MONDAY 27 MAY

hayfestival.org 5.30pm

7pm

[155] 5.30pm CUBE £8

[158] 7pm HAY FESTIVAL FOUNDATION STAGE £8

Mary Loudon and Sameer Rahim talk to Olivia Cole

Jesse Norman, Mike Hawes and Special Guest

Fiction: First Novels

The Future’s Bright, The Future is Electric

A conversation with two very experienced and acclaimed writers venturing for the first time into fiction. Loudon’s My House is Falling Down is a vivid and compelling novel about a modern love triangle that asks some provocative questions: what happens when you tell the whole truth in marriage? Is it still infidelity if nobody lies? Can you really love two people at once? Rahim’s Asghar and Zahra is a funny, sympathetic and very human novel about the first year of a marriage, and the difficulties of reconciling the sometimes conflicting demands of family, religion and society.

After more than a hundred years of the internal combustion engine, a new automotive technology has arrived. Cleaner, quieter and fun to drive, electric cars are here, and they are here to stay. But how do we get from 2.6% of new car sales in 2018 to the numbers we need to make a real difference to air pollution, and climate change? The Government has set ambitious targets for the uptake of electric vehicles. If we are to meet them, a change in the way people drive and think about the technology is required. Join Jesse Norman, Future of Mobility Minister and local Hereford MP, and Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers, as well as panellists from the motor and energy industries, to discuss this transition. Sponsored by the Go Ultra Low Campaign

7pm [156] 7pm BAILLIE GIFFORD STAGE £24

Sandi Toksvig Live!

[159] 7pm STARLIGHT STAGE £8

Great Dane

Bethan Elfyn, Rhian E Jones, David Melding and Rachel Trezise talk to Dylan Moore

New Stand-Up from the beloved GBBO and QI superstar. The Danish/British writer and presenter has been working on British TV and radio for nearly four decades and in 2014 was made an Officer of the British Empire for her services to broadcasting. She has written over 25 books including fact and fiction. Her latest novel The End of the Sky was published in 2017 and her new stage musical, an adaptation of Treasure Island, opened in December 2018 Sandi is the co-founder of Britain’s newest political force, the Women’s Equality Party. Presented by Fane Productions Sponsored by Castle House Hotel

IWA Platform: Cool Cymru, Twenty Years Ago Today

[157] 7pm LLWYFAN CYMRU – WALES STAGE £9

Frans de Waal talks to Rosie Boycott

Mam’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Teach Us About Ourselves The pre-eminent primatologist offers a whirlwind tour of new ideas and findings about animal emotions, based on his renowned studies of the social and emotional lives of chimpanzees and bonobos. De Waal discusses facial expressions, animal sentience and consciousness, the emotional side of human politics, and the illusion of free will. He distinguishes between emotions and feelings, all the while emphasising the continuity between our species and other species. And he makes the radical proposal that emotions are like organs: we haven’t a single organ that other animals don’t have, and the same is true for our emotions.

It’s twenty years since the Welsh Assembly opened its doors for the first time, instituted in a referendum with a marginal majority on a low turnout, but backed with a formidable soundtrack of contemporary rock music. The Institute of Welsh Affairs brings together politicians and cultural figures to reflect on how ‘Cool Cymru’ helped create an atmosphere for a ‘Yes’ vote, and on what has and hasn’t been achieved in the two decades since 1999. David Melding has been a Conservative Assembly Member since 1999. Bethan Elfyn joined BBC Radio 1 and has now been a champion of new Welsh music for over two decades. Rachel Trezise won the first Dylan Thomas Prize and has become one of the leading writers of prose and plays in post-devolution Wales. Writer Rhian E Jones’s article on the relationship between politics and culture at the time of Cool Cymru appears in the latest issue of the welsh agenda. Dylan Moore is the editor of the welsh agenda and the current Cymrawd Rhyngwladol Cymru Greadigol Hay Festival / Hay Festival Creative Wales International Fellow. In partnership with the Institute for Welsh Affairs

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