Hay Festival Forum Dallas is back for its ninth year, bringing more than 30 artists and 20 events to the city from October 16-18, 2026.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nikole Hannah-Jones and rapper Bun B are some of the biggest names among dozens of writers, artists and journalists in the program for next month. The News’ Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Mark Lamster is also a part of the program.
“Hay Festival Forum Dallas has always been about bringing different voices, ideas and communities together. This year we’re taking that idea further than ever,” forum curator Javier García del Moral said in a news release. “We’re incredibly excited about the program we’ve put together and can’t wait to share it with our city.”
The festival will take place across a number of Dallas venues, with most in and around the Bishop Arts area of Oak Cliff, including the historic Texas Theatre and The Wild Detectives bookstore.
Hannah-Jones, who is best known for The 1619 Project, will be in conversation with Paul Quinn College president Michael Sorrell at 4 p.m. on Oct. 17 at the Texas Theatre. Tickets to the talk are available for $10. She will arrive in Dallas soon after sparking debate with a recent story in The New York Times Magazine that detailed her daughter’s experience in a segregated, high-poverty school in New York City. The story was a follow-up to a 2016 story Hannah-Jones wrote explaining her decision to forgo better schooling options for her daughter in the hopes her decision could help improve outcomes at the school.
Hay Festival is a global charity based out of the small book town of Hay-on-Wye, Wales in the United Kingdom, according to their website. The event in Dallas will pay homage to that heritage on Oct. 15 at the Texas Theatre with Welsh composer Katie Jenkins performing Symffoni’r Môr Mawr – A Transatlantic Symphony, a piece gifted by Wales to the United States for the 250th anniversary of its independence.
For more information on the Hay Festival Forum Dallas 2026 program, head to their website.