Returning to Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye later this week, The Independent is delighted to confirm a line-up of cultural heavyweights, fronted by The Independent’s expert and trusted journalists.

Each morning from Saturday 24 May until Sunday 1 June, The News Review will be moderated in turn by Martin Chilton, Chief Book Critic, Bel Trew, Chief International Correspondent, and Senior Features Writer Helen Coffey. Across nine sessions, they will welcome some of the world’s greatest minds from politics, science, and the arts to dissect and shape the news agenda of the day for an audience of literature fanatics and festival goers.

Reprising one of the festival’s most integral and beloved events, guests of The News Review will bring their unique experiences and expertise to cast light on humanity’s most pressing issues. Martin Chilton will be in conversation with luminaries including sustainability researcher Mike Berners-Lee, historian David Olusoga, and Green Party MP Ellie Chowns.

Helen Coffey will speak with a range of leading figures including political commentator Ash Sarkar, psychologist Mary Trump, leading academic Kehinde Andrews, renowned philosopher AC Grayling, and director Havana Marking, whose documentary will be screened at Hay on 28 May. 

The Independent’s lauded Chief International Correspondent, Bel Trew, will host the last two sessions of The News Review, bringing her geopolitical acumen and international outlook to conversations with veteran BBC foreign correspondent Lyse Doucet, editor Jeremy Bowen, publisher Sigrid Rausing, and more,  

With the news cycle moving at pace, The Independent is excited to return to this year’s festival in Hay-on-Wye, sparking lively debate and shaping conversation about the issues which matter.  

• Saturday 24 May 2025, 10am – Wye Stage. Mike Berners-Lee, sustainability researcher and professor in the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University, author of There is No Planet B; Misha Glenny, geopolitics journalist, author of McMafia.
• Sunday 25 May 2025, 10am – Global Stage. Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, Imperial College London; Harriet Wistrich, founder director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, a founder member of campaign group Justice for Women, author of Sister in Law; Lord John Browne of Madingley, Chair of BeyondNetZero. 
• Monday 26 May 2025, 10am – Meadow Stage. David Olusoga, Historian and author of Black and British, presenter of Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners; Helen Rebanks, farmer and author of The Farmer’s Wife; Eluned Morgan MS, First Minister of Wales. 
• Tuesday 27 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage. Ellie Chowns MP, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire; TV Producer Henry Normal; Simon Hart, Conservative politician and author of The Sunday Times Top 5 Best Seller Ungovernable.  
• Wednesday 28 May 2025, 10am – Global Stage. Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Paralympic athlete and presenter; Ash Sarkar, journalist and leading political commentator; Mary Trump, psychologist and author of Too Much and Never Enough. 
• Thursday 29 May 2025, 10am – Meadow Stage. Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, author of The New Age of Empire; Havana Marking, award-winning director of Undercover: Exposing the Far Right.
• Friday 30 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage. AC Grayling, philosopher, founder and principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London; Jon Sopel, former BBC North America editor, host of The News Agents, author of Strangeland; Jennifer Nadel, award winning journalist, activist and founder of think tank Compassion in Politics. 
• Saturday 31 May 2025, 10am – Discovery Stage. Anushka Asthana,  ITV’s deputy political editor, author of Taken As Red: How Labour Won Big and the Tories Crashed the Party; Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and Senior Presenter; BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen; historian and author of What is Free Speech Fara Dabhoiwala. 
• Sunday 1 June 2025, 10am – Wye Stage. Sigrid Rausing, publisher of Granta magazine and Granta Books; Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Law at University College London and author of East West Street; writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford. 

Geordie Greig, Editor-in-Chief of The Independent, says: “Hay Festival remains the world’s greatest exchange for the best works of literature and a forum for ideas, philosophy, politics and provocative debate. I am so pleased that The Independent can once again be at the heart of this meeting of minds, bringing together our journalists with luminaries from all walks of life to discuss the pressing matters affecting us all. ing us all. I’m looking forward to a fascinating, thought-provoking series, discussing and shaping the news of the day.”

Julie Finch, Hay Festival Global CEO, adds: “We’re delighted to be working with The Independent on the News Review series, gathering festival guests each morning to discuss and debate the day’s headlines. With the news agenda changing so quickly, this opens up a space in our programme to be reactive and keep pace with the world around us.”