90,000 Make Hay (even when the sun doesn’t shine)

 

2008 marked the 21st anniversary of the world renowned literary festival in the tiny mid-Wales town of Hay-on-Wye. Located on the river at the foot of the black mountains, Hay is a beautiful little market town that feels slightly aloof. The sign on entering Hay reads ‘Town of Books’, a boast backed up by the 31 book shops in the town, that’s 1 for every 60 residents.

 

    The Hay festival, sponsored by the Guardian and visited by an estimated 90,000 people from around the world, started out as a small gathering of book enthusiasts funded by a poker win. Some will say the festival has evolved and improved since the early days when the speaker meetings were held in the various pubs in the town, others will argue that the machine has bulldozed this secret little haven into a large, corporate event. Most though, would agree that there is nothing else like this festival at present, and it’s growth over the years has attracted Nobel prize winners, former US presidents and the biggest names in UK publishing, both books and magazines.

 

    The festival runs for 10 days, and in the 3 that I was present, big names include recently ousted Prime Minister’s wife and feminist QC, Cherie Blair, Ex-US president and keen Human Rights champion, Jimmy Carter, controversial The Fall frontman, Mark E Smith, and recently single, Salman Rushdie, to name but a few. There was world music (including cult Malian band Tinariwen), comedy (not just on the official bill, but a fringe festival too), art exhibitions (including a piece started by Jon Burgeman which the public were encouraged to contribute to), yoga sessions (including animal yoga positions for the kids), and dance workshops (everything from traditional ballet to urban hip hop).The intellectual morsels on offer were eclectic and intriguing; politics, food, war, alternative therapy, mortality, religion and history, there is something to satisfy even the most picky palate at Hay.

 

    Also spotted: a circus in a field on the way out of Hay; big queues for Vietnamese coffee in the castle courtyard; 2 chickens and a sheep in hutches and the poshest portaloos I’ve ever seen. English weather is notoriously unpredictable, especially when there’s a festival taking place it would seem, but the setting and the unpredictable weather gave rise to a definite sense that anything could happen. Indeed, I watched the rigging in the tents with not a small amount of unease at times. But Saturday was gorgeous, and people were making full use of the small grass courtyard, peppered with canvas sun loungers in the centre of it all.
    The Guardian have covered the event pretty much faultlessly, and I would urge you to read the write-ups and watch the podcasts if you didn’t make it to Hay this year. But I will give a run-down of a few of my favourites which will be posted here over the coming weeks.