Hay Festival

 The Hay Festival programme is out online now, and I've been looking through it.

The printed catalogue usually takes a bit longer to come out, and they're trying to cut down on the quantities for sustainability - it uses a lot of paper.

The first thing I noticed is that I've never seen so many Doctor Who actors on the programme before!

Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor) will be reading A Kestrel for a Knave for BBC radio, along with Alex Kingston (River Song) who is reading Frankenstein, Sacha Dhawan (the Master) reading 1984, and Reece Shearsmith (several Dr Who roles plus William Shakespeare and Furfur the demon in Good Omens) reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Meanwhile Russell Tovey (War Between the Land and Sea) is talking about contemporary art for kids.

Juno Dawson, who has written for Doctor Who, will be in conversation with local drag queen Boo La Croux. 

Local personalities include Barbara Erskine talking about Lady of Hay, the book that started her successful career, and Derek Addyman and Anne Brichto are being interviewed about the history of Hay as a Book Town.  Catrin Nye, the daughter of my neighbour when I lived in Broad Street, is interviewing Claudia Hammond.  And the Hay Shantymen will be singing on the Festival site.  The Beefy Boys are doing some cooking events, too, and Lucky Seven Brewery will be providing the drinks for another foodie event with Wild by Nature and their charcuterie. 

The big names for the Festival this year are all women: Gisèle Pelicot, Malala Yousafzai, and Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.  

There are also local walks, tours of Hay Castle, children's authors like Cressida Cowell, archaeology with Alice Roberts, astronomy with Sheila Kanani, the MUBI cinema showing films ranging from Buster Keaton's The General to Bright Young Things to Orlando with Tilda Swanton, Natalie Haynes talking about Jason of the Argonauts and Medea, historians like Anthony Beevor and James Holland, and lots more.

Some of the events are already sold out.