Text 'Hay festival' next to two women and two men

(Picture L-R: Margaret Drabble, Hannah Tovey, Owen Sheers & Zaffar Kunial)

Stammering event at the Hay Festival

Wednesday 15th March 2023 - 14:13

This June, the Hay Festival is hosting an event all about stammering and creativity. Find out how you can book tickets.

The 10-day festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales is an annual highlight for all lovers of literature and the arts.

This year, in association with STAMMA, the programme will feature 'Unspoken: The Secret Power of Stammering’, a discussion with novelists and poets who stammer about how a different kind of speech can give a different kind of voice.

A festival scene, with marquees, bunting and people on deck chairs

Organisers say, "From Lewis Carroll to Elizabeth Bishop, Marilyn Monroe to Emily Blunt, Aneurin Bevan to Joe Biden and King George VI, some of our greatest writers, actors, politicians and more have had a stammer that has shaped their relationship with language and influenced their creativity".

The panel will include authors Margaret Drabble (The Millstone, etc) and Hannah Tovey (The Education of Ivy Edwards), the novelist, poet and playwright Owen Sheers (The Dust Diaries, etc), and poet Zaffar Kunial (Us, Six).