Tickets for this year's Hay Festival, the 30th, go on general sale tomorrow, Friday, April 7, and following a world-altering 12 months, the festival presents an inspiring programme of conversations and appearances, available in full on the website at hayfestival.org.

The line-up includes life-changing writers, stars of stage and screen, pioneers of science and technology, and future world leaders, who converge for a party of ideas and stories in 800 events.

30 Reformations is the spine of the festival – a nod to the 500 years since Martin Luther’s Theses – as writers and thinkers from around the world re-imagine institutions and orthodoxies, from Capitalism to the NHS, from Marriage to Citizenship, to sound a clarion call

for a better world. While the next generation of thinkers is spotlighted in HAY 30, a selection of 30 inspiring young novelists, scientists, philosophers and activists, and the biggest ever HAYDAYS programme gives young readers the opportunity to meet their heroes and enjoy a feast of activities, while great comedy, music, and The Sound of the Baskervilles, a new late-night club venue, continue celebrations into the night.

To order a print programme or to book, visit hayfestival.org or call the box office on 01497 822629.

Peter Florence, director of Hay Festival, said: “For 30 years Hay Festival has brought readers and writers together to share stories and ideas, to

imagine the world – to tell our truths and renew our lives. We’ve seen the world move from paper to the digital realm, we’ve witnessed boundaries and languages shift, and vast migrations of people and money. We trust writers and the authority of the published word. We love stories and

we love to throw a party.”

Among those appearing at Hay are Colm Toíbín, Peter Singer, Neil Gaiman, Elif Shafak, Bernie Sanders, Nemat Shafik, Tracey Emin, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Brian May, Graham Norton, Elizabeth Strout, Eddie Izzard, Jeanette Winterson, Howard Jacobson, Yanis Varoufakis, Paul Beatty, Carlo Rovelli, Jacqueline Wilson, Judith Kerr, and Chris Riddell.