Hay-on-Wye attracts a large number of book lovers looking for bargains, with more than 40 shops selling mainly second-hand books. The town is also home to the Hay Literature Festival, which brings together around 80,000 authors, publishers and literature fans from around the world at the end of May each year.
It all started in 1961 when Richard Booth opened his first second-hand bookshop in Hay in an old fire station. He travelled to America, where libraries were closing, bought books there, and shipped them back to Hay-on-Wye. Over time, similar second-hand bookshops sprang up all over Hay. By 1970, Hay had become the world-famous “town of books.” Today, the town attracts around 500,000 visitors a year.
Of the many bookshops in Hay, the most interesting and wonderful are called “Honesty Bookshops”. They are nothing more than shelves of books, unattended. Customers select books and drop money into a small mailbox.
There’s one at Hay Castle, a 12th-century fortress in the center of town. The bookshop is an outdoor space, with wooden shelves stacked against the castle walls. Paperbacks cost 10 pounds, hardcovers 1. After selecting a book, customers drop their money into a small box at the front, through a white slot marked “Pay Here.”
Since 1988, Hay on Wye has been home to the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, which over the years has attracted the attention of prominent writers such as David Simon, Stephen Fry, Salman Rushdie and Simon Singh. In 2001, former US President Bill Clinton described it as “The Woodstock of the mind”. In recent years, the festival has expanded to include musical performances and film screenings.
Ngoc Anh
