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Peter Kenrick Florence
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(born 4 October 1964) is a British festival director, most notable for founding the
Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...
with his father and mother,
Norman Florence Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the No ...
and Rhoda Lewis, funding the first festival with winnings from a poker game.


Education and career

Peter Florence was educated at
Ipswich School Ipswich School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nurser ...
,
Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...
, and the
University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...
and has an MA in Modern and Medieval Literatures. He holds honorary doctorates from
The Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...
,
Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...
, Worcester University and The
University of Glamorgan , image_name = University of Glamorgan arms.png , image_size = 220px , caption = University of Glamorgan coat of arms , motto = Success Through Endeavour , established = , closed = , administrative_staff = , chancellor = John Morris ...
, and is a Fellow of
Hereford College of Arts Hereford College of Arts is an art school based in the West Midlands, UK, and is the only specialist college in the region dedicated to the Arts. Description It offers courses in both further and higher education fields, in Art & Design, Musi ...
, The
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama , image_name = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.jpg , image_size = , motto = , established = 1949 , type = Public , staff = , vice_chancellor = , students = 779 (2017/18) , undergrad ...
and the British-American Project, and an Honorary Fellow of
Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...
and of
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...
. He was made a "Colombiano de Corazon" by President
Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in th ...
for his work in Colombia. As well as the Hay Festival, Florence founded similar festivals around the world in
Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
,
Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes o ...
, the Alhambra Palace, Cartagena,
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...
,
Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...
,
Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
,
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
,
Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and t ...
,
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
and
Paraty Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. Indeed, the name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' Indigenous Tupi l ...
. He is the co-editor of the Oxtales and Oxtravels anthologies with Mark Ellingham of
Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distributed in the UK by ...
, in partnership with
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
. He is a Friend of Oxfam. He has written for a number of publications including Index on Censorship, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Spectator. A number of his interviews with writers appear in the Hay Festival's 30th-anniversary book Hay Festival Conversations. He is a trustee of the Baillie Gifford Prize. He is a member of the Board of The Deborah Rogers Foundation. He was a governor of Fairfield High School in
Peterchurch Peterchurch is a village and civil parish in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, England. The countryside around is spectacular, with views of the Black Mountains but the village itself is architecturally undistinguished, except for the award-winn ...
,
Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
, and a trustee of Hay Castle Trust. He is a member of the European Festivals Association EFFE Jury. He is an honorary fellow of The Royal Society of Literature. Florence chaired the jury of the 2019 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and notably defied the foundation's 1993-established rules to award the prize to two authors.
Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel '' Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's '' The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Bla ...
- the first black woman to be awarded the prize - shared the prize with
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...
. In late July 2021 Florence resigned as director of the
Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...
following an independent investigation that upheld a complaint of bullying against Florence. He had been suspended in October 2020. Florence commented "I consider that my role had become untenable due to the conduct of the board and its insistence on holding a disciplinary hearing in my absence whilst I was off sick after a breakdown."


Personal life

Florence and his wife Becky Shaw have four sons. They live in Herefordshire. He is cousin to Trevor Jones.


Honours

Florence was awarded an MBE in 2005 for services to Arts and Culture. He was awarded a
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
for services to Literature and Charity.


References


External links


The Hay Festival Homepage

BBC Radio 3 Private Passions - interview with Michael Berkeley
Sunday 27 May 2018.
Prospect Magazine 11 Questions
17 May 2018. * Guardian op-ed - A Golden Age
Peter Florence on Hay's 30th Anniversary
3 March 2017
PEN International interview
with Peter Florence, 6 June 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, Peter 1964 births Living people People educated at Ipswich School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Festival directors Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature