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From the North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW), Sept. 1-4, 2016, Calgary, Alberta, CA
By AmeriCymru, 2016-06-27
Once again we are proud to offer, as part of our Eisteddfod competitions, the David G. Morris Memorial Competition for Solo Voice. This is our signature competition, with the opportunity to win a cash scholarship ($3,500 US) for travel to compete in the 2017 National Eisteddfod of Wales.
This year’s David Morris Competition will be held Saturday, September 3 , at the Westin Calgary. It is open to singers (residents of the Americas) with some professional training, but whose income is derived only partially from performing. Several David Morris winners have gone on to great success in competing in Wales, including a first-place winner at the 2012 National Eisteddfod in Vale of Glamorgan.
Each competitor is required to sing two pieces from memory (contrasted selections drawn from art song, oratorio or operatic repertoire), at least one of which must be in Welsh. (Competitors should note that participation in the National Eisteddfod of Wales will involve singing in Welsh.)
The NAFOW Eisteddfod entry form, including further details on the David Morris competition, is available here: http://www.nafow.org/WNAA_
For further information on this extraordinary opportunity, please contact us directly (email: eisteddfod@nafow.org ; phone: 412-215-9161 ).
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“popular, transient, expendable, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, big business” Richard Hamilton once said of Pop Art back in 1956. ‘Y Ddawns’ (The Dance) the new Welsh single by Ani Glass is both pop and art combined.
Produced by W H Dyfodol (aka Haydon Hughes & Y Pencadlys) the song is a rallying call for those seeking inspiration in language and art – the dance is the imagination and the music the language. The ‘futility’ mentioned in the lyrics refers to the pressures of everyday life, a straight-jacket between narrow walls – a life going too fast to live pop and art - but too young to give up hope.
Dance, dance, dance to the radio ….. dance to the revolution……. this is pop music on message!
Biog
Ani Glass is the persona of Cardiff-based electronic pop musician, producer, artist and photographer, Ani Saunders. Fiercely proud of her heritage, Glass sings in her native languages Welsh and Cornish and last year released her fist solo material with lead single Ffôl being chosen as single of the week on BBC Radio Cymru and gaining plays on BBC 6 music.
Ani is also known for her work with The Pipettes, joining in 2008 to record the Martin Rushent-produced Earth Vs. The Pipettes album. Prior to her stint with the polka-dotted pop band, Glass was in Genie Queen, managed by OMD’s Andy McCluskey. Most recently she has fronted The Lovely Wars, releasing the Young Love EP - the title track being Quietus writer Aug Stone’s Song of 2013 and the Brân i Frân single, much praised by Everett True “SO F*****G WONDERFUL!”.
Ani collaborated with international Welsh artist Ivor Davies in February and is currently working on an EP inspired by his exhibition Silent Explosion/Ffrwydrad Tawel.
Ani Glass upcoming shows.
5th June - Gwdihw (su[porting Vogue Dots, Cotton Wolf, Alphabetic)
17th June - Sherman Foyer Sessions (support from Parcs) + Ani Saunders exhibition
2nd July - Cardiff Castle (Tafwyl)
23rd October - Swn Festival
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Mark: I came up with the idea for the anthology more-or-less out of necessity. Given the huge influence of Welsh author Arthur Machen on Lovecraft's work, combined with the fact that there has been an explosion in Cthulhu Mythos-themed books over the last few decades, I felt sure that a book like Cthulhu Cymraeg must already exist; one where Welsh authors returned the compliment paid to Machen by Lovecraft by writing in a Lovecraftian manner. Completing the circle, so to speak.
But after months of searching for this book that gave a uniquely Welsh twist to the Cthulhu Mythos, I gave up, forced to admit that no Welsh publisher had yet been down that road. That was when I approached Steve Upham, who upon hearing of the idea was keen that his Cardiff-based company, Screaming Dreams, should take on the project.
So I suppose you could say I produced the book because I wanted to read it!
AmeriCymru: What can you tell us about your contribution to the collection:- 'Pilgrimage'?
Mark: I took something that many people in south Wales will be familiar with - the hour's rail journey between Cardiff and Swansea - and made it even stranger than it usually is!
The story nearly didn't happen, in fact. I'm always critical of writers who edit an anthology and include one of their own stories. It seems like cheating somehow.
But in this instance I'm merely being hypocritical. As one of the few Welsh authors who had already written a series of Lovecraftian stories, the publisher persuaded me that on this occasion I really needed to put my money where my mouth was.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about the other contributors?
Mark: All the contributors were either born in Wales or have lived here for some time, so hopefully a uniquely Welsh point of view comes through in the writing. It'd be unfair to pick out individual contributors but all of them have a track record of writing tales of the fantastic and macabre; some have even won prestigious awards for their work.
The publisher, Steve Upham, and I agreed that we didn't simply want writers who were 'holidaying in horror' but rather authors who had an already proven commitment to the genre. And I think that shows through in the stories.
And there are more writers in Wales today creating tales of the fantastic than ever before. So there is a solid foundation for a Welsh School Of The Weird - maybe this book is its first manifesto, who knows.
I should also mention that we were very fortunate in that S T Joshi, Lovecraft's biographer and one of the world's foremost Lovecraft experts, agreed to write a foreword to the anthology. It speaks volumes about Machen's influence on Lovecraft in just a few pages. We were very grateful that he was generous enough to do that as he is always incredibly busy.
AmeriCymru: How much does this collection owe to, and celebrate, the legacy of Arthur Machen ?
Mark: Gwilym Games, of the Friends Of Arthur Machen ,often gives talks on the author's influence on Lovecraft. I've heard him say on several occasions "Without Machen there would have been no Lovecraft". I think that sums things up very well. And, by extension, without Machen there would have been no 'Cthulhu Cymraeg'. So you could say that the anthology forms a small part of his legacy.
AmeriCymru: In your opinion, how much of an influence did Machen have on Lovecraft's writing?
Mark: An enormous influence. Without him, Lovecraft's work would have been very different. If he hadn't discovered Machen's tales, the Anglophile New Englander would probably have been far more influenced by Lord Dunsany or Algernon Blackwood and perhaps his writing would have had far less impact than it has had.
In his 1927 essay 'Supernatural Horror In Literature', Lovecraft says about Machen: “Of living creators of cosmic fear raised to its most artistic pitch, few if any can hope to equal the versatile Arthur Machen.” He also praised Machen's story 'The White People' as one of the greatest examples of weird literature ever written.
And of course the influence of Machen's celebrated 1894 novella 'The Great God Pan' can be seen quite clearly in one of Lovecraft's best-known tales, 'The Dunwich Horror', which seems to have been partly written as an homage to the Welsh author.
AmeriCymru: How prominently does Welsh folklore feature in these tales?
Mark: One or two of the stories do touch on elements of Welsh folklore, although that was never really a major intention of the anthology.
But in the introduction I do suggest that Lovecraft's inter-dimensional beings are distorted versions of the Welsh myth of the Tylwyth Teg (or 'Fair Family'). Machen used these supernatural beings, who were said to dwell underground or below water, in his own work (most notably in 'The White People', 'The Novel Of The Black Seal' and 'The Children Of The Pool'), making them even more terrifying than their already unsettling reputation. Perhaps Lovecraft was impressed by these creatures' reputed ability to use water as an occult gateway between their own realm and ours, echoing this in his own creations' thankfully unsuccessful attempts to create their own gateways between the arcane and the mundane.
So it could be that Lovecraft himself was unconsciously influenced by Welsh folklore, transforming it (Oz-like) into something even more fantastical than the original.
Mark: My background is in journalism. I spent a decade-and-a-half working for Welsh newspapers (including the South Wales Echo in Cardiff and the South Wales Evening Post in Swansea) and the BBC before moving to a marketing and PR role in higher education.
I decided at the age of nine that I wanted to be a writer. I finally succeeded in getting into print at the age of 39!
My novella 'The Garden Of Doubt On the Island Of Shadows' was published in 2006. It was largely written as a response to my father's death two years earlier.
By a strange co-incidence it was read by the great American author Ray Bradbury, who was kind enough to comment favourably on it. This meant a lot to me as I am a great admirer of his work, which I discovered in my early teens.
My 2010 book 'Songs From Spider Street' is structured so it can be read as either a portmanteau novel or a short story collection, depending on your mood and how much time you have. It contains a mixture of magic realism, science fiction, existential horror and surrealism.
While the follow-up collection, 2013's 'Brightest Black', has a darker tone overall and is more traditional.
At the moment I'm working on a new collection for an American publisher. But as I'm quite a slow writer I can't say when that'll see the light of day.
My stories also pop up from time-to-time in anthologies and magazines when you least expect them.
AmeriCymru: What have you been reading lately? Any recommendations?
Mark: I've just finished re-reading Juan Rulfo's 'Pedro Paramo'. And I'm also dipping into a beautiful-looking book by Colorado's Centipede Press called 'A Mountain Walked: Great Stories Of The Cthulhu Mythos'. There is some wonderful work in there and, in terms of its size and weight, it reminds me of an old Welsh family Bible.
As for recommendations - well, Machen and Lovecraft of course. Any short story by Dino Buzzati. 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino, which is endlessly inventive and great to dip in and out of. Christopher Priest's wonderful novel 'The Glamour'.
I can't choose a single piece by Thomas Ligotti, so I'll just content myself with saying that anything by him is well worth reading (even his shopping list, probably).
AmeriCymru: What's next for Mark Howard Jones?
Mark: Early next year a collection called 'Dreamglass Days' is due out, which collects together all the stories I've had published in the Manchester-based literary magazine Sein und Werden over the last eight years.
And there are plans for a second volume of 'Cthulhu Cymraeg'. The anthology had almost universally good reviews but the one thing people did say was that it simply wasn't long enough. So this time we'll probably be concentrating on publishing longer stories and even novella-length pieces.
AmeriCymru: Where can our readers go to purchase 'Cthulhu Cymraeg' online?
Mark: It's available through Amazon both in the U.S. and the U.K. They can also simply click on the ad in the Welsh-American Bookstore. >
If anyone wants more information about the book they can visit www.screamingdreams.com/cthulhucymraeg.html .
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?
Mark: Why not read 'Cthulhu Cymraeg' to your loved ones by the fireside on these cold winter nights.
Eisteddfod competitions at the 2016 North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW) in Calgary!
By AmeriCymru, 2016-06-20
From the North American Festival of Wales ( Sept. 1-4, 2016 , Calgary, Alberta, Canada):
It's that time again... time to enter the Eisteddfod competitions on Saturday, September 3 , at the 2016 North American Festival of Wales (NAFOW) in Calgary!
We're proud to announce this year a new category for Solo Voice (Youth), open to those aged 15 and under and sponsored by the Calgary Welsh Society. As with the equivalent adult competition, all entrants will perform at least two songs, at least one of which must be in Welsh. All of our competitions involve highly qualified adjudicators who provide a very friendly and supportive atmosphere, thus our younger singers can look forward to a highly rewarding stage experience!
We will again hold three competitions in poetic recitation: Adult and Welsh Learners', both involving recitation of a set piece from memory in Welsh, as well as English Language Recitation. Copies of the set pieces are made available to competitors upon application.
In addition to the new Solo Voice (Youth) competition, we'll be holding three more singing competitions: Hymn Singing, Solo Voice (Adult, 16 and over) and Solo Voice/Semi-Professional. The Solo Voice/Semi-Professional competition, as usual, offers the David G. Morris Memorial Award with a generous cash scholarship as a first prize, for travel to compete in the 2017 National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Our competition entry form (and information sheet) is available at the NAFOW website: http://www.nafow.org/WNAA_
Anyone may enter up to three competitions total, subject to restrictions noted on the entry form and information sheet. All entries must be received by August 20, 2016 . Please contact us at any time with questions (email: eisteddfod@nafow.org , phone: 412-215-9161 ), and we'll see you onstage in Calgary!
Shortlist Showcase: New Welsh Writing Awards 2016 University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing
By Ceri Shaw, 2016-06-14
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Shortlist Showcase: New Welsh Writing Awards 2016 University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing from New Welsh Review on Vimeo .
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Donetsk was originally founded by Welshman John Hughes . Born and brought up in Merthyr, he began work as an apprentice in the Cyfarthfa ironworks, developed his own business in Newport and then London and finally, with the help of hundreds of Welsh workers, established the centre of the coal and steel industry in Ukraine – the city of Hughesovka .
Following the 1917 revolution, it became Stalino and Hughes was written out of its history but, since it changed its name again to Donetsk , the city has been prepared to acknowledge that it was founded by a Welsh capitalist and a statue has been erected to him there.
Lily Revenko became aware of Y Lolfa’s book on her city through an enquiry to the Glamorgan Record Office and its author Colin Thomas eventually managed to get a copy to her across the Ukraine/ Russia battle lines in eastern Ukraine.
Of the book, Lily said, ‘One of the strengths of the book is the combination of the past and the present - historical events and the process of making the book, a dialogue with the reader.’
The book comes with a DVD of the BBC’s three part series Hughesovka and the New Russia presented by the late Professor Gwyn Alf Williams.
‘The brave and artistic voice of Gwyn Williams does the same – you feel yourself part of the past and of the present.’ added Lily.
Over 9000 people have died in the Donetsk region since it became a centre of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in 2014. Despite what Lily Revenko calls ‘this horrible war’, she has just set her pupils a series of questions about Dreaming A City.
‘Our readers need this book – it will teach them not only about the past but also will teach them how to live in the present, how to work in a way that will make sparks fly.’ she said.
Dreaming a City by Colin Thomas (£9.95, Y Lolfa) is available now.
John Hughes statue
If you are planning to visit the annual Hay Book Festival then Talgarth is an excellent place to stay. It is no more than a 20 minute ride to the Festival site and the the Shuttle stops just outside the Castle Hotel .
But what about those days when the bustle of the Festival site and Hay town center just do not appeal? We checked out the local Tourist Information Center (manned by volunteers) and were delighted to learn that there are many longer and shorter walks in and around the town. The 20 minute walk to Pwll-y-Wrach waterfall and nature reserve is perhaps the finest amongst them.
A leaflet published by The Brecknock Wildlife Trust, who maintain the Reserve, is available from the Tourist Information Center and the following description is both useful and accurate:-
Pwll-y-Wrach (Witches’ Pool) is the Brecknock Wildlife Trust’s most visited nature reserve. Its 17.5 hectares of beautiful ancient woodland run along both banks of the River Enig. Near the eastern end of the reserve the river plunges over a spectacular waterfall into a dark pool below. The main access to the reserve is from the site’s main car park. From here an easy access path leads you in to the centre of the reserve and a small waterfall. Other paths within the reserve allow you to create a circular walk. All paths, except the easy access trail, are unsurfaced and can be very muddy and slippery at times. They can be narrow with an uneven surface and steps. Sturdy shoes or boots are recommended. The walk from the road to the main waterfall and back is about 1 mile.
The full text of the leaflet can be found here .
We elected to walk from Talgarth town center and enjoy the surrounding countryside (see photo album below). En route we passed the entrance to the Mid Wales Hospital (a former 'lunatic asylum'). This is a very creepy old place and there is no public access. It has, however, been visited by many 'urban explorers' and there are plenty of photos on this page
Once you enter the reserve the nature of your surroundings changes completely. You are enveloped by a leafy canopy of deciduous trees and accompanied by the sound of running water as the River Ennig (not much more than a stream here) flows lazily toward Talgarth a mile or so down the hill.
The waterfall itself is no Niagara Falls but it is an idyllic spot and a perfect place for relaxation, quiet contemplation or just 'staring vaguely into space'.
All in all this is the ideal location to 'decompress' after too many hectic days and beery nights at the Hay Festival.
Bronllys Castle is no more than a 10-15 minute walk from any of the hotels in Talgarth. The scant remains of the former fortress have been painstakingly preserved by Cadw to provide access to the top of the 12th century keep. This is an excellent vantage point for panoramic shots and video of both Talgarth and the ramparts of the Brecon Beacons to the south.
From the Wikipedia Bronllys Castle :- "Bronllys castle is a motte and bailey fortress standing south of the village, towards Talgarth. The castle was founded in or soon after 1144 when the district was granted to Walter de Clifford by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford. Walter seems to have been responsible for building the round tower on the motte for in 1165 it caught fire and a stone tumbling from the battlements killed Earl Roger's last surviving brother Mahel de Hereford"
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This was the thing that brought us to Hay, an invitation to come to the New Welsh Writing Awards shortlist announcement ceremony, put on by the literary magazine, the New Welsh Review. Below is their press release,with details on the event. There are also links to read the stories and to vote for the winning story, any reader can vote -
Travel Writing Prize shortlist encompasses three continents
New Welsh Review, in association with the University of South Wales and CADCentre, announced the shortlist for the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016: University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing at an event at the Hay Festival on 1 June.
Two professional writers, John Harrison and Mandy Sutter and PhD student Nathan Llywelyn Munday are now in the running for the top prize, which will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff on 7 July 2016.
The Prize celebrates the best short form travel writing (5,000-30,000 words) from emerging and established writers based in the UK and Ireland plus those who have been educated in Wales. The judges are New Welsh Review editor Gwen Davies and award winning travel writer Rory MacLean.
First prize is £1,000 cash, e-publication by New Welsh Review on their New Welsh Rarebyte imprint in 2016 and a positive critique by leading literary agent Cathryn Summerhayes at WME. Second prize is a weeklong residential course in 2016 of the winner’s choice at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre in Gwynedd, north Wales. Third prize is a weekend stay at Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, north Wales. All three winners will also receive a one-year subscription to the magazine.
The shortlist comprises two books and a long-form essay in uplifting prose set in Europe, Africa and South America. In Mandy Sutter’s ‘Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me’, a Nigerian domestic scene unfolds, where subtle and interdependent racial and class issues are seething under a tight lid. John Harrison’s book tracks the rise and fall of the pre-Columbian city of Tiwanaku in Bolivia, highest city in the ancient world and the hub of a trading empire stretching from Chile to Peru. And European creation myths are the theme in Nathan Llywelyn Munday’s map of the highs and lows of the grand narrative as he treks with his father through the Pyrenees.
The standard this year was once again so high that a further three, highly commended entries were awarded, which will all be published in extract form in the autumn edition of New Welsh Reader (112), New Welsh Review’s creative magazine, publishing on 1 September. Entrants will receive a standard fee of £170 for publication. These highly commended pieces, two long-form essays and a prose book, range from a Trans-Siberian train voyage, through explorations of home, exile and return in Ghana and Liberia, and a love story to underground springs of Mayan culture in tourist-riven Yucatan.
Shortlist
John Harrison (London, England) The Rains of Titikaka
Nathan Llywelyn Munday (Cardiff, Wales) Seven Days: A Pyrenean Trek
Mandy Sutter (Ilkley, England) Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me
Highly commended
Hannah Garrard (Norwich, England) No Situation is Permanent
Julie Owen Moylan (Cardiff, Wales) Anxiety and Wet Wipes on Train Number Four
Karen Philips (Pembrokeshire, Wales) Stranger Shores
Shortlist Showcase with Interviews, Readings and Animation, produced by Emily Roberts in partnership with Aberystwyth University: https://vimeo.com/168098992 (this will go live at 4pm on 1 June).
Last year’s winner, Eluned Gramich, whose essay Woman Who Brings the Rain: A Memoir of Hokkaido, Japan has just been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2016: The Open University in Wales Creative Non-Fiction Award. Her essay is available as a Kindle ebook (£2.99) and in print in shops throughout Wales and via gwales.com (£7.99).
New Welsh Review also announced the Best Travel Book Poll shortlist at the event. The shortlist of three titles was voted for by the public from an original longlist of 20 titles selected by co-judges Gwen Davies and Rory MacLean with nominations from the students of the University of South Wales and librarians across Wales.
Losing Israel by Jasmine Donahaye (Seren)
Wildwood: A Journey through Trees by Roger Deakin (Penguin)
A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (John Murray)
The public will now be able to vote for the winner, which will be revealed on 7 July. For more information visit http://www.newwelshwritingawards.com/best-travel-book-poll/
www.newwelshwritingawards.com #newwelshawards
For images, more details on the Prize, Travel Book Poll and for interview requests please contact Megan Farr on marketing@newwelshreview.com or 07912149249
Ceri and I are in Talgarth, Powys, in Wales attending the annual Hay Book Festival. Today we went to the festival first and then to the town of Hay-on-Wye, to wait for Niall Griffiths to arrive and meet us at the Blue Boar pub.
The town is full of people milling around window shopping, eating ice cream, a dad brought a giant bubble loop to play with his and other children in the parking lot just below the castle - a lovely pack of wild, happy, bouncing kids running and dancing after giant bubbles which floated out and over the wall of the castle grounds.
Ceri met three poets for hire, sitting at a table on the very narrow sidewalk. Selling poems they pounded out for passersby on typewriters set on rickety tables in front of them, they were surrounded and fortified by glasses of beer and cider. We decided to commission a poem for the landlady and all the other wonderful people at the Castle Hotel and this is what we got:
Ode to Talgarth
The G & T certainly helped.
Steadied me in that
Sea of writers.
I swam with ideas.
Landlady, hold the lantern on the mooring
as I approach.
I won't drip too much on the rug,
but you'll have to sit up with me a while.
( poetforhire.net - Tim Siddall, Lewis Parker, Edmund Davie)
So, Ceri and I are selfishly enjoying ourselves very much at the Hay Literary Festival and I wanted to share the festival's press release, so people who haven't heard of it or don't know much about it can find out more, below. We found that, in addition to the regular festival, they've also put on two more events collectively called "How the Light Gets In," a music event (in its second year) and a philosophy event(in its eighth year). So far we've walked all over, got to talk to Owen Sheers and Chris Keil and Alan Bilton, made it to a few events and bought some books and we saw Tony Robinson ( Black Adder and Time Team ) standing there thinking about what he was going to do next and we (ok, I) mightily refrained from racing over like an idiot squealing "Baldrick!! Baldrick!!!!!" and ruining his day.
Without further ado, Hay's press release:
Imagining the world at Hay Festival 2016
In a year of literary landmarks (Shakespeare, Cervantes, Brontë and Dahl), and on the eve of the EU referendum and US election, Hay Festival 2016 (26 May–5 June) brings Nobel Prize winners, novelists, scientists, global leaders, historians, musicians and comedians together in discussions and celebrations across more than 600 events in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
The programme, announced today and available in full at www.hayfestival.org , is diverse, pertinent and illuminating, featuring global leaders, thinkers, established talent and rising stars from across disciplines.
Hay Festival Director, Peter Florence, said:
“These are the writers and thinkers and entertainers who thrill us this year. These are the women and men who inform the debate about Europe, who are adventuring in new technologies, and who are broadening our minds; and here are the lovers of language who cheer the celebrations of William Shakespeare, the greatest writer who ever lived – the playwright who understood most about the human heart.”
From stage and screen, Oscar winner Sam Mendes will discuss his film-making; Russell T Davies talks about his latest project alongside actress Maxine Peake , who also appears with Paapa Essiedu to discuss Hamlet; legendary screenwriter Andrew Davies talks about his adaptation of War and Peace ; Jojo Moyes previews the new film adaptation of Me Before You ; the stars of Poldark appear; and actor Brian Blessed , travel legend Michael Palin , and music superstar Tom Jones discuss their careers. Plus Letters Live returns with a cast comprised of Olivia Colman , Tom Hollander , Louise Brealey , Toby Jones , Mark Strong and Kelvin Jones .
William Shakespeare is celebrated across the festival site with events starring leading figures from books, stage and screen. Simon Schama, James Shapiro, Germaine Greer, Gillian Clarke and others discuss his impact, while Howard Jacobson, Jeanette Winterson, and Tracy Chevalier discuss their recent retellings. See #TalkingaboutShakespeare for details of more than 80 events.
The festival’s own commemoration, a special project linked to the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, will be unveiled in a special event strand – Lunatics, Lovers and Poets – led by Salman Rushdie , Kamila Shamsie , Valeria Luiselli and Juan Gabriel Vásquez . Outside the festival site, Hay Festival: Talking About Shakespeare is a digital platform sharing ideas on Shakespeare in this anniversary year, with a wider audience.
Three weeks before the 23 June EU referendum, the festival places a magnifying glass on the main issues, with discussions led by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown ; former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis ; former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King ; and former advisor to David Cameron, Steve Hilton . As ever, the festival also incorporates a wider global affairs strand, with the US election, Russian resurgence, and the Middle East looming large, led by panellists including: Nobel Literature Laureate Svetlana Alexievich , former deputy head of NATO Richard Shirreff , former head of the CIA and NSA Michael V Hayden , and Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi .
From radiation to ribosomes, a range of prize-winning scientists offers a look at the frontiers of our discovery. Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Venki Ramakrishnan , gives the Royal Society Lecture, on unravelling the ribosome; science writer Kat Arney talks about the language of genes; Hannah Crichtlow explores the depths of the human brain; and Professor Timothy J Jorgensen gives the story of radiation. The first female winner of The Royal Society’s book prize, Gaia Vince , charts our new geological age: the Athropocene; and Marcus du Sautoy discusses the limits of what we can know, in the John Maddox Lecture.
Stars from book and screen celebrate the great outdoors, including Kate Humble , Monty Don and Chris Packham , while the past is revisited in talks from Tom Holland , Max Hastings , Jonathan Dimbleby , Philippe Sands and many more. Meanwhile, business leaders including BP CEO John Browne and household name Emma Bridgewater appear alongside a host of big thinkers including philosopher AC Grayling , mental health campaigner Ruby Wax , journalist Caitlin Moran and Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates .
The backbone of the festival remains a rich picking of discussions around the best new fiction from established names and rising stars, including Salman Rushdie ( Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights ), Edna O’Brien ( The Little Red Chairs ), Fay Weldon ( Before the War ), James Runcie ( Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation ), Joanne Harris ( Different Class ), Rose Tremain ( The Gustav Sonata ), Graham Swift ( Mothering Sunday ), Harry Parker ( Anatomy of a Soldier ), Melvyn Bragg ( Now is the Time ), Thomas Keneally ( Napolean’s Last Island ), Valeria Luiselli ( The Story of My Teeth ), Peter Carey ( Amnesia: A Novel ), Tahmima Anam ( The Bones of Grace ), Mark Haddon ( The Pier Falls ), Jonathan Coe ( Number 11 ), Marina Lewycka ( The Lubetkin Legacy ), James Runcie ( The Grantchester Mysteries ), S J Parris ( Conspiracies ) plus BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, who launches his debut novel Blood and Sand ; and Alain de Botton offers his first novel in 20 years ( The Course of Love ).
