Hay Festival Winter Weekend closed Sunday, December 1, after festivalgoers enjoyed events in and around the booktown of Hay-on-Wye with more than 11,000 tickets sold, up 10 per cent on the previous year.

Over four days, more than 70 acclaimed artists took 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, reflecting on 2024 and looking forward to 2025, candle-lit storytelling, comedy, music, and workshops.

Bestselling books of the Festival were:

1. Cerys Matthews’ Under Milk Wood by Cerys Matthews.

2. Comfort Eating by Grace Dent.

3. Drawn to the Garden by Caroline Quentin.

4. Now What? by Carol Vorderman.

5. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton.

6. How to Speak Whale by Tom Mustill.

7. Boy from the Valleys by Luke Evans.

8. Art of Uncertainty by David Spiegelhalter.

9. Gliff by Ali Smith.

10. Eight Weeks by Lola Young.

The weekend also included the town’s light switch on by actor Luke Evans.

Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said: “New ideas, joy and hope – what better ingredients for a year-end festival to wrap one year and help us spring into the next? Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2024 showcased a world of different experiences, sharing a heady dose of entertainment alongside some bold visions for the future.

“With numbers up on last year, it was another reminder of the special place in our cultural lives that festivals hold – rare spaces for the open exchange of different viewpoints and ideas that must be treasured and celebrated. Thank you to the artists, audiences, supporters and funders who made it all possible.”

Guests included 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 took 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.

The Festival’s bookshop, open daily from 9am, stocked featured titles and gifts, plus hosted regular book signings and a special display from Festival partner Visit Seattle.

Part-funded by the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Festival weekend saw the Welsh booktown’s independent shops, cafés and markets offer a warm welcome to Festivalgoers within the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.

Digital media partner TikTok supported 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.

Select events were livestreamed to audiences around the world through the Festival’s online pass, plus free to libraries nationwide via the British Library’s Living Knowledge Network.

Highlights are now available on Hay Festival Anytime at hayfestival.org/anytime.