HowTheLightGetsIn Festival is a philosophy and music festival, hosted by the

Institute of Art and Ideas The Institute of Art and Ideas (IAI) is a British philosophy organisation founded in 2008. It operates the HowTheLightGetsIn philosophy and music festival. Overview The IAI is a not-for-profit organisation with the stated aim of "rescuing philo ...

. It aims "to get philosophy out of the academy and into people's lives" by bringing together philosophers, writers, academics, comedians and musicians for a festival of debate, talks, music, workshops, and late night parties. Speakers at the festival have included

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

Kimberlé Crenshaw Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (born May 5, 1959) is an American civil rights advocate and a scholar of critical race theory. She is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, where she specializes in race and gender issues. Cr ...

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal

Diane Abbott Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who has been serving as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987 Unit ...

Robert Skidelsky Robert Jacob Alexander Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, (born 25 April 1939) is a British economic historian. He is the author of a three-volume, award-winning biography of British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946). Skidelsky read histor ...

Stanley Fish Stanley Eugene Fish (born April 19, 1938) is an American literary theorist, legal scholar, author and public intellectual. He is the Floersheimer Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of La ...

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psycholo ...

and

Laurie Penny Laurie Penny (born Laura Barnett, 28 September 1986) is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including ''The Guardian,'' ''The New York Times'' and ''Salon''. Penny is a contributing editor at the ''New S ...

, among others. Music headliners have included

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...

Hot Chip Hot Chip is an English synth-pop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard (musician), Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former memb ...

, and

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

. Comedians have included

James Acaster James William Acaster (; born 9 January 1985) is an English comedian, presenter, podcaster and actor. As well as the stand-up specials ''James Acaster: Repertoire, Repertoire'' and ''Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999'', he is known for co-hosting ...

, Sarah Pascoe, and

Phil Wang Philip Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Vòng Hîn-kùi''; born 22 January 1990) is a British-Malaysian stand-up comedian and comedy writer who is a member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, and co-creator of their BBC Radio 4 ser ...

. HowTheLightGetsIn is now hosted twice a year. In May, the festival is normally held in

Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the same time as the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival (), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was d ...

, HowTheLightGetsIn attracts a footfall of over 30,000 each year to its setting by the banks of the

River Wye The River Wye (; ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn Estuary. The lower reaches of the river forms part of Wales-England bor ...

. The September festival has been held at Kenwood House in London, and has been running since 2018. In May 2020, HowTheLightGetsIn launched its first fully online festival. In September 2020, the festival held its next event: HowTheLightGetsIn Global 2020: Delhi, London, New York. This online festival included 200 events on eight stages, live streamed from Delhi, London and New York, with the aim of giving the festival global reach and making it accessible from all time zones.

2010 Hay, ‘Being Human’

The 2010 festival had author of Politics of Fear

Frank Furedi Frank Furedi (; born 3 May 1947) is a Hungarian Canadians, Hungarian-Canadian academic and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent. He is well known for his work on culture of fear, sociology of fear, education, therapy culture ...

, filmmaker David Bond, author

and Labour politician

Jon Cruddas Jonathan Cruddas (born 7 April 1962) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dagenham and Rainham, formerly Dagenham, between 2001 and 2024. Having been critical of many aspects of the Blair governm ...

, amongst others.

The Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predeces ...

Identity Project presented an exhibition and two days of events on the topic of Identity. The School of Life hosted a series of philosophy breakfasts with leading thinkers over the 10-day festival. Radio 1's

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

and John Rostron, the duo behind the Sŵn Festival, curated a night of music, which was accompanied by live performances from

Johnny Flynn Johnny Flynn (born 14 March 1983) is a British actor and musician. He starred as Dylan Witter in the Channel 4 and Netflix television sitcom '' Lovesick'' and is also known for his performances as David Bowie in the 2020 film '' Stardust''; M ...

, Cate le Bon and Radio 1's

Bethan Elfyn Bethan Elfyn () is a Welsh radio and television presenter. Elfyn was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, was brought up in Newtown, Powys, and now lives in Penarth, Glamorgan with her husband, Clwb Ifor Bach Promoter and Works Manager Richard Hawkins. ...

