Applications for Hay Writers at Work 2024 are now open!
Offering a fully programmed week of creative development opportunities, Writers at Work allows the selected writers to engage in the main Festival events, to attend masterclasses and workshops with publishers, agents and, crucially, with established international artists.
Open to writers working in English and Welsh across genres – fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry – applications are now open via the Hay Festival website.
Writers at Work is a Hay Festival project supported by Literature Wales – the national company for the development of literature – and run by writer Tiffany Murray, whose latest book, My Family and Other Rock Stars, is published in May.
Participants to date have achieved a spread of award wins and shortlistings, including the International Dylan Thomas Prize, Wales Book of the Year, The New Welsh Writing Award, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, Wales Media Award, Welsh Rising Star Award, and Creative Wales Award.
Established in 2016 to nurture Welsh talent writing in both languages, Writers at Work was paused during the Covid-19 pandemic. 2024 will mark its sixth year.
Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said: “We are delighted to launch our Writers at Work 2024 call-out and offer a programme of activities to meet the challenges Wales’ emerging creatives face today. As our past cohorts continue to shape the cultural landscape in Wales and further afield, we look forward to finding the project’s next selection with Literature Wales.”
Literature Wales Artistic Director Leusa Llewelyn said: “We’re excited to be continuing our relationship with Hay Festival to deliver another edition of Writers at Work. Set in the most famous literary festival in the world, this writer development programme brings together the very best visiting writers, editors, publishers and agents with a cohort of exciting emerging Welsh talent to share
information, to make connections and to encourage creativity.”
Former recipient Sophie Buchaillard, author of Assimilation, said: “Writers at Work was an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the best names in the sector, attend fascinating talks, showcase my writing at the Hay Festival and develop a supportive community of friends and fellow writers.”
Former participant Taz Rahman, author of East of the Sun West of the Moon, said: “The writing part is the loneliest business – like a long-distance runner tingling in the stiffest breeze. Unique opportunities such as the Hay Festival Writers at Work programme mixes creative endeavours with knowledge of the writing world, allowing the writer to travel further in ways as yet unimagined.”
Former participant Emma Smith, author of And I Hear Dragons, said: “Being a part of Hay Festival Writers at Work last year was magical and transformative. After nine days immersed in workshops and events (and sunshine!), learning from leading writers such as Douglas Stuart, Max Porter, and Kit de Waal, I came away a different writer: more focused, ready to challenge myself creatively, and perhaps most importantly, more connected. It was just what I needed following the pandemic. I have since completed my second novel and my first children’s poem will be published by Firefly Press in And I Hear Dragons – a collection edited by National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa which hits the shelves later this year. Don’t hesitate to apply; I can’t recommend it enough!”