Hay-on-Wye

Book Fever

Language Level Basic

Standard: American Accent

Source: www.speakup.com.br Ed 252

Why do 80.000 come to Hay-on-Wye, a small town on the England-Wales border with only 1.900 inhabitants, every spring? Certainly, Hay is a pretty town, surrounded by beautiful countryside. It is also famous  for its second-hand bookshops there are 39 of them.

Yet the reason all these people have come here is the Hay Festival, an annual celebration of literature and the arts. This year’s festival runs from May 22^nd to June 1^st.

BIG NAMES

The Hay Festival, sponsored by The Guardian newspaper, invites writers and, celebrities from around the world. Former US president Bill Clinton who came here in 2005, called it “The Woodstock of the mind.” This year’s participants include John Irving, Alan Bennet, Judith Kerr and former US president Jimmy Carter.

THE KING OF HAY

Hay-on-Wye first became famous back in 1977, when an eccentric local character, Richard Booth, declared the town an “independent kingdom” as an elaborated publicity stunt. Booth, who had bought the town’s castle and started its second-hand bookshop industry, appointed himself king with the right appointed Dukes and other nobles.

The British government is currently under investigation for selling peerages: Booth has sold them for years without a single problem! He owns one of the largest second-hand bookshops in the world, and has encouraged many of his assistants to open their own specialist bookshops in the town.