Stephen Fry is the new president of the Hay Festival.  The festival has been without a president since Fry’s predecessor Eric Hobsbawm died in October 2012.

The comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist will be appearing at Hay this year in two sell-out events both on Saturday 24th May.  He’ll be talking to Tony Fadell the creator of the iPod about the future of technology, design and unloved devices. In his second appearnce Stephen Fry, who has portrayed Malvolio on Broadway and the West End,  will discuss  Shakespeare and love.

He said:  “When Peter Florence asked me to become President of the Hay Festival my first thought was that he must be joking or on psychotropic medication …ask any author or reader. This is the one we wrestle our diary into submission for until it surrenders and allows us to attend. The mixture of events, debates, interviews and readings by day with talks, music and comedy by night is unique and its audiences are amongst the most enthusiastic, attentive and well informed you could find anywhere. To say that I am proud to be President is criminally to understate.”

Director of the Hay Festival, Peter Florence said: “Stephen’s lit up Hay for 20 years with grace and wit and generosity. He embodies the pleasures of conversation, he has an insatiable curiosity about the world, and he is committed to the cardinal virtues of fairness and kindness. This is our man.”