Hay day

Hay Festival enters its 19th year this May ) but it's no longer a small town industry -- now it has sister events in Cartagena, Colombia and Segovia, Spain.

This year's festival is 'unsurpassed' according to its director, Peter Florence, with Seamus Heaney, Al Gore, Alan Alda and PJ Harvey on the bill, but it is also the year that Hay Festival goes green.

Having heard Al Gore's Climate Change show earlier in the year Peter was blown away by it and there is a regime in place for the festival to become carbon neutral.

"I've never really engaged with it before but now realise we have to," he says.

"I don't get blown away that often."

There will be a full range of recycling facilities (including composting) at this year's site and the team is working with Web of Hope to assess its environmental impact and how to reduce it.

The festival has secured a new, permanent 25-acre site, which is slightly further out of town than last year but which indicates a commitment to the town.

"Nothing makes me laugh more than reading somewhere that we're thinking of moving the festival to Ludlow," Peter says. "The festival is all about Hay, the team members all live here.

"There are a number of good writers here and it is a forum for literary activity."

What has happened in the past 12 months, however, is that the festival has gone international.

Having been asked to consult on a number of other festivals around the world, (including a wine festival in Georgia!) Peter realised the sense in taking the brand, rather than his expertise, to new shores.

"It also makes for some great holidays!" he laughs.

"My current plan is to run a festival in Zanzibar but the team is not sold on the idea yet."

His second family is the core team in Hay, many of whom have worked for the festival for years and for some of whom it has been their only job.

"We all know each other's roles so that we can step into one another's shoes if need be," Peter says.

"At the moment everyone's learning Spanish in preparation for September."

His own family lives in north London, the most recent addition to which arrived just two months before last year's festival - male twins to add to sons Isaac, aged eight and Ru, five.

The search is now on for a house in Hay, which Peter jokingly points out he has helped to make unaffordable.

"The boys are at the age where they want to play in streams and climb trees and you just can't do that in Stoke Newington," he says.

With the exception of 2001, when the American market refused to travel to the UK because of foot and mouth, the festival seems to have been on an increasingly upwards trend.

It brings in about 100,000 visitors to a town with a population of 1,500 and many of the businesses rely on the event for a significant proportion of their annual turnover.

When members of the team were wondering whether it would have a festival at all in 2001 a group of farmers approached Peter and said that he absolutely must go ahead.

He struck upon the idea of bagging Clinton to give a talk for £100 a ticket which pulled in the crowds and the cash.

"It was a stunt," he admits, "which got us over that blip."

Festival highlights

Thursday May 25

Katherine Jenkins, the Eos Marquee. The Welsh diva in concert.

Friday May 26

Jane Glover, the Segovia Stage. Mozart's Women. The conductor analyses the man and his intense relationships with sister, wife and musical collaborators.

PJ Harvey on Tour - Please Leave Quietly. Filmed during the Uh Huh Her 2004 UK, European and US tour this is the first ever PJ Harvey DVD release and offers a look into a world of touring, performing and travelling.

Saturday May 27

Simon Callow, the Eos Marquee. Orson Welles - Hello Americans. The actor introduces the second volume of his biography taking the American wunderkind through the career-disaster years from Citizen Kane to Macbeth.

Joan Bakewell, the Elmley Foundation Theatre. An interview with the broadcaster, Just 70 columnist and author of The Centre of the Bed whose latest book explores belief from religious orthodoxy, to profoundest anti-theist scepticism.

Joanna Trollope, the Elmley Foundation Theatre The novellist talks to William Sieghart and develops her exacting exploration of contemporary family life , with her empty-nester tale Second Honeymoon.

Sunday May 28

Will Self, the Elmley Foundation Theatre. The superverbal and imaginative novelist and journalist launches his The Book of Dave, based around the rants of Dave Roth, a disgruntled East End taxi driver, who writes his woes down and buries them only to have them discovered 500 years later and used as the sacred text for a religion that has taken hold in the flooded remnants of London.

Thursday June1

Jacqueline Wilson. The Children's Laureate returns to Hay with Candy Floss and Clean Break and to share the understanding and honesty that has made her the UK's most popular and powerful children's writer.

Saturday June 3

Alan Alda, the EOS Marquee. Actor, writer and director, star of M*A*S*H ER, The West Wing, Crimes and, Misdemeanours and The Aviator Alan Alda talks to Peter Florence about his life and work and his memoir Never Have Your Dog Stuffed.