2011 Hay, ‘New Gods: Icons and Ideas in a Changed World’

HowTheLightGetsIn Festival 2016 The 2011 festival included critical theorist Leela Gandhi, Times columnist

David Aaronovitch David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He was a regular columnist for ''The Times'' and the author of ''Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country'' (2000), ''Voodo ...

, poet

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

, New Statesman culture editor Jonathan Derbyshire and screenwriter

Jez Butterworth Jeremy Butterworth (born March 4, 1969) is a British playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He has gained recognition for his unique voice in contemporary theater, often blending themes of myth, folklore, and realism. He has received a T ...

. Festival events ranged from

Ghostpoet Ghostpoet (born Obaro Ejimiwe; 18 January 1983) is a British vocalist, songwriter and musician. He released five critically acclaimed albums with two being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Based in Berlin, he has expanded his work t ...

Mount Kimbie Mount Kimbie is an English electronic music and indie rock group consisting of Dominic Maker, Kai Campos, Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell. Mount Kimbie was formed in 2008 by Maker and Campos. The duo expanded on the musical template of the U ...

and The Correspondents, to comedy and the screening of documentaries from around the world with

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

2012 Hay, 'Uncharted Territory: Progress for a New Era'

The 2012 festival was held in

and ran between 31 May and 10 June 2012. The festival staged almost five hundred sessions across the site's five venues. Amongst the speakers on the festival's programme were musician

, founder of Glastonbury festival

Michael Eavis Sir Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis (born 17 October 1935) is an English dairy farmer and the co-creator of the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place at his farm in Pilton, Somerset. Personal life Eavis was born in Pilton, Somerset on 17 Oc ...

, literary theorist and critic

Terry Eagleton Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February 1943) is an English literary theorist, critic, and public intellectual. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University. Eagleton has published over forty books, ...

and independent scientist and inventor

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...

. Musical highlights included performances from

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

Emmy the Great Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums, '' First Love'', ''Virtue'', ''Second Love'' and ''April / 月音''. She sings in English and ...

, and

Jeffrey Lewis Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. Early life Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating in ...

and the Junkyard, as well as a twelve-hour painting marathon from artist

Stella Vine Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities. In 2001, she ...

to accompany a performance by alternative rock band The Chapman Family. London's Open Gallery, an institution dedicated to the medium of

video painting Video painting is a form of video art presented via projectors, liquid crystal display, LCD or other flat panel display and wall-mounted in the same manner as traditional paintings. Video painting is a relatively new concept that was first coined ...

, also staged a series works by filmmaker Roz Mortimer entitled, ‘Sites of Memory’.

2013 Hay, 'Error, Lies, & Adventure'

The 2013 festival took place from 23 May to 2 June 2013. It featured talks from

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

John Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959 and was Willis S. and Mario ...

Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter "Angie" Hobbs (born 12 June 1961) is a British philosopher and academic, who specialises in Ancient Greek philosophy and ethics. She is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Early lif ...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb Nassim Nicholas Taleb (; alternatively ''Nessim ''or'' Nissim''; born 12 September 1960) is a Lebanese-American essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader, risk analyst, and aphorist. His work concerns problems of randomness, ...

, and

Michael McIntyre Michael Hazen James McIntyre (born 21 February 1976) is a British comedian, writer, and television presenter. In 2012, he was the highest-grossing stand-up comedian in the world. He currently presents the variety and stand-up comedy show '' Mic ...

among others. The music line-up included Sam Lee,

King Charles King Charles may refer to: Kings A number of kings of Albania, Alençon, Anjou, Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Ireland, Jerusalem, Naples, Navarre, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Sicily, S ...

, and

Moulettes Moulettes, later known as Hannah Moule & The Moulettes, are an English art rock band that combines elements of rock, progressive, folk and pop music. Moulettes are multi-instrumentalists who experiment with the interplay between electric and ...

