Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on -Wye (Welsh Y Gelli Gandryll ) is a small Welsh town with around 1,500 inhabitants directly on the border with England.
Hay-on -Wye lies on the River Wye River and is famous as the first and to date the largest so-called book village.
Book Village
Today, located in the small town of nearly 40 antique shops, the bibliophiles from around the world tighten. Whole houses are crammed with books, often from the attic to the last corner of the cellar.
Hay-on -Wye as a book town has existed since 1961, when the bookseller Richard Booth opened his Antiquarian and the idea of " book village " made public.
To achieve more publicity in the media, Richard Booth called on April 1, 1977 Hay from an independent kingdom and proclaimed himself king. Although this action had no international legal significance, however, made the place famous.
Following the example of Hay-on -Wye other books cities emerged:
Bookshops
Bookstall
Richard Booth, 1984
Literature Festival
Peter Florence in 1988 initiated a literary festival (English: Hay Festival of Literature & Arts), which has since been held every year in Hay -on-Wye with celebrities from around the world. It takes ten days and will end May to early June and is sponsored by the British newspaper the Guardian since 2002. Before the Sunday Times was the principal sponsor.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton described this festival in 2001 as the "Woodstock of the mind" ( " The Woodstock of the mind" ).
Along with the festival, a children's festival " Hay Fever" ( " hay fever " ) is held. Moreover, it has also spread abroad. Similar festivals take place in the cities of Cartagena ( Colombia) and Segovia (Spain).
Sister City
Since 2006, Hay-on -Wye is twinned with Timbuktu (Mali), which is also famous for his book tradition.