Hay Festival brought Bank Holiday smiles to punters as they enjoyed the short bursts of sunshine in the idyllically located festival site.

The Festival began last week with schools visiting the festival site. Nearly 20,000 free tickets were issued to primary and secondary school pupils over Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye’s inspiring two-day schools programme.

Secondary school pupils enjoyed events featuring writers Alex Wheatle, Jenny Valentine, Sarah Crossan, Phil Earle, Aneirin Karadog, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Nicola Garrard, AM Dassu, Anthony Horowitz, Daniel Morden, Frances Hardinge and Manon Steffan Ros. Plus, a live recording of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row spotlit the power of literature in front of an audience of pupils. Livestream events were attended by 3,500 pupils from 48 schools.

Following the schools programme, Saturday’s events include conversations with Anne Enright, Michael Mansfield, Alice Roberts, Blindboy Boatclub, Clive Myrie, David Nicholls, Huw Stevens, International Booker Prize Winner Jenny Erpenbeck, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, and Rose Wilding talking to Jeanette Winterson. 

Children’s events featured CBeebies star Hamza Yassin, Lenny Henry, and Stephen and Anita Mangan, with Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney sketching a brand new open-air mural, assisted by a very special guest.

Sunday’s adult programming took a political bent, with festival goers enjoying pertinent conversations with leading voices Wes Streeting, Luca Trenta, Ian Goldin, Peter Pomerantsev, Maria Ressa, Caroline Lucas, Peter Foster, and James O’Brien. While in literature, events included Marian Keyes, Téa Obreht, Sarah Perry, Carys Davies, Francis Spufford, Moses McKenzie and Jeanette Winterson.

Monday’s programme offered a wide range of family events that kept the young ones entertained, such as Johnny Dudle and Katya Balen. The adult events included Sara Pascoe, Tim Peake, Amor Towles, Tom Holland, Jeffrey Boakye, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, John Boyne and on the music side Anais Mitchell and the cast of Hadestown introduced the new musical. 

Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye 2024 is supported by lead sponsors Welsh Government, Arts Council England and Arts Council Wales, lead media partner the BBC and digital media partner TikTok.

Launching the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate around significant global issues, the programme sees writers, policy makers, pioneers and innovators take part from around the world, offering big thinking and bold ideas. 

Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye runs to 2 June. Discover the full programme and book individual events online now at hayfestival.org/hay-on-wye