The Hay Festival has announced its 2022 spring line-up with more than 500 in-person events for the first time since 2019. The 35th spring edition of the festival in Hay-on-Wye will see talks, music and comedy performances, lectures and more, over 11 days from Thursday, May 26 to Sunday, June 5.
Visitors will be able to watch the likes of Hollywood stars Damian Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch as Lewis takes part in an afternoon of poetry alongside Stephen Fry, David Harewood and Lemn Sissay, while Doctor Strange star Cumberbatch will lead an all-star cast (yet to be announced) at a Letters Live event.
Musicians Jimmy Page, from Led Zeppelin and Jarvis Cocker are among the stars offering up their life stories on stage, as will actress Minnie Driver. 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.
BBC's Lyse Doucet will be at the festival site following her time reporting on the frontline in Ukraine while lockdown PE star Joe Wicks and The Repair Shop's Jay Blades are also on the bill. Welsh highlights will include novelists Nicola Davies, Caryl Lewis, Rebecca F John, Julie Owen Moylan, Jenny Valentine, Alex Wharton and Manon Steffan Ros presenting new work, while poets Gillian Clark and Robert Minhinnick share new collections and Publishing Wales hosts a discussion on the Welsh books industry.
Opera stars Bryn Terfel and Rebecca Evans perform a special Platinum Jubilee concert and Max Boyce presents his new Hymns & Arias book. 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.
Events will take place at the main Dairy Meadows site, in St Mary’s Church in Hay and in a new Festival theatre in the grounds of the recently restored Hay Castle. The Festival site is free to enter, with a range of pop-ups to explore, including the Festival Bookshop, HAYDAYS courtyard, Make & Take Tent, and a host of exhibitors, market stalls, cafés and restaurants.
To get the full line-up of all the lectures, shows, showtimes and more, visit hayfestival.org/wales or call 01497 822 629. Public booking opens at noon on Friday, April 8.
