Former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, James Hanning, takes us behind the scenes of The Bookseller of Hay, his immersive portrait of Richard Booth, the man whose eccentric brilliance (and spectacular unruliness!) turned Hay-on-Wye into a world-famous literary destination. We talk about Booth’s larger-than-life personality, his love–hate relationship with the Hay Festival, his spectacular mischief, and the contradictions that made him both impossible and irresistible. James also sh...
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Former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, James Hanning, takes us behind the scenes of The Bookseller of Hay, his immersive portrait of Richard Booth, the man whose eccentric brilliance (and spectacular unruliness!) turned Hay-on-Wye into a world-famous literary destination. We talk about Booth’s larger-than-life personality, his love–hate relationship with the Hay Festival, his spectacular mischief, and the contradictions that made him both impossible and irresistible. James also sh...
This episode opens with a reflection on the newly launched Go All In campaign, part of the National Year of Reading 2026, a nationwide push to get Britain reading for pleasure again. Backed by the National Literacy Trust and the Department for Education, the initiative aims to reignite our love of books at a time when fewer children and teenagers are reading for fun. From there, we turn to someone who has spent a lifetime thinking about why books matter. Ian Patterson, poet, translator, acade...
Confessions of a Book Collector
Former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, James Hanning, takes us behind the scenes of The Bookseller of Hay, his immersive portrait of Richard Booth, the man whose eccentric brilliance (and spectacular unruliness!) turned Hay-on-Wye into a world-famous literary destination. We talk about Booth’s larger-than-life personality, his love–hate relationship with the Hay Festival, his spectacular mischief, and the contradictions that made him both impossible and irresistible. James also sh...