, while the comedy line-up featured acts from Tom Rosenthal and

2014 Hay, 'Heresy, Truth and the Future'

HowTheLightGetsInFestival Sunday HighRes 270519 MANCPHOTO259

HowTheLightGetsIn 2014 attracted a footfall of over 35,000 across 450 events. Speakers and performers included

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, Philosophy of science, philosopher of science and Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics i ...

Brooke Magnanti Brooke Magnanti (born 5 November 1975) is an American-born naturalised British former research scientist, blogger, and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour. While completing her d ...

Bruce Parry Bruce Parry (born 17 March 1969) is an English documentarian, indigenous rights advocate, author, explorer, trek leader and former Royal Marines commando officer. He employs an ethnographic style and a form of participant observation for his d ...

Doon Mackichan Sarah Doon Mackichan (; born 7 August 1962) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy awards, Emmy-award-winning ''Smack the Pony''. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and S ...

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a left-wing British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'', ''Tribune (magazine), Tribune ...

David Nutt David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit ...

Molotov Jukebox Natalia Gastiain Tena (born 1 November 1984) is a British actress and musician. She is best known for playing Nymphadora Tonks in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2007–2011), and the wildling Osha in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' (2 ...

Natalie Bennett Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966), is an Australian-British politician and journalist who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...

and

Mr Scruff Andrew Carthy (born 10 February 1972), known professionally as Mr. Scruff, is an English record producer and DJ. He lives in Stretford, Greater Manchester and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. Before ...

2015 Hay, 'Fantasy and Reality'

The festival for 2015 took place from 21 to 31 May 2015 and included performances and talks from

Simon Blackburn Simon Walter Blackburn (born 12 July 1944) is an English philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language. More recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts ...

, Mike Skinner,

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

Lawrence Krauss Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is a Canadian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who taught at Arizona State University (ASU), Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project in ...

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposi ...

Lianne La Havas Lianne Charlotte Vlahavas (born 23 August 1989), known professionally as Lianne La Havas ( ), is a British singer-songwriter. Her career began after being introduced to various musicians, including singer Paloma Faith, for whom she sang backing ...

, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and

Rae Morris Rachel Anne "Rae" Morris (born 2 September 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. She released her debut album, '' Unguarded'', in 2015. Her second album, '' Someone Out There'', was released in January 2018. Her third album, ''Rachel@Fairyl ...

among others. As part of the festival, the

New College of the Humanities New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

presented the IAI School. Aimed at 16- to 18-year-olds, the IAI School explored topics such as Free Will and Politics, Sex Ethics and Morality.

2016 Hay, 'The Known, the Strange, and the New'

Natalie Bennett and Patricia Lewis at HowTheLightGetsIn 2016

The 2016 festival took place from 26 May to 5 June. Speakers were to include

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...

Bernard Carr Bernard J. Carr is a British professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). His research interests include the early universe, dark matter, general relativity, primordial black holes, and the anthropic princi ...

Kwasi Kwarteng Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975) is a British politician who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from September to October 2022 under Liz Truss and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 202 ...

and

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

. The music lineup featured

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a broadcaster, DJ, record label and festival owner. He is renowned for his genre-defying approach to music with jazz at its core. From this base he ...

, C Duncan, Eska, and

Tom Robinson Living people Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits " Glad to Be Gay", " 2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with hi ...

2018 Hay, 'Darkness, Authority and Dreams'

After taking a fallow year in 2017, the 2018 May festival took place from 25 to 28 May 2018. Speakers included political theorist

, psychiatrist and former Government Drugs Adviser

, linguist

John McWhorter John Hamilton McWhorter V (; born October 6, 1965) is an American linguist. He is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University, where he also teaches American studies and music history. He has authored a number of books on race ...

, Shadow Home Secretary

, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

, economist

Deirdre McCloskey Deirdre Nansen McCloskey (born Donald Nansen McCloskey; September 11, 1942) is an American economist and academic. Since 2023 she has been a Distinguished Scholar and holder of the Isaiah Berlin Chair in Liberal Thought at the Cato Institute i ...

. The music line-up featured

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. The band's current line-up consists of Jake Shears (vocals), Babydaddy (various instruments), Del Marquis (guitar, bass) and Randy Real (drums). Former members include vocalist A ...

