Hay Festival Faces is Hay Festival's Book of the Month

Hay Festival returned in-person to Hay-on-Wye this year for the first time since 2019. Launching the best new fiction and non-fiction, while offering insights and debate around some of the biggest issues of our times alongside a vibrant programme of music, comedy and performance for all ages, the programme saw 500 speakers take part over 11 days, back to its pre-pandemic scale and attendance. 

Now the variety and vibrancy of these guests is brilliantly captured by local photographer Billie Charity in Hay Festival Faces, a new photo book from Graffeg. Character fills the pages of this publication – Britain’s favourite polymath Stephen Fry, musician Jarvis Cocker, Welsh Book of the Year-winner Caryl Lewis, His Dark Materials break-out star Amir Wilson, International Booker Prize-winner Geetanjali Shree, actress and singer Minnie Driver, politician Hillary Rodham Clinton – a full range of what the festival has to offer.

Billie Charity is an award-winning portrait and reportage photographer who has worked closely with David Hurn, John Bulmer and Niall McDiarmid. Her clients include the National Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, the Canal and River Trust, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, the Poets’ Society, Country Living and Faber. Her two previous photo books, People of Hay and Colour, were launched to critical acclaim.