Hay Festival 2025: Everything You Need To Know
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4 days ago
The festival that put Hay-on-Wye on the literary map is back for 2025
Book lovers, the time is near: the free-to-visit Hay Festival will be returning to its dedicated site near Hay-on-Wye this spring – and there’s plenty to get excited about. Championing storytelling in all of its forms as well as big thinking and little threads of curiosity, here’s our comprehensive Hay Festival guide for 2025.
Hay Festival 2025: Line-Up, Dates, Food & More
What Is The Hay Festival?
Hay Festival is an annual literary festival that takes place in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. It is one of the UK’s largest festivals of its kind, and certainly hailed by many as the best. With a primary focus on literature, the festival invites authors to launch their new fiction and non-fiction titles and host talks, debates and signings.
Now preparing for its 39th edition in spring 2025, Hay Festival has expanded since its first edition in 1988 to also include music, comedy and entertainment stretching long into the night, with a whole host of performances and pop-up activities to keep visitors entertained between sessions.
‘Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen the speed at which our world can change and the high stakes for our times,’ says the festival’s CEO Julie Finch. ‘Here’s a Hay Festival programme to tackle our shared challenges head-on with purpose and hope, celebrating new ideas and the power of storytelling to improve our lives. Woven throughout you’ll find our core themes for 2025 – the impacts of AI, health and wellbeing, new political orders and intergenerational exchanges – plus, as we celebrate 20 years since our first overseas event, we open more global exchange through new platforms. This is a festival for everyone. Join us in a world of different ideas.’
The History Of Hay Festival
The first Hay Festival took place in 1988, founded by Peter Florence along with his parents, Norman and Rhoda, spanning various venues across the town of Hay – which had, by the 1970s, gained the nickname, ‘The Town of Books’. It is said that Peter funded the first festival with his winnings from a poker game. By 2005, Hay Festival had moved to a dedicated site just south of the town, where it still takes place every year.
© Mary Perez
Who Will Be At The Hay Festival In 2025?
An easier question: who won’t be? Top of the bill is beloved actor, activist, writer and Hay Festival president Stephen Fry. ‘I am delighted to be returning to Hay Festival – one of my favourite places on earth – to talk about my new book, Odyssey, and join debates and discussions across the Festival field,’ he says. ‘Besides the fun and joy of gathering to share stories, it is also the antidote to disinformation and division. There is space for everyone in this carnival of ideas and I hope to see you there.’
Joining Fry are the following big names…
Authors:
- Elif Shafak
- Jacqueline Wilson
- Robert Harris
- Alexander McCall Smith
- Susie Dent
- Ruth Jones
- Reverend Richard Coles
- Jeremy Vine
- Tessa Hadley
- Ben Okri
- Rachel Joyce
- David Szalay
- Mark Haddon
- Eimear McBride
- Jojo Moyes
- Kit de Waal
- Gill Hornby
- Matt Haig
- Holly Bourne
- Lorraine Kelly
- Suzie Miller
- Clare Chambers
- Saba Sams
Sam Hardwick
Poets:
- Simon Armitage
- Michael Rosen
- Len Pennie
- Antony Szmierek
- Malika Booker
- John Cooper Clarke
- Gillian Clarke
- Joelle Taylor
- Nick Makoha
- Donna Ashworth
Historians:
- Alice Roberts
- Anne Applebaum
- William Dalrymple
- Kehinde Andrews
- Tom Holland
- David Olusoga
- Kate Nicholson
- Atinuke
- Joya Chatterji
- Kavita Puri
- Hallie Rubenhold
Journalists:
- Ash Sarkar
- Shon Faye
- John Harris
- Emma Barnett
- Stacey Dooley
- Jane Garvey
- Sarah Lonsdale
Politicians:
- Ed Davey
- Diane Abbott
- Jeremy Hunt
- Michael Heseltine
- Julia Gillard
Benedict Cumberbatch spoke at Hay Festival 2018. © Sam Hardwick
Musicians:
- Paloma Faith
- Billy Ocean
- Brian Eno
- Isobel Waller-Bridge
- Daudi Matsiko
- Tony Njoku
Actors:
- Harriet Walter
- Jameela Jamil
- Michael Sheen
- Rose Ayling-Ellis
- Jim Broadbent
- Juliet Stevenson
- Martin Clunes
- Tuppence Middleton
- Sharon Horgan
Comedians:
- Miranda Hart
- Sara Pascoe
- Mark Watson
- Katherine Ryan
- Chris McCausland
- Kiri Pritchard-McLean
…and many more. See the full line-up at hayfestival.com
What’s On In 2025?
More than 600 events will take place over 11 days at Hay Festival 2025. Here’s a taste of what’s to come…
- Debut Discoveries: Daily events curated to showcase emerging writers alongside established names, including Catherine Airey, Shon Faye, Yael van der Wouden, Tash Aw, Stephen Fry and plenty more.
- The inaugural George Alagiah Lecture in memory of the acclaimed journalist and Hay Festival regular, for which writer Hisham Matar will delve into the world of Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
- Pulitzer Prize-winning data journalist Mona Chalabi will deliver the first John Caldon Lecture, focusing on ideas of resistance.
- A gala event will feature a star-studded line-up of poets and performers reading from Allie Esiri’s 365 Poems for Life.
- Each morning will feature a News Review with journalists, commentators, and world leaders, in partnership with the Independent.
- Hay Festival Green will explore the theme ‘Mobilising for the Future,’ featuring conversations on environmental science and sustainable policies.
- The popular Hay Festival Sports Day returns on Wednesday 28 May, with leading thinkers joining sports stars for events and activities.
© Chris Athanasiou
What’s New For 2025?
New projects at Hay Festival for 2025 include:
- The new MUBI cinema, which will host daily screenings of acclaimed films, including Bergman Island, How to Have Sex, Queer, The Worst Person in the World, and Fallen Leaves.
- A Creative Industry Insights series, inviting young people to quiz successful artists including Jane Tranter, Rachel Parris, Fee Mak and Joelle Taylor.
- Matters of Taste, a new series of tasting events brining flavours off the page; demos will come from the likes of Jose Pizarro, Kate Humble, Imad Alarnab and more.
When & Where?
Hay Festival 2025 takes place from 22 May to 1 June. Most of the Hay Festival takes place at the dedicated festival site, Dairy Meadows, located between Hereford and Brecon, just off the A438 (postcode HR3 5PJ) – just a 10 minute walk from the centre of Hay.
Some events also take place in and around Hay-on-Wye, especially at St Mary’s Church where there will be performances all week, in collaboration with the likes of Hay Castle, Hay Writers’ Circle, Hay Community Choir, Hay Shantymen, Hay Music, Rural Media and Hereford College of Arts.
If you can’t make it in person, a selection of sessions will be streamed live.
Is Hay Festival Free Entry?
The main Hay Festival site at Dairy Meadows is free to enter, and there are plenty of activities and free performances to keep you entertained.
How To Get Tickets
Tickets are not required to attend Hay Festival, however talks, debates and signings take place on specific stages, and you’ll need to buy a ticket to attend those. If you’re keen, simply visit hayfestival.com, pick the event that piques your interest, and purchase your ticket.
