Festival extras

Festival Bookshop

This year, the bookshop will be bigger than ever before, with plenty of room to relax and browse. We will be stocking all books by authors attending the festival, and holding book signings after every event. Please note that a maximum of one book per person that is not purchased from us will be accepted for signature. We are open from 9am daily.

Hay Fever Courtyard

The Hay Fever Courtyard is an area on site for the whole family – it is home to Hay Fever's own venue, The Starlight Stage and our workshop space, The Elmley Foundation Cube, as well as lots of lovely extras.

Drop into the Make and Take Tent for free crafting between 10am and 5pm every day, as well as for lots of fantastic storytelling. An Info Desk and Lost Child Point can also be found within this tent.

We have two Mess Tents running, where you can take part in lots of exciting activities.

The Festival Bookshop, just a couple of minutes' walk from the Hay Fever Courtyard, offers lots of wonderful books by the children's and YA authors speaking at the festival, and book signings by authors and illustrators happen here.

Stay ahead of the game and start learning code. Coding is booming as a profession and is becoming a second language for many young people. It’s even part of the national curriculum! So, now is the perfect time for you to stay ahead of the game and start learning the fundamentals of code. Come and visit Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, at the Hay Fever Courtyard to learn the basics of code.

Shepherds Ice Cream is always on hand to fuel all the fun, with lots of locally produced ice cream goodness.

There’s also a lovely central garden area so you and your kids can just hang out and have a Shepherds ice cream or a coffee in between events. And you’ll also find baby-changing facilities and a pram park there.

Hereford College of Arts

Hereford College of Arts Foundation Students have once again decorated the Hay Fever Courtyard, producing a variety of 2D and 3D outcomes in response to stories, magic, and mythical inspiration. Inspired by the journey a book can take you on, students have incorporated a range of materials including textiles, wood, ceramics and metal, creating colourful and interactive works for children to enjoy.

Pushing the Envelope

‘Pushing the Envelope’ is a specially commissioned exhibition of decorated envelopes, designed to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the introduction of the first ever postage stamp, the Penny Black, which began a relationship between stamps and illustration that continues to this day. This exhibition, curated by staff and students of the Illustration BA course at Hereford College of Arts and involving 100 internationally acclaimed illustrators, reminds us of the simple joys of sending and receiving personalised mail.

‘Note to Self’ Workshops

Come and decorate an envelope along with the Illustration students from Hereford College of Arts. We will post your note to self, using our special edition Hay stamps and your decorated envelope for you to read in your future. There are four workshops, on Thursday 28 May:
Note to Self Workshop, 10am
Note to Self Workshop, 11.30am
Note to Self Workshop, 1.30pm
Note to Self Workshop, 3pm

Magna Carta Chronicle Trail

Test your knowledge of the Magna Carta with the Magna Carta Chronicle Trail on site at the Hay Festival. Follow the trail to ten different points around the site and answer the quiz questions for a chance to win a prize. The Magna Carta Trail will run from Tuesday 26 May to Thursday 28 May. Pick up your activity sheet from the Make & Take Tent and get started! Suitable for 8+ years.

BBC Horizons/Gorwelion Airstream

Horizons/Gorwelion is a scheme delivered by BBC Cymru Wales in partnership with Arts Council Wales to develop new, independent contemporary music in Wales. See live acoustic performances throughout the day at the BBC Horizons Airstream on the Hay Festival site from the selected Horizons 12 artists and other exciting musicians from across Wales.

Many of the performances are filmed: visit www.bbc.co.uk/horizons for more info. Tweet us here: @horizonscymru

All performances at the BBC Horizons Airstream are free – all welcome.

Friday 22 May, 10.30am–5.30pm
Delyth McLean and Mellt

Delyth McLean
Delyth McLean’s soaring, elemental voice is one of the most affecting and impressive recent additions to the Welsh musical landscape. Delyth is a bilingual artist from Merthyr Tydfil and has supported the likes of Gruff Rhys, The People The Poet (Horizons 2014), Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog and Kizzy Crawford.

Visit Delyth McLean’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Mellt
Mellt (lightning are from Aberystwyth and are currently working with legend of the Sin Roc Gymraeg, Mei Gwynedd (Beganifs/Big Leaves/Sibrydion). You won’t find any Arctic Monkeys or Guns ’n’ Roses in their set-list – Mellt have a set filled with urgent, incendiary bolts of high voltage tuneage, like the very excellent ‘Cysgod Cyfarwydd’.

