Hay Festival of Literature & Arts
If you're a book lover, make sure you don't miss the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in the small town of Hay-on-Wye. This year, it's happening from Saturday 24 - Saturday 31 May.
The festival started in 1987 by Peter Florence for a few 'like minded friends' to gather in the Welsh countryside for a weekend of literary relaxation. It's now grown to become the biggest book and literary festival in the world, and has expanded to include musical performances and film previews - Bill Clinton described it as 'The Woodstock of the mind'.
Every year the Hay Festival has a star line-up, which in the past has included Sir Paul McCartney, David Attenborough, Al Gore, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and of course, Bill Clinton. These guests, plus the host of other writers, musicians and comedians, draw crowds of over 130,000 people to the small border town.
This year's guests include opera star Katherine Jenkins, Jamie Oliver, former US President Jimmy Carter, Cherie Booth (Tony Blair's wife), comedians Omid Djalili, Jimmy Carr and Ken Dodd and authors including Salman Rushdie, Jacqueline Wilson, Ian McEwan and John Irving.
Hey-on-Wye is the perfect host town for the festival - it's known as the 'second hand book capital of the world', boasting over 30 major bookshops and the largest second hand book centre in the world. So while you're there, why not take some time out to explore the Honesty bookshop in the castle grounds?
A children's festival, 'Hay Fever' runs alongside the main festival, and it's also expanded internationally to Cartagena in Colombia and Segovia in Spain.
For more information, visit Hay Festival of Literature & Arts (www.hayfestival.com/wales/default.aspx).
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