Hay Festival Education’s Scribblers Cymraeg will bring writers direct to Year 7–9 pupils across Wales this autumn with workshops at Wrexham University, Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, Swansea University and Cardiff University, 3–7 November 2025.
Free for local state schools, Scribblers Cymraeg Welsh language events tie in with the Welsh Government ambition to have one million Welsh speakers living in Wales by 2050.
Poet Aneirin Karadog will host this year’s tour with workshops delivered by acclaimed writers Anni Llŷn and Mel Owen, while staff from each university will also deliver creative Welsh writing sessions and campus tours.
Sessions will also be extended to second-language Welsh pupils at Swansea University on Thursday 6 November in a special day of workshops run in association with Reaching Wider, a partnership of universities, schools and colleges in Wales working to improve social mobility.
Schools can sign up to take part in the free events now here.
Scribblers Cymraeg and the English-language Scribblers Tour held earlier in the year both aim to engage and encourage the next generation in storytelling and conversation, inspiring empathy and creativity. Now in their 14th year, the tours give pupils a chance to engage with their nearest universities and experience life on campus too.
Hay Festival, one of the world’s leading cultural charities, was founded in Hay-on-Wye, Wales in 1987, providing audiences with dynamic platforms to come together to share ideas, different perspectives and provoke conversations that can create a better world.
Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said:
“Culture is a shared asset. By taking writers direct to pupils all over Wales in free, creative workshops, Scribblers Cymraeg aims to widen access to Festival inspiration while prompting a love of literature at an early age. As decreasing literacy levels impact the prospects of young people across Wales, Hay Festival Education projects offer hope – inviting young people to explore their creativity, engage in fresh conversations, and discover new ways to express themselves and inspire their creative identities.”
Poet and Scribblers Cymraeg host Aneirin Karadog said:
“Through the medium of Welsh, Scribblers Cymraeg has given rise to unique and far-reaching experiences for thousands of pupils. The opportunity to get involved with literature and creativity, making use of language resources in the pupils’ heads, has shown them that literature is not something dry that only belongs to books and the school, but rather, something alive and accessible, which enables us to put the imagination to work, giving expression to feelings and experiences. And it offers a huge amount of fun in the process!”
Hay Festival Education’s Scribblers Cymraeg 2025 is funded by the Moondance Foundation and forms part of Hay Festival’s wider outreach and education work that includes the free schools programmes at Festivals, and Hay Festival Academy in the UK.
Audiences can support Hay Festival’s growing education and outreach work by becoming a Festival Member, or joining the Festival Patrons, Benefactors or Chair’s Circle here.
About the speakers:
Aneirin Karadog is a poet and performer. Bardd Plant Cymru (Children’s Poet of Wales) 2013–2015, he writes mainly in Cymraeg. He speaks five languages and has been known to rap in a previous life.
Anni Llŷn is an author, poet and a presenter. She’s worked on a variety of projects for children and young people in education and entertainment.
Mel Owen is a comedian, script writer, author and presenter. Her writing credits include Netflix, Channel 4, BBC One and BBC Radio 4. In October 2024, Mel published her first book Oedolyn (ish), which was shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year and became one of the most-bought Welsh language books of 2024.
Sessions in Spanish and English can be rediscovered anywhere in the world on Hay Festival Anytime, a subscription service (formerly Hay Player) offering the world’s greatest writers on film and audio for £20/€20 per year.
