The world’s largest ideas and music festival will return to Hay-On-Wye this week - for what is set to be its best attended festival yet.

Following a 15 per cent growth in attendees in 2023, HowTheLightGetsIn returns for its 2024 event between May 24-27.

The festival returns to its idyllic home on the banks of the River Wye for a weekend of interdisciplinary talks and panels, music, comedy and cabaret entertainment.

More than 100 speakers and 80 performers will converge on the site, with cutting-edge thinkers sharing a stage with pioneering artists shaping the music industry

HowTheLightGetsIn has grown exponentially over the past 14 years since its inception and this year’s incarnation is set to be the busiest festival yet.

The upcoming festival’s first line- up announcement boasts Nobel Laureates and global thought- leaders, including mathematician and Hawking collaborator Roger Penrose, "the most dangerous philosopher in the West" Slavoj Zizek, pioneering philosopher of morality Peter Singer, former director of the CIA David Petraeus, chair of the Financial Times Gillian Tett, and influential pro-Palestinian historian Ilan Pappe.

This year’s theme ‘Dangers, Desires, and Destiny’ will allow festival goers to interrogate the existential threats of our era and potential paths forward.

Philosopher and editorial director of the festival Hilary Lawson said: “We look not only to philosophers, but to scientists, novelists, and artist. The big questions are present in every field, and new philosophical ideas are as likely to appear in literature, history or science as they are in philosophy.”

HowTheLightGetIn brings together the UK’s most vibrant and forward thinking artists. This year is set to be no different, with disco-house legends Crazy P, iconic DJ duo The Orb, Mercury nominees Sea Power, electronic music pioneer James Holden, and chart toppers Herculese and Love Affair (DJ) topping the lineup. They feature alongside promising up-and-comers Mandrake Handshake, experimental jazz outfit Tara Clerkin Trio and a collaboration with BBC Hereford and Worcester amongst others. On the comedy front headliners are Live at the Apollo and panel show regulars Lous Sanders and Shaparak Khorsandi, with a rich array of salacious cabaret and Fringe favourites flooding the bill.

For details and tickets visit: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay