Authors at Hay 2007

Peter Florence, the director of the festival, stokes his energy for the marathon literary event with a large latte. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Chinamanda Ngozi Adichie, in Hay to talk about Half of a Yellow Sun, hotly tipped for this year's Orange Prize. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Martin Amis, the literary enfant terrible on his way to becoming a Grand Old Man of letters, in Hay to talk about his most recent novel, The House of Meetings. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Much loved illustrator Quentin Blake, a collaborator with many children's and adult authors, but best known for his work with Roald Dahl. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Spanish novelist Javier Cercas, whose novel The Speed of Light has been shortlisted for this year's Independent foreign fiction prize. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Children's author Lauren Child, in Hay with the latest in her bestselling Clarice Bean series, Don't Look Now. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Poet and teacher Gillian Clarke, whose collections include Selected Poems, The King of Britain’s Daughter and Making the Beds for the Dead, in Hay for a celebration of her 70th birthday. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, in Hay to discuss his anti-religious polemic, The God Delusion. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Kiran Desai, whose novel The Inheritance of Loss was the winner of last year's Booker prize. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Birdsong author Sebasian Faulks, in Hay to discuss his new novel, Engleby, which probes the mind of a Cambridge student in the 1970s. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Steven Hall, in Hay to talk about his novel The Raw Shark Texts, described by Mark Haddon as "the bastard love child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code". Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

TV's most literate personality Clive James, in Hay to talk about Cultural Amnesia, a consideration of his intellectual heroes and villains. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Schindler's Ark author Thomas Keneally, in Hay to talk about his new novel, The Widow and Her Hero Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Doris Lessing, who at 87 is widely considered Britain's greatest living author, talking about a long and illustrious career. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Marina Lewycka, whose A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was a runaway success, in Hay to talk about her second novel, Two Caravans. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

David Mitchell, author of Booker near-miss Cloud Atlas, in Hay to talk about his latest novel Black Swan Green. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Deborah Moggach, best known for 1999's Tulip Fever, in Hay to discuss her new novel, In the Dark. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Prolific and acclaimed children's author Michael Morpurgo. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

The Nobel prize-winning author of My Name Is Red and Snow, Orhan Pamuk. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the Rebus novels, who revealed to a festival audience that his ever-popular detective is poised to retire, and that he is turning his attentions to opera. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Louisa Waugh, in Hay to talk about Selling Olga, her shocking account of inernational human trafficking. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian