Hay-on-Wye is a small market town and community on the banks of the river Wye in Powys, Wales, adjacent to the English border. Often described as "the town of books", Hay-on-Wye draws a large number of book lovers looking for bargain across more than 40 bookstores selling mostly second-hand books. The town is also home to the Hay Literature Festival which brings some 80,000 writers, publishers and literature fans from all across the world at end of May each year.

It all started in 1961 when Richard Booth opened his first second-hand bookshop in Hay, in an old fire station. He hired a couple of strong men from the town and took them to America, where libraries were closing fast. There he bought books and shipped them in containers back to Hay-on-Wye. Over time other libraries joined the initiative and started shelves, shops and more ways to sell used books appeared in every corner. By the 1970s Hay had become internationally known as the "Town of Books". Today, the town receives an estimated 500,000 tourists a year.

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