This week I step down from the Hay Festival, where for the past decade or so I’ve been a trustee, vice-president and chairman (or, alternatively, chief cook and bottle washer). I’ll be staying on in an advisory (and probably quite annoying) capacity, but operationally I’m done. Ten years is long enough to be involved in any arts organisation, and it’s time for different people with different ideas to have a go.
I have to say it’s been a blast. From the early days working with Peter Florence to the current regime overseen by CEO Julie Finch, “the Woodstock of the mind” (thank you, Bill Clinton) is still the most important literary festival in the world. Its eccentricity, singularity and egalitarian spirit are now famous all over the globe.
