Hay Festival 2018
Finding accommodation was tricky, but thanks to a computer glitch I managed to secure a booking at an idyllic family BnB. After brilliant directions and a very warm welcome, I set off for my first Hay Festival event – Akala’s Odyssey.
Having studied Homer’s The Odyssey at university and I watched Akala’s BBC programme in the spring, I was looking forward to his talk in the BBC tent. I decided not to opt for the member option when booking. Although this meant slightly longer queuing time, it was a great opportunity to talk to other people who had signed up for the same events – immediately you had a common interest to discuss. Hopefully, the programme is still on iplayer, if so you should definitely check it out.
Later that evening, I attended Akala’s talk about his new book ‘Natives’. A powerful and informative book – a must read.
Between Akala’s talks, I went to Afua Hirsch‘s talk that was promoting her book ‘Brit(ish)’. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but finally I found a woman that I could connect to and who spoke honestly about her experiences of race and being Brit(ish). I did comment to an audience member that I often wondered if Afua Hirsch would receive as much media and online hate as she does if she was a man. The book is on my ‘Wendylicious to Read’ pile – looking forward to it.
At 10pm the final slot for my first night was the brilliant Benjamin Zephaniah. Having read and taught his work for years, it was great to hear him talk about his life, perform his poems and discuss his brilliant new book ‘The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah’. I borrowed a copy from the library and it is a good read – borrow or buy asap to learn more about the man behind the poetry and young adult books.