My First Hay Festival

Last week, I was in Wales for the 2026 Hay Festival, the first time I had been.

If you haven't been before, it's a literary festival where all things books are celebrated. A dazzling array of author events are on offer, as well as bookshops, refreshments and lots of other activities. The festivities continue into the town itself, where bookshops are abundant and everywhere from the chippy to the castle seems somehow involved.

Hay 2026

I was lucky enough to have been invited as part of the Write On! team. As some of you will know from earlier posts, my involvement in Pen to Print led me to join the team who developed Write On!, a magazine for writers. Previously, I had felt a little unworthy of going with the team to Hay, as my day job had rather taken over and I hadn't been able to contribute to the magazine as regularly as I would have liked. However, this year I have made some changes to give myself more time for writing and felt I would be able to both contribute to and benefit from the trip. Squashing that niggling imposter syndrome, I signed up in November and eagerly awaited the festival.

Before too long, and not long after leaving my day job, the end of May had come around and I was on the train to Hereford. Meeting up with some familiar faces helped a lot and writers old and new were all very friendly. Once we reached Trewern, a residential activity centre with which Barking and Dagenham has long been involved, I quickly dropped my belongings in a room and headed off to the festival.

Thus began three days of walks through fields, random queuing, laughs, food, autographs and thinking as I did my best to embrace everything the festival had to offer. I started with David Miliband discussing national and global politics before moving onto other talks covering topics such as: murder in the countryside, ghost stories and cookery, as well as successfully nailing down the last ticket for Paul Merton's improv show. Oh, and did I mention the food? The 'canteen' had everything from burgers to Himalayan curries and the legendary Shepherd's ice cream had two stalls at the venue. Although there were long queues to a lot of events, the festival was very well designed. We were fortunate enough to have press passes which helped a lot with queues but on the very hot days we had there, I was also grateful for the refreshments, water stations and places to rest.

Part of the team

My advice to anyone considering going next year: do it! There is lots of specific advice for first-timers online but I would simply say, be open. I didn't overbook, opting for two events each day which gave me the necessary wiggle room to adapt while there. As a result, I booked tickets to Paul Merton and Danny Robins because I had time available when friends suggested it. I also had time to catch my breath between things, making sure I got to eat and drink enough and to hang out with some great people. Given I went as part of the Write On! team, I kept copious notes and this is already the second piece I've written on the event. However, I also surprised myself with how confident I was talking about the magazine and giving people a copy, whether Ashley Walters or the team from the TLS.

So if like me, you love books and all the cultural aspects which overlap with reading, then book yourself onto Hay next year: its 40th anniversary. Maybe I'll see you there.

#Hay #Writing #LoveBooks