Giselle Bellicot and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are among speakers at Hay Festival 2026 | books

Organizers have announced that Emma Thompson, Malala Yousafzai, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Giselle Bellicot are among the key names appearing at Hay Festival 2026.

The UK’s iconic literary festival has now revealed its full programme, featuring more than 500 events taking place from May 21-31 in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.

A wide range of notable writers will appear, including Ian McEwan, Maggie O’Farrell, Colm Tóibin, Ali Smith, Elizabeth Strut, Matt Haig, Douglas Stewart, Samantha Harvey, Val MacDiarmid and Ocean Fong. Also appearing on the literary table are Margaret Busby, Cressida Cowell, Tiare Jones, Elizabeth Day, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Helen Oyeyemi and Ruth Ozeki, along with a host of other writers, speakers and thinkers.

Political figures who will speak at the festival include David Miliband, Nicola Sturgeon, Sajid Javid and Louise Casey, along with historians Alice Roberts, David Olusoga and Simon Schama.

Panel discussions will include a discussion on gender equality, hosted by former Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, her Labor counterpart Harriet Harman, and Sky News political editor Beth Rigby.

There will be a range of genre-themed events, including a romance panel. Elsewhere, Sarah Wynn Williams, Facebook whistleblower and author of Careless People, will talk about the power of tech companies, alongside investigative journalist Carol Cadwalladr, the reporter who broke the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Musicians including Gwenno and Ald Jones will take to the stage throughout the festival. The comedy lineup includes Dawn French, Michael McIntyre, Sarah Pascoe, Sandi Toksvig, Greg Davies, and more.

There will also be talks about the art of adaptation, with director Emerald Fennell talking about Wuthering Heights, while Maggie O’Farrell and producer Lisa Marshall go behind the scenes of Hamnet. Young readers will be able to attend events with children’s authors including Michael Morpurgo and Frank Cottrell Boyce.

A new series of My Life in Books events will see public figures talking about their favorite reads in conversation with leading writers and broadcasters. Keynote sessions include actress Emma Thompson discussing with writer and podcaster Elizabeth Day, and appearances by Prue Leith, Hugh Bonneville and adventurer Bear Grylls in conversation with podcaster Jamie Laing.

To highlight the UK’s National Year of Reading, YouTuber Jack Edwards will discuss the campaign with National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas, alongside authors Joseph Coelho and Katherine Rundell.

Julie Finch, CEO of Hay Festival, said: “As the UK Government’s National Year of Reading invites the country to engage with books, our tents are open to all, spaces where everyone is welcome to share ideas and inspiration.”

To mark the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, there will be a series of events called ‘America 250’ which will explore the nation’s changing identity, with authors Sarah Churchwell, David Olusoga, Sarah Pearsall and Simone Schama. General Tim Radford, Katrin Pinhold, and geopolitical writer Tim Marshall will discuss the Trump era in a conversation with Helen Lewis.

In conjunction with the National Year of Reading, the festival’s Fun List campaign will canvass public recommendations, where writers from across the program will share their favorite titles.

O’Farrell said she was “so happy to be at the Hay Festival this year” – the Hamnet author will discuss her upcoming novel, Earth. She added: “I spent some of my childhood in Wales, so it’s always a pleasure to return. Land is a novel very concerned with landscape, so it seems appropriate to discuss it in the beautiful surroundings of Powys.”

Other writers scheduled to participate in the festival include Hisham Matar, Kiran Desai, Kamila Shamsi, Elif Shafak, Sarah Moss, Sarah Hall, John Lanchester, Kieran Millwood Hargrave, Jenny Fagan, Irvine Welsh, Natalie Hines, and Ben Okri.

The Hay Festival was founded in 1988 and has since grown to become one of the world’s leading literary festivals. It also runs international editions, including events in Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Panama, Spain and the United States.

Tickets are on sale now for Hay Festival members, sponsors and donors at hayfestival.org. Priority booking begins at noon on Wednesday, March 11, before general booking opens on Saturday, March 14.