The university and its library staff in particular, seem to have undertaken a mass exodus to the Hay Festival this year! Some were first time visitors, others were introducing their children to the festival, one was returning to work as a volunteer steward...and the primary motivation of others seemed to be the presence of Benedict Cumberbatch! We thought you'd like to hear what they all got up to, so here are a selection of 'postcards' from Hay...
Helen Beale - Deputy Head of Library and Learning Resources
My initial observation
of Hay this year – mud and a veritable rainbow of Hunter wellies – the highest
concentration of Hunter wellies I have ever come across in one field!
Our first session Letters Live coincided with my 18 year
old daughters’ first ever visit to Hay, what enticed her to join us this year?
I’d like to say it was the literary element of the festival but no, it was the
chance to see Benedict Cumberbatch live on stage! The queue for this event
started early and was made up primarily of very enthusiastic young (and not so
young) fans, some sporting rather interesting T shirts. One teenage fan tried
(emphasis on tried) to engage Caitlin in conversation about her recently
purchased Benedict Cumberbatch colouring book! This was a step too far for Caitlin though who
went off in search of a hot drink.
Letters
Live was
inspired by To The Letter, by Simon Garfield and
Letters of Note by Shaun Usher, to celebrate the dying
art of letter writing. A group of performers read a selection of letters
including the very touching letter written by explorer Robert Scott to his wife on
knowing he was going to die on his Antarctic mission in 1912 and one from Elvis to President Nixon in 1970 asking if he
could help the country’s fight against drug abuse.
On Saturday we went from the comic musing of the QI Elves, who knew so much
lurked in beards, via Tom Hollander and Andrew Davies talking about the
recently aired drama A Poet in New York,
to a celebration of the poetry of Dylan Thomas with Rob Brydon and friends. Now
looking forward to 2015!
Alison Evans - Assistant Librarian
Thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to the Hay Festival - heard the amazing James Lovelock and utterly engaging Charlotte Higgins. Will definitely be back. However, must remember:
1. Plan ahead and book early
2.Bring wellies
3. (Most importantly) Do not leave glasses on car seat in 'park and ride' and spend the rest of the day having to be pointed in the general direction of the stage!
Allison Jones, Library Assistant
It
was with some trepidation that my husband and I jumped in the car and
set off for the Hay Festival. We are
festival novices and with two children, aged 11 and 3, in hand we just didn’t
know what to expect and were dreading the, “I’m bored”.
Hayfever
is the children’s programme at Hay and I have to say that the list of events
was astounding. I’m fortunate in having
two children that love books and so it was very disappointing that my youngest
was unable to attend any of the shows.
It does however give us something to look forward to in future years
with authors such as Alison Brown, Tom Gates, Jacqueline Wilson and the 2011 –
13 Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson.
A
scaled down replica of Dylan Thomas’ writing shed greeted us at the
entrance. I wouldn’t have taken a second
look but my eldest sone spent a good twenty minutes looking at the various
artefacts within. The pop up shed is
touring the country as part of the centenary celebrations and is worth a peep
if you are in its vicinity (http://www.dylanthomasboathouse.com/pop-up-shed/). I can feel a trip to Laugharne looming.
Events
wise my eldest and I had opted for Anthony Horowitz, the author of the Alex Rider
series, Diamond Brothers and the Power of Five.
Horowitz was giving a talk on his recent bestseller, Russian Roulette, a
prequel to Alex Rider which very much focuses on Alex’s arch nemis, Yassan Gregorovitch , a Russian
assassin. In truth I had not read any of
his titles and was amazed at the volume of his writing. He spoke briefly about his script writing for
series such as Foyles War, Poirot and Midsummer Murders and the complications
of fitting in a murder around a commercial break but he mainly addressed the
formation of his books popular with children. He gave an insight into how he
meticulously created plans when sketching stories, the development of his
characters and amazingly how he successfully juggles two to three projects at a
time – which he believes stems off writers block. Throughout the hour he engaged and
entertained his young audience with plots on how to successfully “blow up”
people!
With
hindsight I would have also booked to see Michael Murpurgo. Not knowing what to
expect we chose to just dip our toes into this year’s Hay. Having the festival so close to home is
amazing and will hopefully have encouraged reluctant readers to pick up a
book. Indeed having not picked up a book
in five years I have just completed a novel by George Orwell!
It's also
worth mentioning that I have booked some other literary events, this time
plays, for my children, Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book in Aberglasney
Gardens
Andrew Campbell - Head of Leisure, Events, Tourism & Sport (Swansea)
Despite
the weather, some record visitor days were recorded, fuelled principally by
some stellar celebrity appearances(someone please remind me in the next life to
change my surname to Cumberbatch). The likes of Tom Hollander (I met a woman
who had flown over from California specifically to see him deliver two
readings. Hmm), Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Bear Grylls, Julia Donaldson, Mary
Berry, Jennifer Saunders (I could go on....and on....) never failed to enthral
their followers, who often queued up three hours in advance of performance
times. Who said that popular culture was in decline?! That said, the
"lesser names" on the programme often provided greater value in terms
of thinking and reflection. Audiences who listened to the poetry of Simon
Armitage for instance, writing about the First World War, could not have been
more emotionally moved....or those who sat in on Oscar Guardiola - Rivera would
have been spellbound by revelations over the coup d'etat of former Chilean
President Salvador Allende. Again and as ever, the list of subject matter was
so eclectic. Even ex Spurs defender Sol Campbell turned up to speak about
celebrity football. Enough said.
My
duties at Hay were varied, but always involved connection and conversation
with those who "tipped up" for the event. For newcomers the old
Vauxhall advert strapline about being "once bitten, forever smitten"
holds true for Hay. Go once and prepare for a lifelong engagement. People
return year after year and always want to share opinions about presentations
heard. Or want to talk about real life encounters with those in the public eye,
who also come along to listen surreptitiously to those on stage. Some notable
ticket holders in my queue this year included Alan Yentob, Suggs (of Madness
fame|), Susannah (from Trinny and)....and Tony Fadell. Tony who? (he created
the iPod). Just like visitors to Hay, festival staff always seem to talk
about presentation highlights as well. For the record, my 2014 choice was
as follows: in third place Anthony Horowitz; in second place Margaret
Macmillan....and in top spot (and I know this gets a high rating from
another UWTSD member of staff, Lucy Griffiths as she was there too), Arianna
Huffington. In her talk about happiness - The Third Metric, she simply
inspired.
That's
it from me. A few insights, a few thoughts. Just
360 days to go then...to the next Hay Festival! Unless one wants to go the
Winter Festival of course...
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