HAY FESTIVAL 2018 01497 822 629 hayfestival.org WELCOME Welcome to Hay 2018 resonates with anniversaries that pose huge questions for today. The centenaries alone invite CONTENTS us to think hard about who we are and what we might become. One hundred years on from the Armistice of the war to end all wars, what have we learned about peace and prosperity in Europe? How has medicine and the concept of Global Health developed since the pandemic Spanish Flu of HAYDAYS 6 1918-1920 killed more than 50 million? How is Russia managing autocracy 100 years after the last Tsar was executed? And 100 years after the Suffragettes fought for the first UK votes for women, what does equality look like in 2018? Hay on Earth 8 We are facing alarming insecurities and crises HayDays and Holidays – technological, political, climatic. We need to The Festival opens with two Schools Days, free to approach the complexity of those challenges with young people through the support of the Welsh Events 14 all the hope and courage we can muster. In the Government and the Hay Festival Foundation. crazy, antisocial babel of media noise, we need to We are living in a golden age of writing for hear the wisest voices, not the loudest. children and young adults, and the HAYDAYS On site extras 85 The strands of thought and activism than programme that runs throughout half-term offers run through the Festival programme lead to a the opportunity to engage with some of the most realisation that all these experts – the medics inspirational and entertaining people you could and the architects, the classicists and pioneers of ever meet. It’s a week of wonder. Off site extras 88 artificial intelligence, the ecologists and lawyers This beautiful town of books, where the Black 5 and chefs and rocket scientists are all telling the Mountains meet the Wye Valley, is a trove of ideas same story. It’s a story of adaptation and resilience and stories. Hay welcomes readers and writers to its Maps 89, 90 and ingenuity; of migrations and fusions and of all bookshops and its library. For above all, we need the deep connections that make us all citizens of the gift that novelists and poets give: the ability the world and custodians of the planet. We need to to imagine the world from someone else’s point of Travel 91 hear those individual stories and the bigger story view. There has never been a time when we were in that they weave. such urgent need of empathy. And literature, of all the arts and sciences, is the gift of empathy. The Hay Medals Index Empathy, ingenuity and resilience – the core of our 93 In 2012 we revived the old Olympic tradition of humanity and hope. That’s what we are going to awarding medals for literature, with Athena rather celebrate in Hay in May. than Nike as our muse. The medals this year are Booking info awarded to three exceptional artists. The Hay Please join us. 98 Medal for Prose is awarded to Margaret Atwood for a lifetime of ingenious and visionary fiction. The Medal for Poetry is awarded to the Austrian poet Evelyn Schlag for her contribution to our Armistice anthology, in response to work by Georg Trakl. The Medal for Illustration is awarded to the artist Jackie Morris for her collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, The Lost Words, a work of Peter Florence luminous beauty celebrating the natural world. Director, Hay Festival The dates of next year’s festival are 23 May-2 June 2019 HAYDAYS @hayfestival Appearing on stage this year will be storytellers from all around the world so that readers can enjoy the widest range possible. There will also be opportunities for everyone from the youngest upwards to explore aspects of science and technology far from the classroom and in ways that will develop their practical skills as well as the theory. Among this year’s writers and artists are David Walliams, Nadia Shireen, Gemma Cairney, Nick Sharratt, Sarah Crossan, Juno Dawson, Sarah McIntyre, Jacqueline Wilson, Cressida Cowell, Andy Stanton, M.G. Leonard, Katherine Rundell, Michael Welcome to the fabulous 2018 HAYDAYS Morpurgo, Judith Kerr, Catherine Johnson and the current Children’s Laureate, Lauren programme for children and families, presenting Child. Plus inspirational scientists Robert Winston, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Steve authors and illustrators whose inspiration and Mould and Max Barclay. There will be books and signings by children’s and Young Adult imagination make the wonderful books we have authors on the programme in the Hay Festival Bookshop on site. today. Taking readers into the world of stories 6 Most HAYDAYS events take place in the and lighting the spark of what it takes to create Starlight Stage and the Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage. There’s also a bunch of lovely them is at the heart of HAYDAYS. extras, in the following venues. 