Hay-on-Wye’s world-famous book festival is just around the corner… And as ever, the 2025 programme is packed with brilliant events for all kinds of readers.
We’ve gathered up some of the Welsh authors and events we’re excited to see this year, and which are still available to book. Including some fantastic poets, musicians, broadcasters, and our own Issue 001 contributors Jay Griffiths, Durre Shahwar and Anthony Shapland – not to mention exciting readings from this year’s Writers at Work cohort.
Folding Rock Magazine will be available to buy throughout Hay festival in the bookshop tent, and we’ll be sharing spotlight interviews with each of this year’s Writers at Work on our website over the coming weeks. We’re excited to be part of the festival this year, and to see so many talented Welsh voices (including those already sold out!) amongst yet another stellar programme of speakers.
Scroll down and explore some of our picks – including links to book your tickets – below.
Two bird enthusiasts take us under their wing in this celebration of our feathered friends and our relationship with them.
Our birds face climate threat and decline in biodiversity, and their call has in many ways fallen silent. Join Gower and Nicolson in conversation with presenter, actress and author Anni Llŷn, to find out more about the inhabitants of our skies and what can be done to restore their soundtrack.
Tickets Robert Mcfarlane talks to Horatio Clare | Is a River Alive?From Ecuador and India to Canada, writer Robert Macfarlane explores the ancient idea that rivers are living beings; an idea that has taken on new relevance and urgency as we face a planet battling the effects of climate change. Sharing stories and insights from his new book Is a River Alive?, Macfarlane shifts our perspective, making us see that our fate is tied into that of our rivers. In conversation with the Welsh writer and broadcaster, Horatio Clare.
TicketsHow can we protect ourselves from the pollution, chemicals and toxins that pervade our environment? And how important is nature to our lives? Proponent of Ecological Medicine Dr Jenny Goodman, nature connections researcher, writer and Issue 001 contributor Durre Shahwar and Oxford Professor of Biodiversity Kathy Willis connect the health of our planet with our own well-being.
TicketsGain a unique and heartfelt insight into the healing nature of our relationship with animals from Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental Journey, Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape and Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time.
She discusses the evidence showing that animals can heal us, drawing on Indigenous knowledge, scientific discoveries and history to explore how animals can have a role in every level of healing, from the individual to the collective.
In conversation with writer, editor, producer and Folding Rock founder Kathryn Tann, Griffiths tells stories from her new book How Animals Heal Us, including that of a pot-bellied pig who saved her owner’s life, and lions who guarded a girl from kidnappers.
TicketsIs the myth that there is no Welsh art really true? Peter Lord doesn’t think so, and in a new exhibition at the National Library of Wales he’s combined his substantial collection with items from the National Art Collection at the National Library of Wales for the first time in order to tell the story of Welsh art and artists.
Lord punches back at the allegation made by Dr Llewelyn Wyn Griffith in the 1950s that there is no Welsh art, and talks through some of his collection of art and artefacts.
TicketsJoin the Aberystwyth Book Club live at Hay Festival for a chance to earwig on the book club team as they dive into their latest pick. Recorded for BBC Radio Wales.
Drop-in event
Come and experience the magical, progressive sound of Cerys Hafana, from Machynlleth, Wales, where rivers and roads meet on the way to the sea. She’s won over audiences from Green Man to the Eisteddfod and from BBC 6 Music Festival to Celtic Connections.
Hafana is a Welsh triple harpist and composer who mangles, mutates and transforms traditional music. She explores the creative possibilities and unique qualities of the triple harp, and incorporates found sounds, archival materials and electronic processing.
TicketsThe Bafta-winning co-creator of Gavin and Stacey, and the Richard & Judy Book Club author of Love Untold, brings her joyful and life-affirming new novel By Your Side to Hay Festival, in this conversation with journalist and former BBC correspondent Julia Wheeler.
Linda and Levi will never meet. But they’re going to change each other’s lives. Linda investigates the lives of those who’ve died alone and tracks down any living relatives. She’s been a friend to the friendless for the past 33 years, and now she’s looking forward to early retirement. But before she hangs up her lanyard, Linda must take on one last case – that of Levi, a Welshman who’d made his home on a remote Scottish island.
TicketsJoin the novelist and screenwriter as she launches her haunting new novel. A boundary-pushing thriller told through the lens of a lyrical family drama, The House of Water is both unsettling and thought-provoking.
Placing that key in the lock was the last ordinary moment of her life. Iona returns home one evening to find her family murdered and her father missing. Her home is entirely submerged in water. An unnamed girl lies dead in her bed. As the police declare her father the main suspect, Iona is forced to confront how much she really knew about the man who raised her. Hidden in the fragments of her father’s final manuscript, recovered from the flood, an unimaginable secret slowly rises to the surface.
TicketsHay’s own Festival bookseller and author of Do Not Call the Tortoise returns to the stage to discuss his new book, which offers a quietly revolutionary perspective on our surroundings with the help of poets, trees, cats (of course), John Lennon and, most of all, an openness to wonder. It raises many questions, and even answers some of them. How can a cat be a portal to the universe? Why did our ancestors make cave paintings? Who is Mr Bun? And, above all, what is it that your lowly hedgehog knows? Howell-Jones speaks to poet and author Owen Sheers.
