For us desis, brought up on Blyton and Wodehouse, the idea of England waking up to the power of the written word might seem a bit odd. But no less a personage than Prime Minister Gordon Brown thinks the UK’s “new seriousness” is best exemplified by its surfeit of summer book festivals.
Having realized its greatest export is not Marmite or marmalade, but Shelley, Shaw and Shakespeare (and, okay, McEwan, Mitchell and Banville), the UK now hosts more than 100 jamborees for the bibliophile. Non-readers, despair not, for most of these festivals cater to you too, with walks, events—and the promise of a sighting of notoriously reclusive authors.
Clinton called the Hay-on-Wye “the Woodstock of the mind” (Justin Williams)
If you choose just one, make it the Guardian Hay Festival (22 May-1 June). Held every year in the tiny town of Hay-on-Wye on the England-Wales border, this is Britain’s biggest and most famous literary festival. Former US president Bill Clinton, a participant several years ago, called it “the Woodstock of the mind”. So, put that in your pipe and inhale it.
Hay-on-Wye is well known not just for hosting the 100,000 people who flock here every summer, it is also a unique book town that boasts of some three dozen used-book stores. For a town with a population of around 1,300 people, that’s one bookshop for every 35 residents.
For a measure of its eccentricity, look no further than Richard Booth. In 1961, the Oxford graduate bought the old fire station in the village and opened up a second-hand bookshop. Several others followed, saving Hay from the economic decline of other market towns. By the late 1970s, Hay was internationally recognized as England’s first “Book Town”. In April 1977, after a few too many drinks, Booth declared that Hay would secede from England and become an independent kingdom with himself as its king. It was a joke, but the news made national headlines after the local town council furiously denied it. The attempt at independence went ahead, though: Booth crowned himself king in the grounds of the 900-year-old Hay Castle (which he owns) and his horse was named prime minister of the new Kingdom of Hay.
As a publicity stunt, it worked like a dream. Today, Richard Booth’s bookshop (The Limited), on 44 Lion Street, is Europe’s largest second-hand bookstore. With more than a million titles in the shop, you are bound to find something you like. If you don’t, head over to Hay Castle. On the grounds of Booth’s residence is an open air “honesty bookshop”. Rusty shelves line the old castle walls and, come summer, they are stacked with dog-eared books accessible 24 hours a day. Take what you want—hardbacks are priced at 50 pence and paperbacks at 30 pence, each. Don’t bother looking around for a cashier to pay your bill. Drop your money in a collection box in the wall.