Eleven days of talks in a Welsh town of 1,500 people and more than twenty second-hand bookshops — the festival Bill Clinton called "the Woodstock of the mind".
Source: hayfestival.com, checked on 14 September 2026.
Updated: September 2026
Since 1987 Hay Festival has filled a field outside Hay-on-Wye with tents, writers and readers who stay for days. The programme runs from fiction and history to science and politics, with a large children’s strand.
Most events are ticketed individually and popular names sell out the morning tickets go on sale; the site itself, with its bookshop and food stalls, is free to wander.
Log what you buy, your progress and the quotes you underline. Free, no account needed to start.
Start for freeThe big names go in hours. Festival members get an earlier window.
It is a field in Wales in late May. The site handles rain well; your shoes may not.
The town’s second-hand shops are half the reason to come, and they are open all day.
Hay Festival 2027 runs 27 May – 6 Jun 2027 at Hay Festival site, Hay-on-Wye.
At Hay Festival site, Hay-on-Wye.
No, it is ticketed: check prices and sales on the official website.
The site is free to enter; individual events are ticketed. Prices on the official website.