Hay Festival Podcast

Eric Ngalle Charles is a poet, author and playwright who has claimed asylum in Wales. His uplifting story describes how literature and creative writing helped him to overcome his hasty departure from Cameroon when he was 17, how he survived being a victim of human trafficking and living on the streets in Russia before eventually coming to live in Wales. He talks to author Jenny Valentine . Watch t...

Leïla Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, which she won for the shocking thriller and global best-seller, Lullaby . She discusses her work and her novel Adèle with lawyer Philippe Sands . Watch the full event Leïla Slimani in conversation with Sophie Hughes, Hay Festival Arequipa 2019 Full-length Festival events can be watched ove...

Carole Cadwalladr won the Orwell Prize and the Reporters Without Borders Award among many others for her investigative journalism in The Observer into the subversion of the democratic process and the impact of big data analytics and interventions on the EU Referendum and the American Presidential Election of 2016. She discusses her work with Oliver Bullough . Watch the full event Carole Cadwalladr...

Actor, writer and director Ethan Hawke talks to author David Mitchell at Hay Festival 2021 about his first novel in nearly 20 years: A Bright Ray of Darkness . A young man makes his Broadway debut as his marriage implodes – a blistering story about love, fame and the healing power of art. Watch the full event David Mitchell talks to John Mitchinson at Hay Festival Digital 2020 Full-length Festival...

Award-winning violinist, broadcaster, author and journalist Clemency Burton-Hill discusses the joys of classical music with Peter Florence at Hay Festival 2018. Clemency’s book Year of Wonder is a personal selection of 365 pieces of music for classical music geeks and novices alike. Watch the full event Hay Festival 2021 Opening Gala: A Night of Hope Clemency’s Hay Festival playlist Full-length Fe...

For the last episode of this series, stars of literature, stage and screen come together to celebrate the unique power of words in our very special Hay Festival 2021 Gala. Join host Natalie Haynes for this evening of joy and celebration with guests including Stephen Fry , Louise Brealey , Hafsa Zayyan , Maggie Aderin-Pocock , Rob Brydon , Clemency Burton-Hill , Juno Dawson and many more. The Hay F...

Poet and Professor of Languages Mererid Hopwood selects Ifor ap Glyn from Hay Festival 2017, who took Hedd Wyn as his theme for the Gwyn Jones Hay Festival Lecture, Rutger Bregman discussing his book Humankind with Lily Cole at Hay Festival 2020 and Daniel Williams , Leanne Wood and Michael Sheen discussing the work of Raymond Williams at Hay Festival 2021. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by...

Artist, poet, rapper, literary activist and songwriter Rufus Mufusa selects Caleb Femi talking about his astounding debut collection to Max Porter from the Hay Book of the Month, November 2020, Kayo Chingonyi accepting the International Dylan Thomas Prize from Hay Festival 2018, and the award winning poet and linguaphile Mererid Hopwood from Hay Festival 2020. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported...

The award winning author of Bearmouth Liz Hyder selects Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane talking Lost Spells at the Winter Weekend 2020, the magnificent mathematician Marcus du Sautoy from Hay Festival 2013, and the incomparable Lemn Sissay performing his poetry at Hay Festival 2017. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be...

Journalist and broadcaster Guto Harri selects the magnificent Maya Angelou from Hay Festival 2002, Dr David Jarret discussing a good death and Poet and Chair of Welsh and Celtic studies Mererid Hopwood exploring language at Hay Festival 2020. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer ....

Writer, novelist and columnist Tahmima Anam selects her very first Hay event back in 2012 with Helena Kennedy , Joan Bakewell , Martin Rees and Anita Anand , Shahidul Alam speaking at Hay Festival Dhaka in 2014 and the novelist, cultural commentator and founder of Palfest, Ahdaf Soueif talking to George Alagiah at Hay Festival 2017. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investme...

