Hay Festival has today launched #IMAGINETHEWORLD, a global series of new digital initiatives to connect, inspire and entertain book lovers and home learners in isolated times.
Launched this week, the new Hay Festival Podcast gives free access to conversations with the greatest writers and thinkers from Hay Festival events globally, supported by Baillie Gifford. Available on all the major podcasting feeds, series 1 kicks off with Hay Festival president Stephen Fry in conversation with East West Street author Philippe Sands, while upcoming guests include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hilary Mantel, Naomi Klein, Caitlin Moran and more.
Hay Player offers full digital access to the full Hay Festival archive of video and audio from the past 33 years, with new guest curations and themed playlists from Festival writers and performers. Users can sign up for a one-year subscription for £10 at hayfestival.org/hayplayer.
Film from the Festival’s Programme for Schools events for KS 2,3 and 4 pupils is now available for free. Co-funded by the Welsh Government, the free films offer teachers and families the chance to enjoy sessions featuring Cressida Cowell, Julian Clary, David Baddiel, Ade Adepitan, Patrice Lawrence, the STEMETTES and more, along with detailed teaching materials for those learning at home.
Programme for Schools sessions supplement the Festival’s wider digital content for learners that includes free Hay Levels films in which Festival experts from a range of disciplines offer bite-sized inspiration for A-Level students, and Talking About Shakespeare where actors and academics, playwrights and directors, poets and novelists give insight into Shakespeare’s contemporary resonance .
The first fully digital Hay Festival will take place online throughout May, bringing writers and readers together in webinars, workshops and live social media Q&As. Featuring highlights from the now cancelled spring edition, including a live Programme for Schools, the full schedule of events will be revealed soon.
Peter Florence, director of Hay Festival, said: “We are humbled and amazed at the support we’ve had over the past three weeks, and we are committed to bringing the Festival to people in their own homes in new digital ways . It’s going to be a while before we can all gather together again in our green field. Until then we’ll be here online, with stories and ideas and a conversation that we want everyone to be able to join.”
The announcement follows the cancellation of the planned physical Festival a fortnight ago due to Coronavirus / Covid-19, which was followed by the launch of an ongoing fundraising campaign to secure the Festival’s future. Donations to the Festival can be made at www.hayfestival.org/wales/support-us.
Hay Festival is the world’s leading festival of ideas, bringing readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events. It generates around £25m for the local economy each year, in one of the lowest income parts of the UK, while outreach work from the free Programme for Schools and Beacons Project, to Hay Academy and Hay Compass, inspires tens of thousands of young people.
Hay Festival Winter Weekend is scheduled to take place in Hay-on-Wye later this year, 27-29 November, while Hay Festival 2021 will take place 27 May-6 June.
