Make Hay While The Sun Shines. By Uncle Monty.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

At The 2008 Hay Literary Festival.

By Uncle Monty, reporting from Wales.

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Thousands of folks from around the world have already

arrived here at the first weekend opening of the 11-day

2008 Hay Festival that is set at Hay-on-Wye in Powys,

Wales. The village of Hay was itself first mentioned in

Welsh writings some 1,060 years ago and its native

name is called Y Gelli Gandryll.

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Literary fans from around the world trek yearly to this

"village of books" that sits neatly on the border of Wales and

England. Hay-on-Wye is known as the "used and old book

capital of the world" with an estimated two million

books for sale right here at where I myself now stand.

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I'm gazing happily at all I see and I plan to see and do

alot more in the next three days during this my first

visit to the quaint village of Hay-on-Wye at where, iron-

ically, this world event is taking place at what it truly is.

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Famous names attending the festival also roll off the

tongue like The Who's Who -of modern world literature,

of the arts, of the media, of politics, of classical music,

of dance, and of song. And, also, of roaring comedy

and slap stick.
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Let my tongue now roll off a few famous names for starters
at The Hay Festival: Gore Vidal, John Irving, Jimmy Carter,

Martin Amis, Boris Spassky, Salman Rushdie, Judith Kerr,
John Wesley Harding, Roy Hattersley, Ian McEvan, Philippe

Sands, Siri Hustvedt, Cherie Blair, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Carl

Bernstein, Kathleen Turner, Jools Holland, John Prescott,

Francesca Simon, Gene Robinson, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzer.

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If you don’t know the names of at least 7 out of the 21
names presented herein, then you shouldn’t be at The
Hay Fesitval at all. If you know 14 out of the 21 names,

then you're pretty well read. If you know the names of

all the 21, then you should be a noted writer or a national

news reporter if you’re not already. Ah, yes, I know all the

names myself and that’s just one reason why I’m already

here at The Hay Festival. But sadly, I'm still not a noted

writer or a national news reporter. Well, not quite yet.

-

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There are many other not-quite-so-famous names here,

too. There is one man called Bird with John being his first

name. Of the 472 venues (or "items" that the organisers

insist on calling them) at The Hay Festival, John Bird is

listed as the 202th and 310th venues at the festival at

where he’ll talk his head off for five quid per person.

That's if you want to hear him talk about climate change

(yep, that's right, climate change) with Andrew Simms

and Tom Hodgkinson on May 27th or hear what John’s

got to say about his practical 10 Keys to Success

on May 29th at Hay-on-Wye with Paul Blezard.

So while I’ve arrived here at the opening week,

John Bird of The Big Issue -will arrive instead at

the closing week of The Hay Festival. So it’s unlikely

we’ll bump into each other here like we have in

the periodic past around London.
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Other noted names at the 2008 Hay Festival include

Charlie Higson, Jimmy Carr, Sir Mike Jackson, Kevin Brooks,

David Crystal, Willam Nicholson, Joanne Harris, Orlando

Figes, Bruno Ganz, Jo Brand, Karen Armstrong, Rose Gray,
Owen O’Neill, Jamie Oliver, Julie Donaldson, Garry Kasparov,
Hanif Kureishi, and Patrick Marber. So of the 18 additional
names now given, if you don’t know at least six of the names,

then again you shouldn’t be here at Hay. I suspect those who

don’t know whatsoever any such names aren’t here anyway …
And, thank goodness they aren’t …
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I have tickets for about 12 different venues or “items”

with many others already long sold out before I even

hit the festival website. At all the venues I'll attend,
I’ll take my notes, ask my probing questions, talk up-

front to the folkz involved at the venues, and hopefully,

above all else, get some great photographs for whatever
stories I may later write on my blog about my stay here.

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In the meantime, I’ll make hay while the sun shines …
I hope you do, too, whether you're here at Hay or

checking out one of my almost 125 online stories

written specifically for you ...

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Best wishes, Uncle Monty.

+Memorial Day Weekend, USA.
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:: A Worthy Word of Public Thanks ::
Just before leaving for Wales, Nick Alfrey kindly printed
some 500 quality “blog cards” or business cards as an un-
expected gift to me from his top-of-the-line printing business.
He also said I was now eligible for a free re-order at whenever I run
out of what he’s already printed for me. Thank you again so much, Nick.
Everybody loves the cards, the design and fonts, since giving them out.

Many cheers to my good friend, Nick ... From Uncle Monty.

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