Christopher BarrettHay Festival has announced the full programme for its 2023 edition, with more than 500 in-person events taking place at the Hay-on-Wye-based festival between 25 May and 4 June.
The independently run, 11-day, literature and arts festival will see appearances across its eight stages by talent including music acts Stormzy, Dua Lipa and The Proclaimers, actor Helen Bonham Carter, politicians such as Sadiq Khan, mountaineer Ranulph Fiennes, and dozens of novelists including Margaret Atwood, Kate Mosse and Douglas Stuart.
Expected to attract more than 300,000 people over the 11 days, the 36th edition of the Hay Festival is intended to act as an “international symbol of hope for a better future”, according to its CEO Julie Finch.
She said, “This Hay Festival edition is a beacon, an international symbol of hope for the collective, creative imagination and a better future. Our latest programme offers ‘11 days of different’ in the Brecon Beacons National Park, creating a space where great minds won’t always think alike, and where imaginations are free to roam. During the day our conversations will grapple and engage with the world around us, seeking solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our times while inspiring the next generation of world-changers.”
Famously described by Bill Clinton as a “Woodstock of the mind”, Hay Festival is sponsored this year by Baillie Gifford and Visit Wales, and will be delivered with partners including Continental Drifts, BBC, British Council, The British Academy, National Literacy Trust, International Booker Prize and The Royal Society.
Organisers said some elements of the festival will be streamed in order to continue the festival’s commitment to digital accessibility.