The Hay Festival is a leading international celebration of literature, arts, and culture. Through its unique festivals in Wales and around the world, it brings together diverse voices in the literature sector to debate, create, inspire and entertain.
We partner with Hay Festivals – both at their annual event in Wales and through their international festivals – to facilitate introductions, strengthen cultural ties and promote UK-international literary exchanges.
At Hay Festival in Wales we host networking events and support events featuring writers and speakers from different parts of the world, and through Hay Festival's global series, we bring the work of UK authors and thinkers to an international audience.
Recent events have featured writers and speakers from Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Kenya and the UK.
Hay Festival global
Discover the latest programme of festivals around the world that bring together diverse voices from the worlds of art, literature, science, politics, music and comedy.
Recent highlights
Hay Festival Wales 2024
We supported a selected programme of events featuring writers and speakers from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, including Sylvia Vasquez-Lavado, Aura García-Junco, Wanjiru Koinange, Lola Shoneyin and Velia Vidal. We supported events with three novelists listed in the renowned 'Granta Best of Young British Novelists' list 2023: Sarah Bernstein, Isabella Hammad and Eley Williams, and celebrated the launch of a new partnership between Hay Festival and Book Bunk in Kenya to host the NBO Lit Fest in Nairobi.
Find out more about Granta's Best of Young British Novelists
The Americas
In May 2023, we renewed our collaboration with Hay Festivals in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia with a three-year programme on the topic of equity, gender and sexual identity, featuring:
- Mexico: Andrea Wulf, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Carissa Véliz, and Isabella Hammad.
- Peru: Karrie Fransman, Lola Shoneyin, Emma Graham Harrison, and Eley Williams.
- Colombia: Katy Hessell, David Olusoga and Ruby Wax.
The focus for 2024-25 will be on equity, race and ethnicity.
NBO Lit Fest Kenya 2024
NBO Lit Fest, hosted by Hay Festival in collaboration with Book Bunk, took place in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2024.
The festival aimed to unite writers and readers through an ambitious programme of conversations and performances, promoting free expression and cultural exchange. As part of our UK/Kenya Season, we supported events bringing together writers and speakers from Kenya, Latin America, and the UK, exploring the role of festivals in addressing global challenges.
Watch a discussion from NBO LitFest 2024
We need new narratives: the African in the diasporas
with Aminatta Forna, Taiye Selasi and Ndinda Kioko with Mercy Juma
Join British writer of Scottish and Sierra Leonean ancestry, Aminatta Forna OBE; American writer and photographer of Nigerian and Ghanaian origin, Taiye Selasi and Kenyan author and Global Press Journal editor Ndinda Kioko as they dissect their refusal to be pigeonholed and the multi-hyphenated career paths that allows for.
See also
Tags:
- Art Form: Literature
- Region: Americas Europe Sub-Saharan Africa