Croeso i'r Gelli / Welcome to Hay-on-Wye

Discover some of the world’s best writers and thinkers of the season, immersed in the cosy glow of Hay Festival Winter Weekend. Experience the iconic Hay Castle in the heart of Hay-on-Wye come to life with the joy of books, ideas, laughter and conversation.

From fiction to festivities and from cooking to current affairs, Winter Weekend brings a magical four days of conversations, performances, and festive fun, 26–29 November 2026.

This year's line-up includes novelist Kate Mosse; poets Simon Armitage, Owen Sheers and Alex Wharton; historian David Olusoga; singer-songwriter David Gray; Radio 1 DJ Greg James; actors Lucian Msamati, Caroline Quentin, Maxine Peake and Greg Wise; comedians Lucy Porter and Kiri Pritchard-McLean; physicist Jim Al-Khalili; journalists Luke Harding and Charlotte Higgins; Witches of Scotland campaigners Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi; potter Keith Brymer Jones; and curators of the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry exhibition Sue Brunning and Lloyd de Beer.

Share stories, celebrate togetherness, and enjoy all that’s special about Hay in winter, starting with the town’s merry Christmas light switch-on. As the twinkling lights herald the scent of mulled wine and log fires, the sound of choirs and candlelit storytelling, you’ll enter a world of different.

In the words of novelist Jeanette Winterson – “It’s the time of year we need some internal sunshine and that’s what this is. It’s a place where there’s light and there’s warmth and a lot of fun.”