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Hay Festival Winter Weekend brings seasonal spirit to Wales
The annual event commemorates the beginning of Advent with a host of talks, comedy, music and more
Summer's festival season may be long gone, but there's still a chance to get a dose of culture as the winter edition of Hay Festival once again arrives in Wales.
The programme is customarily diverse: beyond headline comedians such as Mark Watson and Andy Hamilton, visitors can discover the likes of Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn, the duo behind the hit podcast The Scummy Mummies, who will be bringing their live show to the event.
The literary line-up is similarly wide-ranging, spanning fact and fiction. Louisa Thomsen Brits, author of The Book of Hygge, will impart her top tips for making the most of the Danish comfort concept that has found favour worldwide this season. Meanwhile, Ben Rawlence, who spent seven years as a researcher for Human Rights Watch, will be talking about his time in Kenya, which informed his writing of City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp.
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There's also the opportunity to get hands-on with a series of workshops. The wittily entitled Spirits of Christmas brings together three family companies to showcase their small-batch drinks, from botanical gin and whisky to Welsh wine. Elsewhere, Tashi Mannox, who specialises in Tibetan calligraphy, will be leading a writing masterclass with a difference: participants will create an enso, a traditional style of painting in which a circle is hand-drawn with one uninhibited brushstroke.
Beyond the ticketed events, Hay-on-Wye itself will be transformed with a range of additional attractions. On Saturday 26 November, the Food Festival takes over Market Square, with more than 40 stalls selling local produce, while the next day, visitors can seek out pre-loved clothing and antique treasures at the vintage fair.
Hay Festival Winter Weekend runs from 25 to 27 November; hayfestival.com
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