Ana Matronic Ana Kirby (; born August 14, 1974), known by her stage name Ana Matronic, is an American singer, best known as the co-lead singer for the pop rock band Scissor Sisters. Career Matronic joined Scissor Sisters, founded by Jake Shears and Bab ...

, The Correspondents,

Nerina Pallot Nerina Natasha Georgina Pallot (born 26 April 1974) is a British singer, songwriter and producer, who has released eight albums and over a dozen EPs. She was nominated for British Female Solo Artist at the 2007 BRIT Awards and nominated for an ...

and

Laura Wright Laura Alice Wright (née Sisk; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the roles of Allison "Ally" Rescott on ''Loving (TV series), Loving'' (1991 to 1995) and ''The City (1995 TV series), The City'' (1995 ...

2018 London, 'Tribal Truths and New Wisdoms'

From 22 to 23 September 2018, HowTheLightGetsIn hosted its first ever London festival on the grounds of Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath. Speakers included neuroscientist

, philosopher and author

Rebecca Goldstein Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (born February 23, 1950) is an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and ...

, Banksy's former agent

Steve Lazarides Steve Lazarides (; born c. 1969) is a British people, British-Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot publisher, photographer, collector and curator. He has helped popularise street art and underground art. Early life Steve Lazarides grew up in Bristol, ...

, novelist

Deborah Levy Deborah Levy (born 6 August 1959) is a South African novelist, playwright and poet. She initially concentrated on writing for the theatre – her plays were staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company – before focusing on prose fiction. Her ear ...

, Turner Prize architect Paloma Strelitz, and long-time Hawking collaborator

. The music line-up included pop duo Bloom Twins and singer-songwriter

, while Ahir Shah and Olga Koch headlined the comedy programme.

2019 Hay, 'Tribal Truths and New Wisdoms'

HowTheLightGetsIn returned to Hay for its tenth anniversary year from 24 to 27 May. Speakers included philosopher of language

Saul Kripke Saul Aaron Kripke (; November 13, 1940 – September 15, 2022) was an American analytic philosophy, analytic philosopher and logician. He was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and emer ...

, Change UK MP

Anna Soubry Anna Mary Soubry (; born 7 December 1956) is a British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe (UK Parliament constituency), Broxtowe from 2010 United Ki ...

, cognitive psychologist Donald D. Hoffman, novelist

Janne Teller Janne Teller (born 8 April 1964 in Copenhagen) is a Danish writer of Austrian–German descent, who lives in New York City, New York and Berlin. Before she became a full-time writer she used to work as a conflict advisor for European Unio ...

, economist and writer Linda Yueh, and Momentum founder

Jon Lansman Jonathan Lansman (born 9 July 1957) is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party leadership campaign, 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party (UK) ...

Anna Calvi Anna Margaret Michelle Calvi (born 24 September 1980) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her accolades include three Mercury Prize nominations, one Brit Awards, Brit Award nomination, and a European Border Breakers Award. She has b ...

, and

British Sea Power Sea Power, previously known as British Sea Power and initially as British Air Powers, are an English alternative rock band. The group's original lineup consisted of Jan Scott Wilkinson, known as Yan; Martin Noble, known as Noble; and Alison Co ...

headlined the music programme, while the comedy line-up was led by

Lou Sanders Louise Samantha Sanders (born 24 November 1978) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actress. Since beginning her career in comedy, she has appeared regularly on panel shows, performed on '' Live at the Apollo'' and won the eighth series ...

and

2019 London, 'Uncharted Territory'

HowTheLightGetsIn returned to the grounds of Kenwood House on the weekend of 21–22 September 2019. Topics of discussion included fake news, the problematic sex appeal of the archetypal "bad boy", space exploration in the 21st century, gene editing, population control, and big data. HowTheLightGetsIn Academy field

Speakers included

Slavoj Zizek Slavoj may refer to: * Karel Slavoj Amerling (1807–1884), Czech teacher, writer, and philosopher * Slavoj Černý (1937–2020), Czech former cyclist *Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosoph ...

