The infamous Hay Festival has announced expansion plans for 2024 with the launch of its online book club.
The Hay Festival Book Club is being relaunched later this month, with free monthly events tied to the launch. The book club aims to celebrate 'timeless titles', inviting readers to imagine the world through literature.
The book club starts with January's title, Wendy Cope’s The Orange and other poems. The book will be explored in a free online event on Thursday the 18th of January at 7 pm. The book club will also be looking at titles such as Giovanni's Room, authored by James Baldwin, and Rachel Trezise’s Fresh Apples.
Hay Festival is set to expand its audience further this year with new events, live and online, supported by a new multi-year funding agreement with the Unwin Charitable Trust. Hay Festival After Hours events have also been announced, taking place in Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham. The after-hours events aim to introduce new audiences to the Hay Festival, as well as opening opportunities for regional collaborations among writers, publishers and cultural institutions. The first Hay Festival After Hours event will take place on Wednesday 13 March in Wales Millennium Centre’s Cabaret Bar with an evening of readings, performances and provocations. A surprise line-up of emerging and established artists will offer a chance for the public to see new work covering a multitude of topics. Tickets for these events go on sale later this month.
The projects are supported by a three-year funding agreement with the Unwin Charitable Trust, which supports causes that benefit and promote publishing and the distribution of the printed word, and the improvement of literacy and the enjoyment of reading across the UK. Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said: “Through our free Hay Festival Book Club online events, Hay Festival After Hours live events, and an already packed programme of year-round outreach activities, Hay Festival inspiration can be enjoyed any day of the year by anybody. As a charity, we want to continue widening access to the important conversations and performances that take place on our stages. With this new support from Unwin Charitable Trust, we can ramp up our mission even further.” Unwin Charitable Trust chair Merlin Unwin said: “The Unwin Charitable Trust has supported publishing, bookselling, literacy and writing programmes for 50 years. We are now delighted to be supporting the Hay Festival with several exciting new initiatives – the Hay Festival Book Club online events, Hay Festival After Hours live events, and other activities and events. I am confident that these will enable Hay Festival to expand its global audience still further using all the tools of social media and the modern online world, thereby introducing the charity to the next generation of readers, writers and performers. I wish Hay Festival and all who work so hard to make it a success all the very best.” At the end of last year, Hay Festival announced 30 early bird events for its next UK edition, 23 May-2 June 2024, offering a promise of fresh thinking, dynamic performances, and diverse voices accessible to all. Confirmed speakers include novelists Colm Tóibín, Marlon James, Jeanette Winterson and Andrey Kurkov; environmentalist George Monbiot; podcaster Rory Stewart; comedians Julian Clary and Sara Pascoe; poet Hollie McNish; musician Jools Holland; and actors Miriam Margolyes and Lenny Henry.