Visit Mellt’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Saturday 23 May, 12pm–6pm
HMS Morris and Lowri Evans

HMS Morris (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Imagine sailing an unfamiliar sea, trying to follow Will-o’-the-Wisps through shifting banks of fog, all the while in imminent danger of breaking your hull against the jagged rocks beneath the surface. Well, that’s sort of what HMS Morris sound like.

Visit HMS Morris’ profile on bbc.co.uk

Lowri Evans
Original, Contemporary Acoustic, Folk and Country. Described as a ‘major talent in any language’ (Hot Press) and a ‘wonderful singer songwriter’ by Bob Harris, Lowri’s latest album Corner Of My Eye, which features accordion player Andy Cutting and renowned acoustic and slide guitarist Martin Simpson, is bringing Lowri the attention and recognition that her music deserves.

Visit Lowri Evans’ website: www.lowrievansofficial.co.uk

Sunday 24 May, 12pm–6pm
Violet Skies and Alex Stacey

Violet Skies (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
The word ‘cinematic’ is too frequently used to describe music with all the evocative power of a tax demand. Violet Skies’ music, on the other hand, is too widescreen, sensuous and evocative to be contained by the word.

Visit Violet Skies’ profile on bbc.co.uk

Alex Stacey
Alex Stacey is a 17-year-old singer songwriter from Caerphilly, South Wales. He independently released debut EP Ready For Love on iTunes, which reached number 23 on the Singer Songwriters Chart. He has been playlisted on BBC Radio Wales as Introducing Artist Of The Week, and has had airplay on Nation Radio and other local stations.

Visit Alex Stacey on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlexStaceyOfficial

Monday 25 May, 12pm–6pm
Remembering August and Maddie Jones

Remembering August
Formed from a remarkable collision of musical taste and a tangle of blonde locks, Remembering August are a duo steadily captivating intimate audiences across Wales. Delving deep into the music folklore, there’s a Stevie Nicks/Lyndsay Buckingham chemistry, which generates a combination of mystery, charm and passion. Discovered by Ed Sheeran collaborator Amy Wadge, who instantly connected with the duo and travelled deep into the Valleys to cast her magic over the much-laboured and loved songs.

Visit Remembering August’s website: www.rememberingaugust.co.uk

Maddie Jones
Maddie Jones is a young singer-songwriter and guitarist from South Wales. Well known for her dynamic and captivating performances, Maddie won Cardiff’s Big Gig Competition in June 2013 and, in the same year, played at Swn Festival, Glastonbury and Brecon Jazz. Her previous gigs have included legendary venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, Bristol’s Colston Hall and Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach, and she has supported Stephen Fretwell, Jake Morley, and Caroline Harrison among others.

Visit Maddie Jones’ website: www.maddie-jones.co.uk

Tuesday 26 May, 12pm–6pm
Cut Ribbons and Siôn Russell Jones

Cut Ribbons (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Llanelli’s Cut Ribbons are a thrilling combination of sonic Ying-and-Yangs: boy/girl co-vocals; intimate, yet epic songs; irresistible pop hooks over atmospheric soundscapes. It’s ‘indie pop’, but not exactly as we know it.

Visit Cut Ribbons’ profile on bbc.co.uk

Siôn Russell Jones
Siôn Russell Jones is a singer/songwriter from Cardiff, Wales. He has a unique and infectious vocal backed up by intricate guitar melodies and cracking choruses. Sion’s received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio Wales, and his track ‘So Long’ is also regularly played on SRF 3 in Switzerland and RTL National Radio France.

Visit Siôn Russell Jones’ website: www.sionrusselljones.com

Wednesday 27 May, 12pm–6pm
Hannah Grace and Jodie Marie

Hannah Grace (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Hannah is 21 years old and hails from Bridgend in South Wales. Her music draws upon her many influences including folk, soul, jazz and pop. Hannah caught the attention of Gabrielle Aplin in 2012. A successful support tour with Gabrielle followed, after which, Hannah was invited to sing backing vocals for Gabrielle on her sold out UK English Rain tour in 2013 and Glastonbury 2014.