, politicians

and

Rory Stewart Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, broadcaster, writer, and former diplomat and politician. He has taught at Harvard University and at Yale University. He currently teaches and co-directs the Brady-Jo ...

, theorist of

surveillance capitalism Surveillance capitalism is a concept in political economics which denotes the widespread collection and commodification of personal data by corporations. This phenomenon is distinct from government surveillance, although the two can be mutuall ...

Shoshana Zuboff Shoshana Zuboff (born November 18, 1951) is an American author, professor, social psychologist, philosopher, and scholar. Zuboff is the author of the books ''In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power'' and ''The Support Econ ...

, clinical psychologist

Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...

, and economist and policy advisor

Mariana Mazzucato Mariana Francesca Mazzucato (born June 16, 1968) is an Italian–American-British economist and academic. She is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL) and founding director of the UCL Inst ...

. The music line-up included singer-songwriter

, DJ

Don Letts Donovan Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band Big Au ...

, and electroswing duo

Sam and the Womp Sam and the Womp are a British pop group consisting of trumpeter Sam Ritchie and Dutch-born vocalist Bloem de Ligny, also known as Lady Oo. The band's music mixes traditional elements of Balkan music with modern dub and drum 'n' bass elements ...

, while comedians included

Tony Law Tony Law (born 20 September 1969) is a Canadian stand-up comedian. Originally from Lacombe, Alberta, he has been based in London, United Kingdom since the age of 19. He is known for his surreal material and delivery. Many of his stand-up routin ...

, Olga Koch, and

Sophie Duker Sophie Duker (born 1989/1990) is a British stand-up comedian and writer. Early life Duker was born in London to first-generation immigrants from West Africa. Her mother is from Cameroon and her father is from Ghana. She attended North London Col ...

2020 Online, 'Uncharted Territory'

The 2020 May festival was HowTheLightGetsIn's first fully online festival. Speakers include

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American New Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He ...

Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (; ; March 5, 1934 – March 27, 2024) was an Israeli-American psychologist best known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memor ...

Patricia Churchland Patricia Smith Churchland (born 16 July 1943) is a Canadian-American analytic philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. She is UC President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Cali ...

Jess Phillips Jessica Rose Phillips (; born 9 October 1981) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for S ...

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Se ...

Sally Phillips Sally Elizabeth Phillips (born 10 May 1970) is an English actress, comedian, and television presenter. She co-created and was one of the writers of the sketch comedy show '' Smack the Pony''. She is also known for her roles in '' Jam & Jerusale ...

Shami Chakrabarti Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti (born 16 June 1969) is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil l ...

, and many more. The Online Festival had over 200 events, on 7 stages, over 4 days. It contained multiple live events streamed at the same time, with audiences questions and real time comments. The festival also featured social spaces where festival-goers could meet each other as well as speakers and musicians.

2020 Global, 'Belief, Hypocrisy and Reason'

Over the weekend 19–20 September, the festival hosted its next event: HowTheLightGetsIn Global 2020: Delhi, London, New York. This online festival included 200 events live streamed from Delhi, London and New York, giving the festival global reach and making it accessible from all time zones. The events streamed on seven stages, with a line up of speakers, bands and comedy acts. In addition there were social spaces to meet other festival goers, chat to speakers and artists and enjoy live-streamed music. Speakers attending included Nobel Prize winning economist

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2 ...

, director of the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, Frances Morris, ecofeminist

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Ga ...

, cognitive scientist and philosopher

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...

, and theoretical physicist

Claudia de Rham Claudia de Rham (born 29 March 1978) is a Swiss theoretical physicist working at the interface of gravity, cosmology, and particle physics. She is based at Imperial College London. She was one of the UK finalists in the Physical Sciences and Eng ...

. The theme for the festival was belief, hypocrisy and reason.

2023

HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2023 ran from 26 to 29 May 2023 in Hay on Wye.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Festivals in Wales Annual events in Wales Cultural festivals in Wales Music festivals in Wales Summer in Wales Hay-on-Wye Music festivals established in 2008 Festivals in London Philosophy events