PFD CLIENTS APPEARING AT HAY LITERARY FESTIVAL

May 23, 2019

Today marks the first day of the Hay Festival Wales, a gathering of writers, artists, academics, and thinkers with hundreds of ticketed events, founded by PFD client Peter Florence and his father. We are delighted to announce that a number of our talented clients (including Rosie Boycott, Simon Schama, Jeanette Winterson, and many more) will be at Hay events over the next week, many of which have tickets still available! Click on the events below to book.

Simon Schama is an illustrious historian, professor, history writer, and writer-presenter, whose eighteen books have been translated into 16 languages. He will be leading and participating in multiple talks:

  • FREE THINKING: A BBC Radio 3 conversation about how writing about art can help us embrace a new way of seeing the work
  • REMBRANDT’S EYES: Schama asks – what is it that makes Rembrandt’s work so deeply moving, and how did he re-make the image of humanity?
  • 60 YEARS AND COUNTING: Simon Schama and Martin Sorrell discuss their lifelong friendship
  • JOHN JULIUS IN THE WORLD: Simon Schama and others (including Joanna Lumley and Artemis Cooper) pay tribute to the celebrated historian John Julius Norwich

Jeanette Winterson is a celebrated writer of several decorated novels whose most recent novel, Frankissstein is being released this week. She will be giving talks including:

  • START THE WEEK WITH BBC RADIO 4: Tom Sutcliffe presents Radio 4’s flagship programme of ideas, exploring the impact of human ingenuity – from the myth of Frankenstein to geoengineering – with guests Jeanette Winterson, Naomi Wolf and John Browne
  • THE BOOKS THAT INSPIRED ME: Winterson and a group of all-start guests discuss the books that motivated them to write or set them off on journeys in their lives
  • FRANKISSSTEIN: Discussion of Winterson’s new novel which reboots Mary Shelley for the 21st century, as a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love – against their better judgement – with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor leading the public debate around AI

Journalist, publisher, and feminist Rosie Boycott will be leading a number of brilliant conversations about everything from environmentalism to antisemitism to fake news:

  • WILDING: Conversation with Isabella Tree about a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex
  • SURGERY ON THE FRONT LINE: Conversation with David Nott about his work volunteering as a war doctor in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones
  • ANTISEMITISM, HERE AND NOW: Conversation with Deborah Lipstadt about current antisemitism across the political right and left, in America, across Europe, and in Britain
  • MAM’S LAST HUG: Conversation with Fran de Waal about animal emotions and what they can teach us about our own
  • SEPARATING SCIENCE FACT FROM SCIENCE FICTION: Rosie Boycott, PFD client Hannah Critchlow, Fiona Fox, Bronwen Maddox, and Magdalena Skipper discuss how to guard against fake news about true science
  • THERE IS NO PLANET B: Conversation with Mike Berners-Lee about how to take action against climate destruction
  • AN ENGLISH EDUCATION?: Conversation with Francis Green, David Kynaston, Rajvi Glasbrook Griffiths, and Alex Beard about the impact of English private schools
  • HOW I GOT HERE WITH ROSIE BOYCOTT: An in-conversation event where Hay Festival Youth Council members interview Rosie Boycott, programmed and delivered by young people for young people
  • IN EXTREMIS: Conversation with Lindsey Hilsum about the life of war correspondent Marie Colvin
  • BLUEPRINT: Conversation with Robert Plomin about the impact of DNA in shaping who we are

Bryony Gordon is an author, journalist, and mental health campaigner who will be leading several talks on mental health:

  • WAYFARING: Walk alongside Bryony Gordon as she talks about her reading of Carson McCullers and the ways that writing can provide solace and mental health support
  • YOU GOT THIS: Bryony Gordon will share the crucial life lessons she wished she had known when she was a teenager
  • FINDING AND LOSING SCHIZOPHRENIA: Nathan Filer talks to Bryony Gordon about how we perceive, understand, and stigmatise schizophrenia

Tony Juniper is an author and Executive Director for Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF-UK:

Onjali Q. Raúf is a novelist and founder of Making Herstory, an organisation mobilising men, women and children from all walks of life to tackle the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK and beyond

  • THE BOY AT THE BACK OF THE CLASS: Raúf discusses her debut novel, which portrays the refugee crisis through the eyes of a child in a way that is accessible, warm, and funny
  • REFUGEES, REALITIES, AND REPRESENTATIONS: Raúf joins authors Sita Brahmachari and Emma Taylor to discuss the realities of refugees’ experiences and how they’re represented in literature

Hannah Critchlow is a neuroscientist with a grounding in neuropsychiatry who presents her work for radio, TV, and live audiences:

  • THE SCIENCE OF FATE: Critchlow discusses the ways that neuroscience challenges the existence of free will
  • LEONARDO 500: Critchlow, alongside Jerry Brotton, Catherine Fletcher, and Germaine Greer, celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci

Erling Kagge is a Norwegian author and explorer, who was a part of the team of the first men to reach the North Pole unsupported:

  • WALKING: Kagge explains the joys of walking and discusses his love of exploration
  • WAYFARING: Kagge leads a walk exploring his books Silence in the Age of Noise and Walking: One Step At A Time

Joan Smith is a novelist, columnist, and human rights campaigner who will give a talk in conversation with lawyer Nafzir Azal about the connection between domestic violence and male political terrorism.

Award-winning journalist and political columnist Matthew d’Ancona will be talking to Vernon Bogdanor about the impact of Brexit and the constitutional consequences of Britain’s EU membership.

Author and activist Kate Nicholls will be speaking about her memoir, which recounts her experience of raising her five children in Botswana and the impact of post-traumatic stress on her life.

Author, journalist, and podcaster Elizabeth Day will discuss what she has learned from and about failure.

Writer and blogger Jesse Norman will discuss the future of electric cars in a rapidly changing age.

Acclaimed children’s author Ross Welford will be leading an interactive, energetic session centred around his books.

Debut novelist Lisa Thompson will be in conversation with Emma Carroll about the art of suspense, and keeping your readers hooked.

Author, speaker, and practicing barrister Jamie Susskind will be speaking on the ways that digital technology transforms politics and society, following his book Future Politics.