(", is a market town in
Brecknockshire ,
Wales . It is on the
River Wye , very close to the border with
England , and within the
Brecon Beacons National Park . It is a town of around 1,900 people.
Hay-on-Wye is a mecca for
Bibliophiles , boasting "thirty major bookshops" (according to its Tourist Information Bureau). Most sell second-hand books.
The bookshops for which the town is now famous are a relatively recent innovation. The name most closely associated with the book trade in Hay-on-Wye is that of
Richard George William Pitt Booth , who, on
April 1 ,
1977 , sought publicity by
Declaring Hay an "independent kingdom" with himself as its
King . The tongue-in-cheek
Micronation of Hay-on-Wye and its "king" (who wields an old toilet-plunger in place of a sceptre) is today known chiefly for selling novelty low-cost "peerages" to bemused tourists.
Hay-on-Wye appears to continue over the border into
Herefordshire . This part of the town is administratively separate, and is called
Cusop .
Hay-on-Wye is
Twinned with
Redu , a village in the
Belgian Municipality of
Libin .
Since
1988 , Hay-on-Wye has been the venue for a
Literary Festival , sponsored by ''
The Guardian '' newspaper, which draws a claimed 80,000 visitors over ten days at the beginning of June to see and hear big literary names from all over the world.