TicketsJoin much-loved actor and activist Michael Sheen for a family event to launch A Home for Spark the Dragon – a heartwarming story about the importance of finding a home, written in association with national home and homelessness charity Shelter. When Spark the dragon wakes up and finds a storm has destroyed his nest, he tries to find a new place to live. But Spark soon discovers that a house needs more than just walls to feel like home. Will he ever find the right place for him?
TicketsUntil now, poet Gwyneth Lewis has kept the story of her painful upbringing at the hands of a coercive and controlling mother to herself. In her memoir Nightshade Mother, the inaugural National Poet of Wales shares her story through revisiting her childhood diaries and looking back on her younger years.
Lewis talks to broadcaster and presenter of A Good Read, Harriett Gilbert.
TicketsIn this special edition of BBC Radio Wales‘ Arts Show, join Gary Raymond and guests to reflect on Hay Festival 2025.
Free – drop in
Two acclaimed Welsh authors discuss their work with the National Poet of Wales. Claire’s Welsh Giants, Ghosts & Goblins was Waterstones Welsh Book of the Year 2024. She mixes stories from all parts of Wales, reimagined through her own, idiosyncratic lens, with the character of Idris the Giant weaving them together.
TicketsDive into the hidden history of man-made remains found in the Welsh Uplands, in this event perfect for enthusiasts of history, archaeology and landscape.
Historian Richard Hayman acts as our guide to everything from Neolithic chambered tombs to the World Heritage landscapes of Blaenavon and the North Wales slate industry, illuminating the fascinating, under-appreciated and hidden history and archaeology of the Welsh mountains.
TicketsHow do we ensure our rivers are clean and nature is restored for future generations?
How do we get ahead of long-term trends that threaten to make the NHS unsustainable?
How can we safeguard our culture and heritage for our children and grandchildren?
When we look around at the world we are leaving behind for future generations – is this the best we can do?
This year marks the tenth anniversary of landmark legislation in Wales requiring public bodies to consider the long-term impact of their decisions on social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being. Our panel will take a look at the impact of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 in Wales, what successes and setbacks there have been, and how this pioneering legislation has influenced countries around the world as well as the UN.
TicketsOne hundred years after his birth, what is Richard Burton’s legacy? Mr Burton, the 2025 biopic starring Harry Lawtey, Toby Jones and Lesley Manville, fictionalises the early life of the beloved Welsh actor. Set in 1940s Port Talbot, the film tells the extraordinary true story of the relationship between a schoolmaster named Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy, Richard Jenkins, who dreamed of becoming an actor. Mr Burton recognised his pupil’s raw talent, and made it his mission to fight for him, becoming his tutor, strict taskmaster and eventually his adoptive father…
The film’s director Marc Evans, producer Ed Talfan and screenwriters Tom Bullough and Josh Hyams discuss the Welsh acting Titan and the making of their production, showing clips from the film.
TicketsCome and listen to this year’s celebrated Hay Festival Writers at Work. This thrilling 2025 group of ten Welsh writers will share new fiction and poetry, in English and Cymraeg.
In partnership with Literature Wales and Folding Rock. Supported by Arts Council of Wales through National Lottery funding.
Free but ticketed. Another session is also being held on Saturday 31st.
TicketsAwarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Dylan Thomas Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms. On the Prize’s 20th anniversary, join us to celebrate the 2025 winner in conversation with Elaine Canning, writer and Dylan Thomas Prize Director.
TicketsExplore the rich national story of Wales and its dynamic relationship with the English borderlands. From medieval conflicts to modern-day connections, this panel delves into the people, places and politics that define Wales and its borders.
Celebrate the breadth of Welsh identity through storytelling and poetry, and explore its shared heritage with England.
TicketsDefending freedom of expression, a central principle of any democratic society, is a main goal of the global PEN network, which was joined by Wales PEN Cymru in 2014. But what does freedom of speech mean in today’s divided world? Three writers and free speech advocates discuss the concept with poet and academic Mererid Hopwood.
TicketsTravel writer Horatio Clare and investigative journalist Nicola Kelly speak about Britain’s intentionally hostile immigration system and the many people working to counteract it, with author and environmental campaigner Ben Rawlence. This event will leave you with new perspectives on one of the most urgent issues of our time.
TicketsMusicians Cerys Matthews and Arun Ghosh present an extraordinary exploration of the worlds and words of the late, great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
Welsh singer-songwriter and Thomas fan Matthews – whose Sunday morning show is the biggest single show on Radio 6 – takes us on a tour of Llareggubb, the fictional seaside village of Under Milk Wood, with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Ghosh accompanying on clarinet and harmonium. In this magical evening, the pair bring to life characters including Captain Cat and Nogood Boyo from Under Milk Wood, celebrating one of Thomas’ best known works through a mix of storytelling and music.
TicketsA Room Above a Shop is set in South Wales during the decade of Section 28. Against the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS crisis and all its accompanying moral judgement, this is a resonant love story about two men working together in an ironmonger’s shop and sharing a room upstairs. It’s a life they’d never imagined possible and one that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.
Tickets For the complete 2025 event programme go to hayfestival.com.Join our mailing list for fresh news and updates from Folding Rock Magazine
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