Professor Jonathan Phillips from the Department of History and Professor Lavinia Greenlaw from the Department of English were both invited to speak at the 2019 Hay Festival, talking about their new books.

Professor Phillips at the Hay Festival

On the Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage, Lavinia Greenlaw, Professor of Creative Writing, spoke alongside novelist and campaigner Nicci Gerrard in a conversation and reading about dementia chaired by journalist Rosie Boycott. Professor Greenlaw’s new poetry collection The Built Moment, published in February, includes a section called The Sea is an Edge and an Ending, focusing on her father’s dementia. Professor Greenlaw was also part of the all-star line-up for the Faber Poetry Party. Hosted by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, the event celebrated the ninetieth birthday of the publisher.

Jonathan Phillips, Professor of Crusading History, appeared on the Hay Festival Foundation Stage, speaking about his recent work, The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin which was published in April. Professor Phillips looks at the history, mythology and legacy of one of the pivotal figures of the medieval age, the man who recovered Jerusalem for Islam and then resisted Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade. Using a range of new evidence he considers how Saladin's martial and diplomatic prowess were received by Muslims and Christians in the twelfth century and how his reputation has subsequently been used by Arab and Muslim leaders including Osama Bin Laden and President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

The Hay Festival is a festival of literature and arts which takes place over 10 days annually in Hay-on-Wye, the National Book Town of Wales. From its beginnings in 1987 it has grown to become one of the most prestigious literary festivals in the world.

Find out more about Masters courses in Creative Writing, Medieval Studies and Crusader Studies.