Hay Festival unveils 2022 line-up with Evaristo, Ali and Galgut

The Hay Festival has unveiled a packed 2022 programme of more than 500 events headlined by authors such as Bernadine Evaristo, Monica Ali and Damon Galgut in its first in-person spring event since 2019.

The festival runs from 26th May to 5th June and will, according to organisers, launch the best new fiction and non-fiction while offering insights and debating major topics of global importance. 

Award-winning writers, policymakers, pioneers and innovators are set to take part from around the world, seeking solutions “to the biggest issues of our time, from the climate crisis to global conflicts”, said organisers.

Lectures will be delivered by the likes of Michael Rosen (Aneurin Bevan Lecture), David Olusoga (Raymond Williams Lecture), Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf (Christopher Hitchens Lecture), and Fernanda Melchor and Sophie Hughes (Anthea Bell Lecture), while major anniversaries and new festival projects will be marked throughout the programme.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, for example, will be explored with a series of conversations featuring Nicola Sturgeon, Evaristo and others, on the subject of women and power. “Imagine…” discussions with A C Grayling, Elif Shafak, Simon Schama will blend writers and thinkers on some of the biggest global issues of the moment, from democracy and equality to science and nature, while the festival’s "10@10" series will showcase debut writers at 10am each day on site. 

Leading poets and performers will share new work, and old favourites such as Allie Esiri presents an afternoon of poetry with Inua Ellams, Stephen Fry, David Harewood, Simone Kirby, Damian Lewis, Theresa Lola, Lesley Sharp and Lemn Sissay. A new partnership with Publishing Wales spotlights Welsh publishers and their work on the global stage. 

Winners of the Hay Festival Medals 2022 will also be celebrated on stage. Awarded annually since Britain’s Olympic year in 2012, the medals draw inspiration from the original Olympic medal given for poetry. Past winners include Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, George Monbiot, John le Carré, Laura Marling, Emerald Fennell and Ahdaf Soueif.

Fundraising on site will take place throughout the festival in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal via Cup Return recycling points, along with proceeds from a special section of the festival bookshop dedicated to Ukrainian literature.

Hay Festival international director Cristina Fuentes La Roche said: “We’re delighted to be gathering in our booktown with a vibrant programme to imagine the world anew. It’s been 35 years since writers and readers started sharing their stories together in our festival tents and we have never needed these stories more urgently. During the day our conversations and debates will tackle some of the biggest issues of the moment, and in the evenings we’ll laugh and dance together again.”

Dawn Bowden, Welsh Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, added: “It’s such excellent news that we are now seeing a return to in-person events. I’m delighted that we can continue with our sponsorship of the Wales Stage / Llwyfan Cymru—which has hosted hundreds of events over the last two years. Although we haven’t been able to welcome international visitors to Wales to enjoy Hay Festival itself, we have succeeded in showcasing Wales to international audiences. We look forward to welcoming our audiences back.”