Hay Festival Digital sees more than 100 award-winning writers, global policy makers, historians, pioneers and innovators take part, celebrating the best new fiction and non-fiction, and interrogating some of the biggest issues of our time under the theme of #ImagineTheWorld.
Speakers include novelists Hilary Mantel, Anne Enright, Margaret Atwood and Jessie Burton; poets Mererid Hopwood, Simon Armitage and Inua Ellams; actors Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter, Dominic West, Sandi Toksvig, Vanessa Redgrave, Benedict Cumberbatch, Helen McCrory, and Jonathan Pryce; and a whole array of leading voices in health, science, history, art, philosophy and music.
What would have been the Hay Festival Programme for Schools will also take place online, kicking things off with five days of storytelling and live performances for KS 2, 3 and 4 pupils learning at home, 18-22 May at hayfestival.org/schools. Digital activities to inspire and entertain families will also run throughout the Festival.
Peter Florence, director of Hay Festival, said: “Our Haymakers and partners have given us this fresh opportunity to celebrate the stories and ideas that we love. We’ll be zinging the programme as if from a green field in Wales and welcoming readers from around the world into a digital party. So, let us, ciphers to this great accompt, on your imaginary forces work…”
Hay Festival Digital is supported by principal sponsor Baillie Gifford and principal global partner the Welsh Government, while the Programme for Schools is also sponsored by the Welsh Government.
Explore the programme and register for the free Hay Festival Digital at hayfestival.org/digital.