Hannah supported Hozier on part of his recent European tour towards the end of 2014 and is now currently working on new music. She has been working on her own music alongside attending the prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff where she studies Jazz Vocals.

Visit Hannah Grace’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Jodie Marie
Singer-songwriter Jodie Marie hails from Pembrokeshire, Wales, and her much anticipated second album is released this year.

Visit Jodie Marie’s website: www.jodiemarie.co.uk

Thursday 28 May, 12pm–6pm
Cold Committee, Dan Bettridge, Delyth McLean and Climbing Trees

Cold Committee (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Cold Committee take some of the influences of their forebears, The Beatles, The Who, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys et al, but bring enough of themselves along, in the scope of their fine songs, to make their band much more than an exercise in retro classicism.

Visit Cold Committee’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Dan Bettridge (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Dan Bettridge, at all of 21 years old, knows his Stax from his Motown, his Sun from his Chess Records, and understands that it’s all about singing straight from the middle of his own bruised heart. He’s a blue-eyed soul singer: Van Morrison, if he’d come from Ogmore-By-Sea in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Visit Dan Bettridge’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Delyth McLean (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Delyth McLean’s soaring, elemental voice is one of the most affecting and impressive recent additions to the Welsh musical landscape. Delyth is a bilingual artist from Merthyr Tydfil and has supported the likes of Gruff Rhys, The People The Poet (Horizons 2014), Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog and Kizzy Crawford.

Visit Delyth McLean’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Climbing Trees (one of last year’s Horizons 12)
Pontypridd’s Climbing Trees suffuse gospel, blues and country influences into a heady brew they call ‘Cymrucana’. Their debut album Hebron is a wonderfully-produced affair, replete with evangelical pianos, emotive Hammond organ, yearning voices, and weeping electric guitars. They’ve managed to transplant the musical heart of America – The Band, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Grizzly Bear – to their spiritual home in Pontypridd without missing a beat (Adam Walton).

Visit Climbing Trees’ website: www.ilikeclimbingtrees.com

Friday 29 May, 12pm–6pm
Peasant’s King and Deri Morgan

Peasant’s King (one of this year’s Horizons 12)
Over recent years, the Rhondda Valleys have become as synonymous with surging melodic rock music as Chicago is with the blues. Pontypridd 5-piece Peasant’s King share part of their rock lineage with the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses and The Blackout, but add soulful grit and chiming guitars to the mix. They’re a pre-ironic, less bombastic U2 through a fuzzbox; The Killers if Brandon Flowers had been brought up in Ponty; War On Drugs, on Brains bitter.

Visit Peasant’s King’s profile on bbc.co.uk

Deri Morgan
Deri is a 17-year-old singer songwriter from Pontypridd, South Wales. With influences from Ben Howard, Lewis Watson and Saint Raymond, Deri combines a unique mix of acoustic pop and folk that flows throughout his music.

Visit Deri Morgan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeriMorganMusic

Saturday 30 May, 12pm–6pm
Zervas & Pepper and Harri Davies

Zervas & Pepper
Zervas & Pepper are a folk-rock duo whose luminous harmonic, laid-back sound is currently making waves on UK and Ireland radio stations BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music and RTE as well as a growing presence on the UK-wide Live circuit. They are currently recording their third album with a planned release April 2015.

Zervas & Pepper have been tipped as a band to watch this year. As word continues to spread, with a string of live dates ahead and an ever-growing live set-up, Zervas & Pepper continue to bring strong live performance to the fore, appearing at festivals and theatres as a two- or six-piece outfit.

Visit Zervas & Pepper's website

Harri Davies
Cardiff based singer songwriter who plays a mix of soul, folk, pop and jazz.

Visit Harri Davies on Facebook: www.facebook.com/harridaviesmusic

Sunday 31 May, 12pm–6pm
Dan Bettridge

Dan Bettridge (one of this year’s Horizons 12) Dan Bettridge, at all of 21 years old, knows his Stax from his Motown, his Sun from his Chess Records, and understands that it’s all about singing straight from the middle of his own bruised heart. He’s a blue-eyed soul singer: Van Morrison, if he’d come from Ogmore-By-Sea in the Vale Of Glamorgan.

Visit Dan Bettridge’s profile on bbc.co.uk