Why the Hay Festival became an instant favourite

The Hay Festival is touted as one of the highlights of the literary calendar, and rightly so! I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that 2018 marked my first year of attendance, but I can confidently state that I'll be a regular attender from now on.

Last May I made the trip to Hay with my family and we stayed for a couple of days, taking full advantage of everything this wonderful event has to offer. Any book shop is bound to swallow me up, and yet on a daily basis (sometimes more than twice!) I found myself browsing the festival shop, and finding plenty of fiction, non-fiction and poetry that took my interest.

Topics covered at the festival covered mindful drawing, to language change over time, to the reign of Elizabeth I - I'm barely even scraping the surface with those examples either. There was so much to offer at the festival and clearly plenty to suit everyone: families, children, book-lovers, creatives, those in need of a laugh...

For me - book shop aside - the highlight was without question listening to the phenomenal Margaret Atwood speak. As all of her literature would suggest, she is an enthralling and knowledgable speaker, and I think I could have sat in that tent and listened to her all day if it was an option! 

If anyone needs to find me between the 23rd May - 2nd June 2019, I fully intend to be somewhere inside that festival tent, either curled up with a page-turner in a deck chair on the lawn; browsing the book shelves; or listening to something captivating.