What I did at the Hay Festival

Two children's books site members embarked on the ultimate books experience: the Hay Festival. Here's what they got up to
Hay Festival 2014
Enter those who dare... Children's books site members report from the Hay Festival 2014. Photograph: theguardian.com

What I did at the Hay Festival

Two children's books site members embarked on the ultimate books experience: the Hay Festival. Here's what they got up to

Ellathebookworm

The Hay festival is a celebration of writing, from poets and novelists to comedians and performers. It is held in Hay-on-Wye, which is hidden in the grassy depths of Wales, and is a book-lovers heaven. Admittedly, on the day which I attended, it was dull, drizzly and grey, but the atmosphere was buzzing and the shops were thriving.

After an extremely monotonous drive encountering various obstacles along the way, we arrived in the village. Due to these unexpected annoyances, I ended up missing my first booked event, and decided to spend my new free time exploring the village centre. At this point, I was extremely grateful for the ticket system, which enables you to book individual event tickets rather than a general entry pass.

The narrow streets were packed full of a wide variety of tourists; from old couples clutching old cameras and stressed parents struggling to unite their children, to lone teenagers clutching records and unique dressers with rainbow hair and kaleidoscope clothes. There were plenty of independent bookshops, with stories of every kind spilling off the shelves and across the floors, and many were small, old-fashioned shops with a cosy, homely atmosphere. Much to my Dad's delight, we managed to find the record store, and picked up many classic LPs! A trip to the tiny fudge shop prepared us for the long, rainy walk to the festival site. As the mud gathered on the pavements and turned into a wet, brown sludge, I began to regret my footwear choice of turquoise Converse Allstars!

Entering the grounds, we were glad to find that the walkways were under shelter, and my feet were in turmoil no more. It was a surprisingly small area: there were multiple stages, a food hall, some independent shops and restaurants, a gigantic bookstore and not much else. Rather than being boring, however, this instead evoked the same homely feel as the Hay-on-Wye bookstores.

Cassandra Clare at Hay Festival 2014
Ellathebookworm meets Cassandra Clare! Photograph: theguardian.com

The enormous bookshop was wrapped around by a long queue to a Cassandra Clare book signing. I've been to a few signings before, and was sceptical as to whether it was worth spending hours in a line or not, but the staff were so friendly, and it was done so efficiently that I decided to take the chance. What really surprised me about the signing process was that there was not really any cut-off point. I thought that this was very generous of the staff and also of Cassandra herself. I have been to a few signings before in which I have been stopped because of time, so this was a nice revelation.

After a long debate on which of the many food-stalls to visit in the dining hall, I went to see Steven Camden give a speech on spoken word, and his new book Tape. If you don't know Steven Camden, I would really recommend that you look him up, because he was an extremely inspirational person who really connected and engaged with the audience whilst informing and instructing them. I honestly learned a lot of useful techniques to use in story-writing and telling, and had a great laugh in there, as well.

My last event of the day was Lauren Child and Sara Fanelli talking about pictures in books. They were essentially interviewed, accompanied by only each other and a rather disorganised powerpoint. Although there were a few younger children in the audience becoming rather restless, Lauren and Sara really produced an interesting speech opening up their worlds, the ways in which they are inspired and the different atmospheres which they need to work. I gained a lot of interesting knowledge about illustrating and learned a lot about the different processes that illustrators go through.

By this point it was time to return home, although there were plenty of beautiful bed and breakfasts in which we could have stayed. I would completely recommend Hay Festival to any book lover; there is something for everyone in the family and the village of Hay-On-Wye is absolutely gorgeous. I will definitely be returning next year for more than one day, to explore more of its wonderful offers.

HGirl1000's Hay Diary

28th May 2014

My day at the Hay Festival was brilliant. It was my first ever time at the festival so I was very excited. Because of the mud, all of the events were fifteen minutes late so we got to look around the site. It's signposted so finding the way was easy. It is a very beautiful site with loads of strange and interesting ornaments like a circle of books that had been stuck together and balanced so it stood up.

The first event I went to was Cathy Cassidy. She talked a bit about her new book, Sweet Honey. This is the fifth book in the Chocolate Box Girls series. This series is about a step-family and each book tells the tale of one of the five step-sisters; Honey is the oldest of the siblings. Cathy also talked about her web- site and available e- books.

After lunch I went to see Holly Smale's event. This was set up in the form of an interview. She answered some very interesting questions and told us about how the Geek Girl series is based on her own life but the books have a few twists. As well as this she told us about how she was bullied at school and the felling of wanting the just vanish. She also read out an extract from her new book, Picture Perfect, that I later bought and got signed. This was very exciting as it isn't out in the shops yet!

Holly Smale at Hay Festival 2014
HGirl100 and Holly Smale! Photograph: theguardian.com

Today as been a very exciting day and I have had loads of fun and exhilarating experiences.

29th May 2014

After looking around the beautiful town of Hay-on-Wye, going round second-hand (and first-hand!) bookshops, stationers and the castle, we had lunch in a place called Three Tuns. After this we went to the book festival site and our event of the day. It was an interview with Jane Elson, Hilary McKay and Natasha Farrant. They talked about their family and friends books as well as answering some questions like, "is there a lesson to be learnt from your books?". Jane Elson wrote A Room Full Of Chocolate; Hilary McKay, Binny For Short and Natasha, the Diaries Of Bluebell Gadsby series. This was a very interesting show and my last one of the day.

30th May 2014

Today the first event we went to was at 1pm: Michael Morpurgo. He talked about the inspiration for his books and his passion for writing. As well as this, he told us why he writes so much about the war, animals and events that have a huge impact on the world. He also talked to Maurice Wren (Chief Executive of the British Refuge Council) about his book, Shadow. It was an extremely inspirational and very good event.

The next event we went to, at 2.30pm, was Robert Muchamore about his new book, Rock War, and Sophie McKenzie about her new thriller, Split Second. They looked back on their years of writing and gave some tips about how to become a writer.

Then we went to 'Using technology in art and design'. Tom Percival talked about how he makes trailers for his picture books and the programs he uses.

In the evening we went to a music show, the Afro Celt Sound System. They played an hour of music to celebrate 15 years together. They play a mixture of African and Celtic music mashed together to make something completely new. It was very good and extremely different.

31st May 2014

Today I only went to two events as we had to leave at 1pm. The event I went to was about the Famous Five. It was an event that involved the audience and got everyone to 'solve a mystery'. After this we went to an event about Noah's Ark and what actually happened. The type of boat; the size of boat and what we think happened according to two stone tablets from the time. They have been handed down from generation to generation. After this interesting talk we set out for our 4 and a half hour journey home.

My final thoughts on it

As this was my first book festival, I feel that it definitely is the start of many more book festivals for me! It was a very fun and exciting experience; on my busier days I did get a bit tired but overall I was fine as I had quite a lot of lie-ins when I didn't have any events to get up for. Camping was fun and if you're going to go to the festival camping just gives it a bit more flavour. I would definitely advise other teens, or young adult readers, to go to the festival as there is a show for everyone, whatever kind of books you're into. I really enjoyed going to the Hay Festival and I can't wait to see if I can go back next year!
https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/jun/18/hay-festival-childrens-books-report
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