PUBLIC booking of tickets for events at the 32nd annual Hay Festival have gone on sale with more than 600 writers and thinkers appearing between May 23 and June 2.

Over 270,000 tickets were sold to last year’s event transforming the celebrated little book town of Hay-on-Wye into the biggest town in Powys for 11 days.

It spans award-winning fiction, non-fiction and poetry; science and tech; UK politics, global affairs, sustainability in Green Hay; a rich strand for children and families in HAYDAYS; a free programme for schools; and a vibrant line-up of music, comedy and performance.

Appearances will include Ian McEwan, Jeanette Winterson, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, Jimmy Carr, Bill Bailey, Sara Pascoe, The Waterboys, The Gipsy Kings, Jo Brand, Jacqueline Wilson, Welsh Minister Eluned Morgan, Eve Myles, Germaine Greer, Joanna Lumley, Fintan O’Toole, Mary Robinson, Robert Macfarlane, Noel Fitzpatrick, Moby, Monty Don, Greg James and DJ Target.

Award winning writers gather to launch new work, while global policy makers, pioneers and innovators seek solutions to the biggest issues of our time, from the rise of populism to the climate crisis.

Major global anniversaries are marked through the week, including Da Vinci 500, Rembrandt 350, Kindertransport 80 years on, Stonewall 50, and Tiananmen Square 30 years on; plus a range of milestones in the children’s book world: 'Elmer' and 'We’re Going on a Bear Hunt' at 30, 'The Gruffalo' at 20, and 20 years of the Children’s Laureate.

The 2019 Hay Festival Medals will be awarded and literary award winners will be celebrated including winners of the Man Booker Prize and the New Welsh Writers Awards.

Free to enter, the festival village is composed of 10 tented venues, the Festival Bookshop. HAYDAYS courtyard, Wild Garden, Make and Take Tent, the Scribblers Hut, the Cube, the Mess Tent, and market stalls, cafes, exhibitions and restaurants.

A new international Hay Festival project launches with Europa 28 bringing together prominent female authors, thinkers, writers and scientists – one participant from each EU country, across genres and generations – to discuss their visions for the future of Europe, culminating at a new festival in the upcoming European Capital of Culture, Rijeka, Croatia, in June 2020.

To explore the full line-up for yourself online go to hayfestival.org