Hay Festival Forum returns to Dallas's Bishop Arts District next month with a program spanning writers, musicians and activists across roughly 20 events. The three-day festival runs Oct. 16 to 18.
According to the festival's own program, published by hayfestival.com, the event features writers, musicians and activists across conversations, performances, book clubs and university events. Much of the action is concentrated in the Bishop Arts area of Oak Cliff.
The festival's program includes conversations and performances across its three-day schedule.
Programming Across Bishop Arts
The festival's programming is centered in the Bishop Arts area of Oak Cliff.
From a One-Day Test Run to a Multi-Venue Festival
Hay Festival Forum Dallas began modestly in 2018 with a single day of programming at The Wild Detectives, expanding to two days the following year after strong turnout, according to a report from KERA. The station reported that the prior year's event drew roughly 600 attendees, and that the 2024 edition marked the first time the forum ran a full three days across several Oak Cliff venues. The 2026 edition is scheduled to run three days.
The forum's 2019 edition expanded to two days, following its inaugural year in 2018. Hay Festival Forum Dallas is an offshoot of the annual Hay Festival in Wales.
A Welsh Composer Brings a Transatlantic Symphony
Beyond the music-and-memory panel, the Dallas program includes a concert and conversation with Welsh composer Katie Jenkins, described by hayfestival.com as award-winning. Jenkins will discuss her work “Symffoni'r Môr Mawr – A Transatlantic Symphony,” with the program set to include a live performance of “Weaving Home” and a film screening documenting the symphony's creation, according to the same festival listing.
Dallas News reported that the piece was gifted by Wales to the United States and commemorates the 250th anniversary of American independence, framing it as a nod to Hay Festival's Welsh roots. The festival's programming also includes appearances tied to The Dallas Morning News, whose architecture critic Mark Lamster is listed among festival participants and is identified by hayfestival.com as the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