A series of unique pairings will also draw crowds, including Irvine Welsh ( The Blade Artist ) in conversation with 2015 Man Booker winner Marlon James ( A Brief History of Seven Killings ), and David Mitchell ( The Bone Clocks ) in conversation with Sjon ( Moonstone, The Boy Who Never Was ).
To balance the serious discussions, a rich strand of comedy and music will once again fill festival tents, with internationally acclaimed comedians taking the stage, including Sarah Millican , Marcus Brigstocke , Dara Ó Briain , Sara Pascoe , Isy Suttie , and the Olivier Award-winning improvised musical Showstoppers , plus music headlined by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega ; English singer-songwriters Billy Bragg and Laura Marling ; Scottish superstar K T Tunstall ; Indie rockers Turin Brakes ; and Sengalese sensation Baaba Maal . In a grand finale to our 29th festival, the Welsh legends Bryn Terfel and Rebecca Evans give a concert of solos and duets by Purcell, Mozart, Obradors, Clara Schumann, Finzi, Quilter and Meirion Williams.
A newly named children’s programme – HAYDAYS – offers a range of activities and events for families and young adults led by some of the biggest names in children’s writing including Julia Donaldson , Jacqueline Wilson , Malorie Blackman , Chris Riddell , Michael Morpurgo , Cressida Cowell , and CBBC’s Sam and Mark , plus YA superstars Frances Hardinge , Holly Smale , Juno Dawson , Patrick Ness , and vlogging sensation Caspar Lee , who will discuss the power of social media and his unexpected life at the heart of it.
Meanwhile, the festival opens with two days of free programming for primary and secondary students, funded by the Hay Educational Trust and the Welsh Government, while the new education hub Hay Compass hosts a series of new initiatives including Hay Levels Live – a chance for A Level students to grill the experts on topics from Maths to Shakespeare.
Beyond the main stages is a whole host of activities for all ages to discover and enjoy, from the best local food and drink, creative workshops and artists’ exhibitions, to a blockbuster programme of free BBC events and the opportunity to explore the stunning countryside surrounding the festival site.
For the full line-up, and to book tickets, visit hayfestival.org or call the box office on 01497 822 629.
Keep up to date with Hay Festival’s news by signing up to the newsletter here or follow them on Twitter: @HayFestival and Facebook: HayFestival .
Hay Festival brings writers and readers together to inspire, examine and entertain at its festivals around the world. Nobel Prize-winners and novelists, scientists and politicians, historians and musicians talk with audiences in a dynamic exchange of ideas. Hay Festival’s global conversation shares the latest thinking in the arts and sciences with curious audiences live, in print and digitally. Hay Festival also runs wide programmes of education work supporting coming generations of writers and culturally hungry audiences of all ages. Join us to imagine the world.
Acclaimed author, actor and writer Stephen Fry is President of the organisation; Peter Florence is Director; and Caroline Michel , CEO of leading literary and talent agency Peters Fraser and Dunlop, is Chair of the festival board.
Established around a kitchen table in 1987, the organisation now reaches a global audience of thousands every year and continues to grow and innovate, building partnerships and initiatives alongside some of the leading bodies in arts and the media, including global partners the BBC, ACW, TATA, British Council and LSE; friends of Hay Festival the Daily Telegraph, Visit Wales, Baillie Gifford, Oxfam, and Good Energy; and international partners Wales Arts International, AC/E, Embassy of Chile, Embassy of Colombia, and the Embassy of Mexico.
Hay Festival Wales takes place from 26 May–5 June 2016 in the beautiful setting of the Wye Valley. In May 2017, Hay Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
