Click here for Juan Estaban Constain's blog on Hay and Click here for a short video from Hay.

Simon Armitage, Michael Morpurgo, Gillian Clarke, Germaine Greer and David Crystal will be speaking at the Hay-on-Wye festival as part of the British Council Series, a programme of five events and discussions, which takes place from 26 May to 5 June 2011.

For the first time, we will be screening events from the Series live to audiences brought together by the British Council in Mexico and Colombia. During the week, we will also be celebrating the launch of the inaugural Xalapa Festival in Mexico.

You will be able to follow our blog of the festival on this website, which will include contributions from a Colombian writer and journalist who will be acting as the British Council Festival Correspondent. More details to follow…

Building on the global partnership launched last year, the British Council and Hay Festival will continue to work together over the next twelve months on festivals in Spain, Mexico, India, Colombia and Kenya. The British Council is running programmes to develop audiences for literature events in each of these countries and we will be screening recordings of The British Council Series throughout the year.

British Council Series at Hay Festival, Wales:

Simon Armitage - Sunday 29 May at 17.30. The poet introduces and reads his new collection.

Michael Morpurgo - Tuesday 31 May 2011 at 11.30. An Elephant in the Garden.

Gillian Clarke - Thursday 2 June 2011 at 16.00. Nothing is until it has a Word The National Poet of Wales reflects on her Laureateship, and the place of poetry in the life of the nation.

Germaine Greer - Thursday 2 June at 17.20. The Forgotten Tradition: the Psalms and English Poetry. Some of the greatest treasures of the English language were written for the Coverdale Bible, the Bible Shakespeare read, and the Geneva Bible that was suppressed by order of James I.

David Crystal - Friday 3 June 2011 at 14.30. Begat. The Linguistics Prof plays with the extraordinary impact and influence of The King James Bible on the English Language.

Photo on Left: Gillian Clarke with Christopher Rawlings from the British Council at Hay Wales, 2011.