20 Public Figures Recommend Books as Hay Festival Runs Through May 31
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 23
20 Public Figures Recommend Books as Hay Festival Runs Through May 31
5 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 23
20 writers, actors, politicians and campaigners shared book recommendations in a reading-themed feature tied to the Hay Festival, which runs until May 31.
Malala Yousafzai praised Isabella Hammad’s Enter Ghost, while David Miliband highlighted Lea Ypi’s Free as a warning-filled memoir about oppression and freedom.
Several contributors framed reading as solace or renewal: Karen Hao cited Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark, Sarah Hall recalled reading Peter Hobbs to her dying father, and Matt Haig called Calvino’s Invisible Cities “a holiday for the mind.”
The list ranged across fiction, memoir, history and classics, from Shirley Jackson and Ursula K Le Guin to Treasure Island and The Black Jacobins, underscoring reading’s appeal across genres and generations.
As influencer lists rise, what now defines a 'classic' book for a new generation of readers?
Can the literary call to 'do nothing' truly counter the pressures of our hyper-connected world?
How do authors ethically use state archives to fictionalize and reclaim suppressed family histories?