Hay Festival Wales at Hay Festival

Returning for its first in-person spring event since 2019, Hay Festival is the world’s leading festival of ideas, bringing readers and writers together in sustainable events to inspire, examine and entertain.

There will be in-person appearances from Svetlana Alexievich, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Stephen Fry, Nicola Sturgeon, Minnie Driver, Monica Ali, Damian Lewis, Jimmy Page, Damon Galgut, Ben Okri, Bernardine Evaristo, Bill Bailey, Bryn Terfel, Serhii Plokhy, Caryl Lewis, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita, Corinne Bailey Rae, A´ine Ni´ Ghlinn, Alice Roberts, Amy Liptrot, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, Cressida Cowell, David Baddiel, David Harewood, David Olusoga, David Spiegelhalter, Ed Balls, Edmund de Waal, Elif Shafak, Fi Glover and Jane Garvey, George Monbiot, Gillian Clarke, Ian Rankin, Inua Ellams, Jacqueline Wilson, Jay Blades, Jarvis Cocker, Jenny Packham, Joe Wicks, Julian Barnes, Lady Hale, Lemn Sissay, Lenny Henry, Lyse Doucet, Mariana Mazzucato, Mieko Kawakami, Oliver Bullough, PJ Harvey, Reginald D Hunter, Sheila Hancock, Simon Amstell, Zelda Perkins, an all-star Letters Live cast led by Benedict Cumberbatch, and more...

This year’s programme launches the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate around some of the biggest issues of our times. Award-winning writers, policy makers, pioneers and innovators take part from around the world, seeking solutions to the biggest issues of our time, from the climate crisis to global conflicts.

Events begin with the free Programme for Schools before HAYDAYS and #HAYYA events for families encourage young readers to get creative throughout the half-term week.

Late nights at the Festival are given over to great music, comedy and entertainment, while theatre is woven throughout the programme in collaborations with Letters Live, Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour, and The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Former US Secretary of State, First Lady and US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will appear at Hay Festival 2022 in conversation with lawyer Helena Kennedy on Thursday 2 June as part of the Festival’s Women & Power series.

The first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party, Clinton served as the 67th Secretary of State after nearly four decades in public service advocating on behalf of children and families as an attorney, First Lady, and US Senator. She is the author of eight books.