Book festivals
Hay-on-Wye
Visit this little market town right on the Wales-England border and you’ll soon see why it has become synonymous with the word ‘bookshops’. It’s choc a bloc full of them!
Every type of book
Some 41 shops line the twisting narrow streets, hide behind houses and peer out of passageways. New, second-hand, antique and on every subject under the sun, books burst out everywhere. So it seems the obvious place to hold a Book Festival, and indeed one that has become famous throughout the world.
The Guardian Hay Festival
Held each year at the end of May/beginning of June, the Hay Festival (www.hayfestival.co.uk) celebrates great writing in every medium in Britain and around the world. It’s two weeks of great fun for all ages – a spectacular holiday party for friends to gather and indulge their tastes for the finest books, food, drink, comedy, music, art, argument and literature. Put a note in your diary for next year.