Hay Festival

Published on behalf of Anna Fleming, Young Person's Project Worker

This weekend, Sophie, Sam, Eleanor and Anna ventured down to Hay festival. Hay is a small town on the border between Wales and Herefordshire, which every June is host to one of the biggest literature festivals in the UK.

Simon Armitage had the audience in stitches as he read poetry from various collections. We were captivated by the rhythms of his poetry. They seemed so natural, especially read in his soft Huddersfield accent, yet Simon told us he writes for the sound of the poem: when he has finished redrafting the poems there are rarely any words left the same from the first draft.

'You’re Beautiful' was our favourite poem. It has many down-to-earth, comic observations and juxtapositions that made everyone laugh:

You're beautiful because you drink a litre of water and eat five pieces of fruit a day.

I'm ugly for taking the line that a meal without meat is a beautiful woman with one eye.

The repeated lines slowed the pace, and created a sincerity which was very moving.

Afterwards we got to meet Simon and had a photo taken with him. He was a little reluctant to be in the picture, but I think he enjoyed it!

Children’s author Michael Morpurgo was another star of the show. For an hour and a half, Michael retold War Horse, accompanied by songs and music. It was captivating. We were particularly impressed with his ability to do accents, including French, German, Welsh and Devonshire!

Fighting off small children, Eleanor and Anna met Michael Morpurgo afterwards, who was very friendly and looked fabulous in Eleanor’s hat.