Zzzzz.....

Went to see Hugh Masakela last night and think I developed a bit of a crush on the old man! Hugh, who walked on stage looking a little fragile, got the audience dancing three songs in and suddenly his one hour gig turned into a two hour feast of musical genius. The show was also recorded by the Sky Arts cameras for broadcast in the next week, but how the concert can be squeezed into an hour is a different thing. Bizarrely, two people around us also fell asleep mid-concert, which made me wonder - how draining can a literary festival be?

The Sky Arts crew have been here for eight days. In that time, I've not made it to my bed (or anyone else's for that matter) even once until well past midnight. It seems every dinner comes equipped with colossal amounts of wine which, just to be polite, we have drank. Lots of work, lots of food, lots of wine and lots of late nights maketh the literary festival a rather draining experience. But for a visitor to come here, pay ... I can't find the pound sign on this keyboard with US settings!!... pay 23 quid to see Hugh Masakela and then sleep through the rather loud experience I don't quite understand. This is Hay, not the Love Parade!

My main point of joy today is the rain - not because it's cold and quite horrible outside, but because I can use my wellies and my new waterproof coat! Had my traumatising visits to camping shops and purchases of rainproof products I won't know what to do with upon return to suburbia been for nothing, I may have shed a little tear. Where else if not at Hay will I ever need to use a coat that can be folded into a rucksack?!

Sari, editor-in-brand-new-wellies

Alex Valentine, guest performer on Hay-on-Sky, videoblogs backstage...

To find out more about Alex's music, click HERE

Annalisa, production co-ordinator and Seth Lakeman's biggest fan...

The lovely, and wildly talented Seth Lakeman and band: Double-click the play button to watch Annalisa's videoblog...

What's all the fuss about? Click HERE to find out!!

Red House prize for children's books awarded last night to...

Derek Landy popped into the web office here backstage at the Sky Arts Studio at the Hay Festival to tell us a little bit about the trials and tribulations of physically getting himself to Hay-on-Wye!



Turns out it was well worth the hassle as he bagged the Red House children's book prize at the awards doo last night - see the piece in the Guardian HERE.

Sinead, Editor-in-Field.

8 in the bag...two to go.

This videoblog should have gone up late last night, but the upload speed in the field disappeared and we've all been too busy today, with working, eating and birthday celebrations (for me and and for Justin) so here it is now...

Additionally...yesterday was great 'cause I got to chat to the great Kathleen Turner on the sofa while doing the Hay-on-Sky show. I ended up in shot too so I'm glad I was on my best behaviour... She's really been enjoying the festival and told me she's loved the sessions she's gone to and the fact that all these great minds and talents are all in one field! She even came to our wrap part for our What The Dickens? series that we'd filmed here. I had a bit of a 'moment' when I stood in the room (we hadn't been expecting celebs at this particular crew party - but the room was chocca full of 'em!) looking at the A-list Hollywood talent and panning right to the balloons on a string on the far wall....A-list Hollywood talent...balloons on a string...surreal stuff. Party planning consultants, take heed.

I recorded a videoblog with our musical performer Alex Valentine later - he was great and then we all went to see Kathleen Turner's session which was very entertaining. I'm definately getting my hands on that book - Heat magazine, hang thy head in shame - THIS is celebrity gossip at its finest. My cousin (Derek Landy, author of Skulduggery Pleasant) came to Kathleen's session with us - he did a session himself today called 'Question Time: Being a Writer', along with Graham Marks (Tokyo, Strange Hiding Place) and Andy Stanton (Mr Gum and the Power Crystals) and at the end he made the hundreds of worshipping young fans shout 'happy birthday Sinead' to me which was mildly embarassing as I was lurking at the side recording clips & snapping pics.

Then my boss came and told me & Justin that he needed us for an important meeting about the show and lead us into a colleague-filled trailer where there were balloons, booze, cake and pressies. Excellent :-)

We'd Dan Cruickshank as a guest on Hay-on-Sky today and some of us are off to see his session this evening - Adventures in Architecture, then we're off to the Book People/Red House party somewhere nearby and then back to the festival for the Seth Lakeman gig. Then, we shall sleep. The weekend awaits us. Show 9 and 10. Including What The Dickens? we'll have made 16 brilliant HD programmes in this muddy field by Sunday. Then we're all back to Osterley, Sky's HQ. Mental note to self: remember to not wear muddly wellies into the office on Monday...

Sinead, Editor-in-Field.

Sunshine, thunder & lightning and two TV shows!

So the first day at the Hay Festival was an eventful one. We went from bright hot sunshine to thunder, lightning and hammering rain...coming prepared with both factor 30 sunblock AND wellies was the right thing to do after all!



One of the nicest things we've got going on here, apart from filming Hay-on-Sky and What The Dickens?, is a series of colouring-in walls, drawn for us each day by the artist Jon Burgerman. The visitors to the Hay Festival then pick up one of our paint pens and colour whatever part of the picture they fancy. Community art-making at its finest...

The first Hay-on-Sky show of '08 went well - as did the recording of What The Dickens? but you'll have to wait 'til Wednesday to watch What The Dickens? I'm afriad! If you've missed tonight's transmission of Hay-on-Sky (was at 8pm) then don't worry - it's repeated again later and we'll have some of the highlights available on our HAY-ON-SKY website tomorrow: http://www.skyarts.co.uk/hay

For now though...watch this little bit of webcam footage we took at Jon Burgerman's art walls today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV4wLOKJriA

Sinead, Editor In Field.

Hay! We're coming back!

We're all really excited that we're coming back to Hay-On-Wye again this year for what promises to be a great 10 days of glorious HD broadcasting for us and a great festival for all book lovers.

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This is where the team will be sharing the stories of what goes on behind the scenes on such a massive production and we should have a few amusing photos and web videos to share with you too... Join us from from May 23rd when it all gets underway - until then, see what's on Sky Arts today and relax in front of something cultural and entertaining :-)

Sky Arts' scheduler Tracy measures up against the literary giants at last year's Hay Festival