The Hay-on-Wye Festival is many things to many people. Whether you come for inspiration, examination, or purely for entertainment, visitors will leave Hay Festival Abu Dhabi with sustenance of the mind.
‘I have been to over 50 different festivals around the world, but Hay is my favourite and fondest festival, because it’s also my first’, explains Tishani Doshi who first encountered the Hay Festival in 2003 and returns every single year. She will be a presenter when Hay arrives in Abu Dhabi this February.
She adds, ‘I am half Welsh. It’s very much a Welsh festival that focusses a lot on Welsh writing. So, I went in 2003 with friends when the festival was still small. It was a literary education for me to see writers in action. I wanted to be a part of that world as an aspiring writer at the time. Publishing is so uncertain, so you never know how your career will go, but Hay offered me this sense of a community and many of those same people are still with the festival today. For me, going back to Hay every year feels like going home; it’s about friendship. I interviewed John Irving there, stayed in the same B&B as Margaret Atwood. Seamus Heaney sat in on my very first poetry reading—this can only happen to a young writer at Hay’.
A Festival for the Word Curious
Around the world, festivals are booming. Audiences flock to them for different globe. Some feel the need to connect with other readers while others visit to enjoy rare moments of offline experience in the increasingly digital age.
One answer to book lovers’ needs is The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for ten days from May to June. Devised in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as ‘The Woodstock of the mind’. For over 30 years, Hay Festival has brought readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events around the world: from the beaches of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, to the cities of Beirut in Lebanon and Segovia in Spain, from the hills of Wales, to Mexico and Peru, reaching more than five million people across five continents. Its next incarnation—the first festival in the Gulf region—is certain to inspire!
Literary Glitterati
The festival in Abu Dhabi promises a glittering line-up of speakers from around the world. The climax of the event will be a celebration of Syrian poet Adonis’ 90th birthday in a poetry gala. The festival brings together over 65 poets and authors representing over 20 nationalities. There will also be spoken word performances by Abu Dhabi’s long-running open mic poetry night, Rooftop Rhythms.
On the founding and the founder of the festival, Peter Florence, Doshi adds, ‘Peter has a talent of creating electric panels and putting people together to bring out their best. It says a lot about a festival creator who is able to place a Nobel prize winner on a panel with a first timer and still manage to create some literary magic’.
The newest incarnation of Hay Festival will take place at venues in Abu Dhabi from 25 to 28 February 2020 with the city’s cultural centre, Manarat al Saadiyat, serving as the festival’s heart alongside other venues supported by the UAE’s Ministry of Tolerance. Get your tickets before the city’s bookworms and aspiring writers and poets snap them all up!
To learn more or to buy tickets for the festival, visit hayfestival.org/abu-dhabi.
In partnership with the Ministry of Tolerance and with the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
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