East Anglian playwright named for Hay Festival

Emma-Louise Howell, an East Anglian playwright and writer, has been selected for Hay Festival’s 2026 Platform showcase, a program for emerging artists aged 21 to 28, festival organizers said on May 6. Howell is one of six creatives chosen for the initiative, which will run during Hay Festival’s spring edition in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, from May 21 to May 31. Her new work, “You Told Us To Talk About the Weather,” is scheduled for presentation on Friday, May 29, at the festival’s Creative Hub. Hay Festival and an East Anglia Bylines profile both describe the piece as climate-focused and built around poetry, satire and interviews with climate activists. ### Which Hay Festival program selected Howell? The Platform is Hay Festival’s emerging-artist scheme, and the festival says it is designed to promote and develop young creative talent. Hay Festival said the 2026 cohort includes six participants working across writing, poetry, sound, sculpture and music, with artists drawn from East Anglia, Derbyshire, Pembrokeshire, Birmingham, Ceredigion and Belgium. (hayfestival.com) The program is supported by the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and Garrick Charitable Trust Foundation, according to the festival. Friday, May 29, is the date Hay Festival has set for the Platform artists to share their work with audiences in the Creative Hub. The festival said the selected artists will also take part in a three-day visit built around networking with established artists during the event. ### What is Howell presenting in Hay-on-Wye? “You Told Us To Talk About the Weather” is the work Howell is due to debut at the festival, according to Hay Festival’s Platform page. (hayfestival.com) The festival says the piece starts from a contrast between everyday discussion of the weather and arrests linked to climate protest, and that Howell uses poems, satire and interviews with climate activists across the UK to examine that gap. Hay Festival lists the event for 7 p.m. on Friday, May 29, in the Creative Hub. East Anglia Bylines reported on May 14 that Howell’s work explores the climate crisis, protest and British culture. The publication said the new piece asks why conversations about climate breakdown often remain superficial despite public concern, and quoted project language saying, “In the past six hours, 90% of Brits have spoken about the weather” while “in the past five years, 7,000 Brits have been arrested for speaking out about the climate crisis.” (hayfestival.com) ### What has Howell done before this selection? RADA is cited by Hay Festival as the place where Howell won the Michael Ross Award for Best New Writer. Hay Festival says she has since been shortlisted for The Stage Innovation Award, the Off-West End Playwrights Award, the Women in Theatre Lab and the International Playwriting Prize. BBC Introducing, Soho Theatre, Pleasance Atmos Magazine and Zebra Festival are among the platforms where Howell’s work has appeared, according to Hay Festival. (eastangliabylines.co.uk) East Anglia Bylines separately reported that her work is in development for stage and screen. ### What did Howell and Hay Festival say about the selection? Julie Finch, Hay Festival’s chief executive, said The Platform is intended to help young artists build connections while putting their work before festival audiences. (hayfestival.com) Finch said the six selected artists would bring “a fresh perspective on how we relate to one another and the world around us.” Howell said on Hay Festival’s Platform page that being included in the lineup felt “incredibly surreal.” East Anglia Bylines quoted her saying Hay had long seemed to her “a place where the most exciting writers and thinkers gather and share ideas,” and that it was “a genuine honour” to present work there. ### When and where can audiences see the work? (hayfestival.com) Hay Festival’s 39th spring edition is scheduled for May 21-31, 2026, in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, with more than 600 events over 11 days, the festival said. The Platform showcase featuring Howell and the other five selected artists is set for Friday, May 29, and Hay Festival said free tickets for those events are available through its Hay-on-Wye festival listings. (hayfestival.com 1) (hayfestival.com 2)