01497 822 629 hayfestival.org HAYDAYS CUBE HAY PRIMARY SCHOOL You could hack the web, legally, with Stemettes, drum with Landing Mané, quick-fire sketch This is a flexible space with non-stop workshops and Make some noise in Landing Mané’s West African with House of Illustration, learn animation and events for all ages including storytelling, illustration, Drumming workshop or express yourself on the dance projection mapping with MASHcinema, build stories circus workshops, ambient literature and hacking the floor with the Ethiopian dance company, Destino. with Steven Camden, bust a move with the Ethiopian web – legally. Hay-On-Wye County Primary School, Oxford Road, dance company Destino, create your own world with Powys HR3 5BT. Go straight to the venue. MAKE AND TAKE illustrator Laura Carlin, go head-over-heels with Splatch Circus, or cook on an open fire with Rooted An opportunity to get crafting, from 10am-5pm, Sat HAY FESTIVAL COMPASS Forest School. With so much going on, you have free 26 May-Sun 3 June (closes at 1pm on Sun 3 June). Hay Festival Compass is a space for older teenagers rein to be adventurous and express your creativity by Get messy and creative: your imagination is the limit. and students to learn, be inspired and discover. For trying something new at HAYDAYS. Free, drop in. imaginative learning resources, internships and free SCRIBBLERS HUT access to some of the world’s best speakers, join us FAMILY INFORMATION on-site and online. Attend the ‘How I Got Here’ The Scribblers Hut offers non-stop workshops across Children aged 11 years and under must be interviews, find out how our Hay speakers came to the spectrum from illustration through to quantum accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian, their area of expertise, watch the HAY LEVELS, computing for children, young people and adults. including during events, unless otherwise stated. Booking essential. find out more about HAY ACADEMY and about prospective universities or degree subjects from The lost child point is located in the Make and academics, admissions tutors and students at Hay THE MESS TENT Take Tent in the HAYDAYS courtyard between Festival partnership Universities. There will also 10am-5pm every day from Sat 26 May. Outside these A lovely, messy space for trying new things with be a dynamic new series of events programmed and hours it is located in the Admin office next to the demonstrations and workshops, from optical illusions presented by young people for young people in this box Office. using ink with CATion Outreach, through to green venue. Free, drop in. woodworking with neuro-diverse students from For information on accessibility visit Ruskin Mill. These are free, drop-in events. HAYDAYS WORKSHOPS hayfestival.org/access 7 ‘Making and doing’ is a vital part of enjoying culture, Visitors to Hay Festival may be filmed and/or WILD GARDEN so there is a vast and varied programme of workshops photographed for future promotions of the Festival. Cook on an open fire in Rooted Forest School for children, teenagers and adults. With sessions workshops or go on a Wildlife Safari and Treasure including creative writing, circus activities, animation Hunt with RSPB Cymru. The Wildlife Trusts will and projection mapping, coding and Ethiopian dance, be providing activities on Sunday 3 June. there is something for everyone, of all ages and abilities. SUSTAINABILITY @hayfestival “There is plenty I love about Hay Festival but in particular I love its engagement with the world beyond its walls, and its commitment to the defence of that world. “ Festivals with a genuinely green ethos are all too rare. Hay is one of them.” 68 GEORGE MONBIot 01497 822 629 hayfestival.org SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability is core to Hay Festival, both in on site included 6.9 tonnes of cardboard and paper, 1 charge at the bars and restaurants which will go its on-stage debates and in the development tonne of plastic and cans, 6.4 tonnes of glass and 300 towards the increased costs. Alternatively, bring your of Hay’s organisation. Welcome to Hay litres of cooking oil for biodiesel use. Ten tonnes of own cup and get a discount off your hot drinks at food and other materials were composted. The mains Coffee Cart outlets. on Earth – Hay Festival’s sustainability electricity supplier for the Festival site is Good Energy, programme. providing 100% renewable energy. SOCIAL IMPACT DEBATE The biggest impact on the environment is travel. Hay Hay on Earth also considers the social and financial Festival has worked hard to reduce this by providing impacts of running the Festival. Initiatives include Hay-on-Earth programmes a sustainability-focused public buses from the nearest train station in Hereford working with partners at the Woodland Trust and series of events throughout 11 days exploring current running up to ten times a day.