The Guardian Hay Festival
by Gillian Newman (UBS Canterbury)
From The Read, Booksellers NZ
15 Jul 2010

Earlier this year in late May I had the incredible good fortune to go to that Mecca of literary festivals The Guardian Hay Festival. I had been once before many years ago when it was a much smaller affair and held mostly in the local school with just a few marquees, and even then I loved the atmosphere and all pervasive nature of the event.

The whole small town on Hay-on-Wye was then and still is alive with booklovers and bookshops. With so many second-hand bookshops it attracts readers the whole year round but at the time of the festival it seems as if every local has someone staying. It has grown like Topsy and is now a tent village just outside the town, lasting for just under two glorious weeks of sessions with writers, politicians, journalists, musicians and readers of every sort.

There are spin-off Hay festivals around the world these days but for me the magic is in the beautiful countryside and history surrounding this event on the Welsh-English border.

Photo - Hay Festival 2010 - AP Photo - Jill Lawless

There is a relaxed and happy feeling abroad and even when having to stand in queues to get in to the next event, people were relaxed and friendly and inclined to conversation with complete strangers. Indeed, we were sometimes exhorted over the loudspeakers to talk to someone we’d never met before – it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Having had experience of event organisation I was mightily impressed with the smooth running of such a large and diverse series of sessions, and the professional handling of the unexpected and potentially catastrophic last minute changes. (This was at the tail-end of volcanic ash causing the closure of airports all over Europe. It was mostly over but still some people were delayed for this and other reasons.)

There have been some behind-the-scenes rumblings and some writers - notably Germaine Greer - withdrew from the festival for political  reasons, but none of this was evident  to most of us attending.

Peter Florence, the festival director, was ebullient and delighted to be able to announce bigger audiences than ever this year.

All my bookselling life, and indeed even before, I have revered Quentin Blake and have tried very hard to get him to come to New Zealand. He has always been most polite and expressed a wish to come but has been too busy. It was the highlight of my visit to Hay to finally meet him in person and see him in action. With very little preamble he stood on stage with a large drawing board which was projected onto a screen for the audience to see and proceeded to talk and draw so we could watch the magic unfold. He was a genial, entertaining and kindly speaker, encouraging children in the audience to give him feedback and his hour flew by. I spotted several famous people in the crowd, such is the wonderful unifying power of children’s literature. When I asked him again if he would come to New Zealand he said he really doesn’t like travelling far anymore so I feel extraordinarily lucky to have seen him.

Other speakers who I was delighted to see were AC Grayling, Alain de Botton, Lyn Barber, Nadine Gordimer,  Tim Jackson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall,  Ruth Rogers and  William Nicholson among others. Other highlights were the opening evening when Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott sang songs it was impossible to resist joining in, and an Evensong service in a beautiful old church with Karen Armstrong.

Every event I attended was full. Provision had been made for everyone, with tents for children’s activities, an Oxfam site selling secondhand books, an official bookseller on site, fresh and delicious food stalls, stands from the countries that hold Hay events, plenty of classy portaloos and wildflowers harmoniously decorating the whole tent village.

One night, when I was unable to find a taxi, a local bus driver went completely out of his way to take me down the windy country road to my bed and breakfast lodgings. This seemed to epitomise the friendliness and willingness to oblige I encountered everywhere. If the festival has grown from its reasonably humble origins and some feel it has become too big, it still seems to me that it does what these affairs are meant to do - stimulate discussion, encourage readers and reading and thoughtful contemplation. That cannot be bad.


Footnote:
Great stuff Gillian. The Bookman, (along with many otherNZ book trade folk I wager), is green with envy.I went to Hay many moons ago, before the Festival had been founded and spent two days fossicking around in those numerous and often cavernous second-hand bookshops.Sent three cartons of books back to NZ.