hehistoryof theHayFestivalmakesuplifting reading: in26
years, despite theso-calledcrisis inpublishing, this initially
modest celebrationof literature ina littleWelshmarket town
hasbecomeoneof themost excitingeventson theBritish
social calendar, inspiringspin-offs theworldover.
Theoriginal event owesmuchof itsappeal to itsbucolicsetting in the
WyeValley, theprospect of
lounging inaPenguindeckchair
with thepapers, eatingShepherds
icecream in thesun (or rain) and
pokingabout inbookstoresand
antiquesshops.
Mostly, though, it’sabout sitting
ina tent listening to thegreatest
minds inEnglish (andsometimes
other languages) beserious, funny,
ridiculousor sublimeabout,well,
anything. As founder anddirector
Peter Florencehassaid, the
programmeof lectures, debates,
masterclasses, screenings, comedy
showsandmusical performances
is “elitist, populist, lefty, neocon,
establishment, contrarian, local
andglobal.”
The idea for a literary festival in
Hay-on-Wye–wherebookseller
andself-styled ‘KingofHay’ RichardBoothhaddeclared independence
onApril FoolsDay 1977–wascookeduparoundakitchen tableby
CambridgegraduateFlorenceandhis father,Norman. The first event, in
1988,waspart-fundedwith thewinningsof apoker gameand tookplace
in theback roomsof pubs.
In2001, ex-USPresidentBill Clintonpitchedupdespiteanoutbreak
of foot-and-mouthdiseaseandcalled the festival ‘theWoodstockof the
mind’. The festival isnowheld ina fieldat theedgeof townandattracts
around 100,000visitors.
Hay fever hasprovedcontagiousoutsideBritain.WhenFlorence failed
topersuade the late, greatColombiannovelistGabriel GarcíaMárquez
to travel toWales,Haywent to
Cartagena instead. Contacts forged
withSpanish-languagepublishers
andwriters led to festivals in
Segovia, SpainandXalapa,Mexico.
TheNairobi festival isa tie-inwith
Storymoja, aKenyanpublishing
company that promotes literacy
and reading.
Bogotá39andBeirut39were
collaborationswith theUNESCO
WorldBookCapital initiative,
showcasing the39most promising
youngwritersunder40 inLatin
Americaand theArabworld. The
winnersofAfrica39, asimilar
celebrationof sub-Saharanwriting,
aredue tobeannounced inPort
Harcourt,Nigeria, thisOctober.
InBangladesh,HayFestival
Dhaka is in its fourthyear,while
Budapest–which isbasedat thePetofi LiteraryMuseum, andhas
hostedwriters fromMaobiographer JungChang toTibor Fischer, British
author of theBooker-nominated
Under theFrog
– is in its third. The
latest addition to thenetwork isKells, 40milesnorthofDublin in the
Republicof Ireland,whichwill stage itssecond festival thisJuly.
“
Bill Clinton pitched up in
2001 and called the festival
‘theWoodstock of themind’
”
