Real Hay-On-Wye by Kate Noaks

“Real Hay‑on‑Wye” by Kate Noakes is a vivid portrait of Wales’s famous “town of books,” blending cultural insight with a deep love for its spectacular surroundings. Noakes explores Hay‑on‑Wye’s literary identity—anchored by the Hay Literature Festival and its myriad bookshops—while also venturing into its broader borderlands: the Black Mountains to the south, Clyro and the Wye to the north, Herefordshire to the east, and Brecon to the west. With its rich mix of festivals, local eccentricities, cafés, galleries, and evolving rural–metropolitan dynamics, the book reveals how this modest town has continually reinvented itself. Brimming with historical context, local colour, and literary resonance, it’s an engaging guide to a place both familiar and full of surprises