Hay Festival welcomes Dench, Fisher and Fry – WBNews

Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher, Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench and comedian Stephen Fry are among the headliners at this year’s Hay Festival. The event, which starts on Thursday, will be broadcast on the BBC’s television, radio and online networks. Several radio and television shows will be live from the festival, with a global audience on BBC World News. The 27th festival runs until 1 June in the small Powys border town of Hay-on-Wye. This year’s link up with the BBC is the start of a three-year partnership between the festival and the broadcaster, after Sky Arts’s coverage ended. A full programme of events will be broadcast over BBC Radios 2, 3, 4, 6 Music as well as BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. Image copyright PA Image caption Dame Judi Dench, Jennifer Saunders and Stephen Fry are in the line-up The full line-up at this year’s festival includes literary heavyweights such as Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Siri Hustvedt, Lorrie Moore and Robert Harris. The world of science is represented by figures such as Richard Dawkins, Marcus Du Sautoy and geneticist Steve Jones. Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King, now Baron King of Lothbury, will join a panel including Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson and Baroness (Helena) Kennedy QC examining Britain’s institutions and history. Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, festival director Peter Florence said: “We’ve been incredibly lucky. It’s a really exciting mix of Hollywood and Nobel Prize-winning scientists and really thrilling writers from all around the world. “I’m…more detail