Hay Festival

Hay Festival brings readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events around the world. The festivals inspire, examine and entertain, inviting participants to imagine the world as it is and as it might be. Nobel Prize-winners and novelists, scientists and politicians, historians and musicians talk with audiences in a dynamic exchange of ideas. Hay Festival’s global conversation shares the latest thinking in the arts and sciences with curious audiences live, in print and digitally. Hay Festival also runs wide programmes of education work supporting coming generations of writers and culturally hungry audiences of all ages. In the frame of Wom@rts project there will be 12 Hay Festival editions:

Hay Festival Segovia, Spain (17-20 September 2020)

Three of the most engaging writers in Europe: Edurne Portela (Spain), Janne Teller (Denmark) and Karolina Ramqvist (Sweden) take part in the Hay Festival Europa28 project and anthology, which brings together 28 women writers, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs, one from each EU country, to convey their visions of the future of Europe through fiction or essay capturing a multidisciplinary snapshot of several of today’s most interesting minds. They speak with the writer and journalist Giles Tremlett. Furthermore, the city of Rijeka in Croatia, European Capital of Culture 2020, will host an edition of the Hay Festival in Rijeka from October 5 to 9, 2020 with these 28 outstanding authors.

Hay Festival Wales, UK (18-31 May 2020)

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias (30 January-2 February 2020)
Coming soon…

Hay Festival Arequipa, Peru (7-10 November 2019)
The fifth Hay Festival edition in Arequipa had conversations spanning global politics, gender equality, biodiversity and life in space, with WOMARTS-supported appearances by Hay Festival Europa28 star Leïla Slimani, Almudena Grandes, Sophie Hughes and Karina Sainz.

Hay Festival Segovia, Spain (19-22 September 2019)
Spanish author Elia Barceló, British-Mexian writer Valeria Luiselli, Italian writer and journalist Paola del Vecchio, and translator, writer and journalist Monika Zgustova appeared in WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Segovia 2019, discussing everything from the power of fiction to the future of the EU.

Hay Festival Querétaro, Mexico (5-8 September 2019)
British documentary maker Kate Horne, journalist Gaby Wood, historian Sarah Churchwell, and Spanish poets Elvira Sastre and Andrea Valbuena appeared in WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Queretaro 2019, analysing topics from migration to Trump’s America.

Hay Festival Wales (23 May-2 June 2019)
The 32d Hay Festival in Wales saw the official launch of the WOMARTS-supported Hay Festival Europa28 project with four of the 28 participating writers – Leïla Slimani, Kapka Kassabova, Janne Teller and Hilary Cottam – discussing their contributions to the new project in events throughout the week.

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (31 January-3 February 2019)
Things got interactive at WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Cartagena 2019 as French buddhist nun Kankyo Tannier led meditation workshops, British artist Sarah Corbett talked craftivism, and Spanish poet and artist Luna Miguel led creative workshops.

Hay Festival Arequipa, Peru (8-11 November 2018)
#FakeNews and feminism were centre-stage at WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Arequipa 2018. British BBC journalist Kirsty Lang debated #FakeNews, bestselling novelist Helen Fielding discussed her life in books, British Historian Andrea Wulf launched her latest work on Alexander von Humboldt, and Spanish poet and illustrator Paula Bonet exhibited her work.

Hay Festival Segovia, Spain (20-23 September 2018)
Coexistence and the role of art were debated at WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Segovia as British writers Sarah Hall and Julianne Pachico showcased their latest work, Spanish poet and writer Luna Miguel talked about the Spanish language, and Spanish writer Clara Usón’s launched her novel El asesino tímido.

Hay Festival Querétaro, Mexico (6-9 September 2018)
Literature and illustration merged at WOMARTS-supported events during Hay Festival Querétaro as Spanish illustrator María Hesse joined a blockbuster panel to talk #MeToo, Italian writer Andrea Marcolongo presented her latest work, and award-winning British writer Jeanette Winterson talked about gender equality in the arts.

Hay Festival Wales, UK (24 May – 3 June 2018)
Journalism, Armistice and poetry were centre-stage at WOMARTS-supported events during the 31st Hay Festival in Wales. Maltese journalist Caroline Muscat talked to the BBC’s Europe Editor Katya Adler, Austrian poet Evelyn Schlag joined Margaret Atwood in commemorating the centenary of the Armistice of 1918, and Spanish novelist Alicia Kopf discussed her latest novel.

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (25-28 January 2018)
The 13th Hay Festival event in Cartagena saw WOMARTS-supported participation from inspiring women artists and writers including Spain’s Mariana Torres, British writer Fiona Mozley, Irish author Lisa McInerney, and French journalist Lauren Bastide, who discussed issues from fiction writing to global affairs.