Hay-on-Wye
| Hay-on-Wye Y Gelli Gandryll |
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| Basic data | |||
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| county | Powys | ||
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| population | 1,846 (2007) | ||
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| Website | www.hay-on-wye.co.uk | ||
Hay-on-Wye ( Welsh Y Gelli Gandryll ) is a small Welsh village with just under 1,850 inhabitants (2007) right on the border with England .
Hay-on-Wye is located on the River Wye and is world-famous as the first and to this day largest so-called book village .
Book village
Today there are almost 40 second-hand bookshops in the small town that attract bibliophiles from all over the world. Whole houses are crammed with books, often from the attic to the last corner of the basement.
Hay-on-Wye as a book village has existed since 1961, when the bookseller Richard Booth opened his second-hand bookshop and publicized the idea of a “book village”.
In order to gain more publicity in the media, Richard Booth proclaimed Hay to be an independent kingdom on April 1, 1977 and proclaimed himself king. Although this action had no significance under international law, it made the place known.
Following the example of Hay-on-Wye, other book towns emerged:
- Wigtown (Scotland)
- Sedbergh (England)
- Blaenavon (Wales)
- Bredevoort (Netherlands)
- Montolieu (France)
- Mühlbeck - Friedersdorf (Germany)
Richard Booth's second-hand bookshop
Bookstores
Book stand
Richard Booth, 1984
Literature festival
In 1988 Peter Florence initiated a literature festival (English: Hay Festival of Literature & Arts ), which has been held annually in Hay-on-Wye with celebrities from all over the world ever since. It lasts ten days and takes place in late May to early June and has been sponsored by the British daily Guardian since 2002 . Before that, the Sunday Times was the main sponsor.
Former US President Bill Clinton called this festival in 2001 as the " Woodstock of the mind " ( " The Woodstock of the mind ").
At the same time as the festival, there is a children's festival called “ Hay Fever ” (“ hay fever ”). In addition, it has also spread abroad. Similar festivals are also held in the cities of Cartagena (Colombia) and Segovia (Spain).
Twin town
Since 2006, Hay-on-Wye has been a twin town of Timbuktu ( Mali ), which is also famous for its book tradition.
Web links
- www.hay-on-wye.co.uk (English)
Coordinates: 52 ° 4 ′ N , 3 ° 7 ′ W