Writer, broadcaster and comedian Natalie Haynes has chosen Colm Toibin and Lisa Dwan giving a rehearsed reading of Pale Sister in 2018, Troy Story, the Trojan War from a female perspective, an event she presented with Chris Riddell at Hay Festival 2020, and star gazer Maggie Aderin Pocock ’s event from the Winter Weekend in 2018. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment...

Welsh writer and former Hay Festival International Fellow selects the inimitable American Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison from 2014, the much missed and remarkable Jan Morris from 2009 and a conversation he held with Diana de la Vega at Hay Festival Cartagena in 2019. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfe...

Former BBC journalist, writer, presenter and director of the European Literature Network Rosie Goldsmith selects the incomparable Clive James from 2007, the Man Booker International Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk from 2010 and the David and Ben Crystal double act from the Winter Weekend in 2014. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events...

The Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford and author of Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration , selects Adam Rutherford on the Book of Humans from 2019, Matt Hancock talking to Amol Rajan pre-Covid in 2018 and Jeanette Winterson giving the Raymond Williams lecture in 2016. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events c...

Founder of the Everyday Sexism project and author Laura Bates selects Jeanette Winterson talking Shakespeare from Hay 2016, Ali Smith ’s 2005 interview with Francine Stock and writer and political activist Gloria Steinem from Hay Festival Digital 2020. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/ha...

Associate Editor for Culture at The Guardian Claire Armitstead selects poet, writer, musician and activist Akala , speaking about his memoir Native , Professor of Psychology Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on the secret life of the teenage brain, both from Hay Festival 2018, and the award-winning Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh from 2019. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Mana...

Journalist and author Oliver Bullough selects the Serbian revolutionary Srdja Popovic from 2015, Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexeivich and author Tom Bullough from Hay Festival 2016, and the magical and musical Julia Donaldson from 2017. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer . Cont...

Magazine Journalist Kitty Corrigan selects nature writer and farmer John Lewis-Stempel from 2015, award-winning British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak from 2013, and one of the major poets of the 20th Century and Nobel Prize winner for literature, the magnificent Seamus Heaney from Hay Festival 2006. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival e...

The author and editor of GQ selects the remarkable Tracy Emin speaking in 2017, Simon Schama on the Story of the Jews, an epic tale of endurance against destruction, from Hay Festival 2014 and Brigadier James Cowan , who commanded the Black Watch in Iraq and the multinational 11 Brigade in Helmand from 2011. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length...

The writer and broadcaster selects Ted Hughes from 1998, reciting poetry while the wind battered the Hay marquees, the indomitable Jody Williams in 2013, Astronomer Royal Martin Rees in 2016 and the magnificent Maya Angelou from 2002. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer . Contact...

The best-selling historical thriller writer (SJ Parris) choices include Wallander author Henning Mankell from 2011, Toni Morrison talking about her novel Beloved in 2014 and the irrepressible Jilly Cooper from 2018. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer . Contact us at publicity@hay...

The journalist and author of Greetings from Bury Park selects three distinctive and distinguished actors; Harry Belafonte from 2012, Charlotte Rampling in 2017 and the inimitable Peter Falk speaking in 2007. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer . Contact us at publicity@hayfestival...

The broadcast journalist chooses The Tiger who came to Tea author Judith Kerr speaking in 2017, Toni Morrison talking to Razia Iqbal in 2014 and her brother and author Peter Godwin speaking at Storymoja in Nairobi in 2013. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Festival events can be watched over at hayfestival.org/hayplayer . Contact us at public...

The Professor of Law and author of Baillie Gifford Prize winning East West Street and Sunday Times bestseller The Ratline selects President Jimmy Carter from 2008, the Director of Public Prosecutions, now Leader of the Labour party, Keir Starmer speaking in 2012 and interpreter Amanda Galsworthy in 2013. The Hay Festival Podcast is supported by Baillie Gifford Investment Managers. Full-length Fest...