May; South to South conversations; Hay Festival Green, prompting innovative solutions to the climate crisis; celebrations of 250 years of Jane Austen and 20 years of Hay Festival’s work abroad; global collaborations with NBO Litfest in Kenya and Lviv BookForum in Ukraine; and a vibrant programme for families and young people, beginning with the free Schools Programme, 22–23 May, and including events throughout the half-term week.
Late nights at the Festival are given over to great music, comedy and entertainment, while a host of free pop-up activities and performances around the site keeps audience entertained between sessions.
The full programme of 600+ events will be released in March 2025.
EARLYBIRD EVENTS OVERVIEW:
Award-winning storytellers share new work including Alexander McCall Smith on Looking for You; Fflur Dafydd on The House of Water; Jojo Moyes with We All Live Here; Daniel Kehlman on The Director; Javier Cercas on his Terra Alta crime trilogy; Kit de Waal on The Best of Everything; Matt Haig on The Life Impossible; broadcaster Susie Dent joins comedian Julian Clary to launch their crime novels; and writers Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Erna von der Walde join translator Daniel Hahn to celebrate a new translation of the Latin American classic, José Eustasio Rivera’s The Vortex.
Meanwhile, Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah joins fellow novelist Elif Shafak for a one-to-one conversation.
Our understanding of the natural world is challenged and explored as Mike Berners-Lee shares A Climate of Truth; Robert Macfarlane explores Is A River Alive?, Levison Wood shares The Great Tree Story; and classicist Edith Hall offers a study of Homer’s Iliad in the context of our ecological disaster.
New political orders come under examination with historian Anne Applebaum on AUTOCRACY INC; Edi Rama, the 33rd and incumbent prime minister of Albania on the future of Europe; author Pankaj Mishra on the post-Western world; and writer Rebecca Solnit on her new essay collection, No Straight Road Takes You There.
Personal stories illuminate our times as Gwyneth Lewis shares her memoir Nightshade Mother; comedian Miranda Hart shares I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You; lawyer Sayeeda Warsi talks Muslims Don't Matter; journalist Emma Barnett joins broadcaster Stacey Dooley to share experiences of motherhood; and Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood talks How to Disappear.
History is reimagined with lessons for the present day as William Dalrymple talks The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World; Ben Macintyre presents The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama; Tom Holland shares Lives of the Caesars; Human Rights lawyer Philippe Sands talks 38 Londres Street; and award-winning historian Hallie Rubenhold offers her Story of a Murder.
What it means to be human is examined as actor Tuppence Middleton shares her exploration of OCD, Scorpions; broadcaster Naga Munchetty talks It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis (and how to thrive despite it); journalist Oliver Burkeman shares his lessons on time, mortality and accepting imperfections, Meditations for Mortals; IT expert Kaitlyn Regehr talks Smartphone Nation: Why We’re All Addicted to Screens and What We Can Do About It; and Richard Dawkins presents The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie.
Young imaginations are sparked through an expanded programme for families that sees poet Michael Rosen join illustrator Chris Riddell to share Pocket Shakespeare; writer Michael Morpurgo joins actor and musician Ben Murray for a special War Horse concert; Onjali Q. Raúf offers The Letter with the Golden Stamp; Tweedy the Clown shares his new book; and award-winning teacher turned rapper MC Grammar performs.
Music and comedy performances lead an evening programme that will dazzle and entertain audiences, featuring R&B legend Billy Ocean; a special evening of musicals with Tim Rice; and comedy from Al Murray, Katherine Ryan, and Chris McCausland.
A curated selection of Festival sessions will be streamed live online throughout the 2025 event, with the Online Festival Pass on sale in March, continuing the Festival’s commitment to digital accessibility.