HAY Festival organisers have revealed the free ‘Programme for Schools’ for this spring’s edition, bringing writers and young readers together in-person and online for a series of inspiring interactive activities and workshops.

The schools programme will be held over May 26 and 27, ahead of the main Hay Festival programme, which takes place from May 26- June 5.

Parents and teachers can explore the programme online now at hayfestival.org/schools with priority booking open to all state schools in Wales.

KS2 events on Thursday, May 26, will see Wales Book of the Year 2021-winner Caryl Lewis introduce her new novel, Seed, and children’s laureate Cressida Cowell present Wizards and Magic. Anthony Horowitz discusses the Diamond Brother Detectives: Where Seagulls Dare; TV scientist Ben Garrod launches Extinct; Maz Evans offers VI Spy: Never Say Whatever Again; BBC Radio 4’s Rich Knight talks If I Ran the Country; Iszi Lawrence tells the stories of real-life heroic women in Billie Swift Takes Flight; engineer Roma Agrawal shares How Was That Built?; MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman launch the fifth book in their bestseller Adventures on Trains series, Sabotage on the Solar Express; Piers Torday discusses his prequel novel The Wild Before; Nadia Shireen introduces the weird and wonderful animals of Grimwood and Elle McNicoll presents her magical fantasy Like a Charm.

KS3/4 events on Friday see Welsh poet and playwright Eric Ngalle Charles perform Homelands and Nigerian-Welsh writer Natasha Bowen offer her unforgettable love story infused with West African mythology, Skin of the Sea, as well as plenty more.

For those who can’t access the events in person, sessions will also be streamed online and available after the event on Hay Player.

The last full in-person Programme for Schools at Hay Festival in 2019 saw more than 10,000 pupils attend from primary and secondary schools across England and Wales.

The festival has also opened applications to the Beacons Project, a free creative residency for budding Welsh writers aged 16-18, and unveiled a new 25 per cent reduction in ticket prices for all those in further education. Full details can be found at hayfestival.org/education.

Aine Venables, Hay Festival’s education manager, said: “Following two years of enormous challenges for young people in Wales and the wider UK, we’re delighted to be back offering in-person inspiration alongside a vibrant digital offer for 2022.

“With the return of our free Programme for Schools and Beacons Project, alongside our new student ticket offer, we’re on our way to making this year’s festival our most accessible and inclusive yet.”

Hay Festival is the world’s leading festival of ideas, bringing readers and writers together in sustainable events to inspire, examine and entertain in Hay-on-Wye.

Returning for its first in-person spring in two years, the 2022 programme will launch the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate around some of the biggest issues of our times in a programme of conversations, featuring more than 600 award-winning writers, policy makers, pioneers and innovators.

A variety of early-bird events are on sale now at hayfestival.org/wales with the full programme scheduled for release to Friends of Hay Festival on April 5 and on general sale on April 8.

A special gala event to celebrate the 35th anniversary year of the Hay Festival will take place in London on Thursday, April 7, as writers and performers share the literary works that have most inspired them over the years, along with anecdotes from their favourite Festival moments.

Tickets are available now at hayfestival.org/p-18658-hay-festival-tales.aspx.