Hay Festivals and the British Council have jointly launched a global partnership at the Hay-on-Wye Festival in May 2010. Working together to bring the UK’s best authors and thinkers to an international audience, the global partnership will see festivals taking place in Beirut, Belfast, Wales, Zacatecas, Segovia, Nairobi, Maldives, Kerala and Cartagena.

The British Council is known for working with great British institutions such as Tate, the Royal Opera House and the Royal Court, and supporting them in their international aspirations. With this in mind, we are delighted to add Hay Festivals - an outstanding British brand - to this list.

Having collaborated with Hay Festivals for some time, this launch marks the start of a more formal relationship consolidating years of exchange and teamwork between the two organisations. Through this partnership the British Council will work both with Hay and our colleagues overseas to raise the profile of Britain through literature.

The first Hay Festival in India is set to take place in Kerala this November, as a result of a visit facilitated by the British Council. We invited representatives from Teamworks, who are now Hay’s 'delivery partner' in India, to attend the Hay-on-Wye Festival in 2009, and this was followed by a reciprocal exchange visit by the Hay team to India.

As well as on-the-ground support in India, the British Council is providing advice and input on Indian authors for the programme, following the highly successful Lit Sutra/Through Fresh Eyes programmes which started at The London Book Fair in 2009. We will also be supporting British writers’ attendance at the inaugural Hay Festival in Kerala.

Susie Nicklin, Director Literature at the British Council comments:

'The Hay Festival is a wonderful space for writers, thinkers and academics from around the world to meet and exchange ideas with a passionate audience and to build lasting relationships. As the UK’s cultural relations organisation we are thrilled to be able to work with the Hay team to support this invaluable cultural exchange and to help bring it to a global audience.'

As part of this partnership we are also very pleased to be able to support the Nicholas Stern lecture, A Blueprint for a Safer Planet, chaired by Rosie Boycott and introduced by Martin Davidson, Chief Executive British Council. The lecture took place on the 29 May at the Hay Festival and will be screened at the festival’s international editions during 2010/11.

The British Council is also supporting the South African writers Imraan Coovadia, Niq Mhlongho and Zakes Mda to attend the Hay-on-Wye Festival in May as part of our ongoing programme of cultural exchange between the UK and South Africa, started at this year’s cultural programme at The London Book Fair, entitled One Nation Many Voices.

Hay Festival Calendar:
15-18 April 2010 Beirut 39, Lebanon
27 May - 6 June 2010 Hay Festival, Wales and Belfast, Northern Ireland
15-18 July 2010 Hay Festival Zacatecas, Mexico
23-26 September 2010 Hay Festival Segovia, Spain
1-3 October 2010 Hay Festival Storymoja Nairobi, Kenya
14 -17 October 2010 Hay Festival, Maldives
12-14 November 2010 Hay Festival Kerala, India
27-30 January 2011 Hay Festival Cartagena, Colombia
26 May - 5 June 2011 Hay Festival, Wales
September 2011 Segovia, Spain
6-9 October 2011 Xalapa, Mexico
1-3 October 2011 Nairobi, Kenya
November 2011 Kerala, India
January 2012 Cartagena, Colombia

Photo on Left: Author Gillian Clarke with British Council representative Christopher Rawlings at Hay Wales, 2011 © Hay Festivals.