Right, that's it: we're off. The GU books desk is packing its bags and heading west for the annual literary knees-up that is the Hay festival. Catching the train from Paddington to Hereford at the end of May is definitely one of the highlights of my year: those of you who've been up there in years past will know that unless you're a rigorous upholder of the Derridean view that il n'ya pas de hors-texte, there really is nowhere better for a book lover to be than Hay. As well as the author events and talks that kick off at 9am every morning and last well into the night (highlights from this year's programme here, there are book-signings, screenings, poetry readings and the town's 38 bookshops to browse around - and all this before you've eaten an ice cream or ventured off the festival site into the glorious countryside of the Brecon Beacons national park.

Those of you who are lucky enough to be at the festival over the next 10 days will be able to find us working away on the Guardian's double decker bus; those of you who aren't, worry not: we'll be doing our best to bring the festival to your desktop. As well as the blog relay which Clare has told you about here, we'll be producing a daily Haycast, beginning on Saturday, with author interviews, features and roundups of the day's highlights; there'll be photo galleries, interviews and all the news at our special report and we'll be blogging on whatever catches our eye. You can see the full programme here - let us know if there's anything you'd really like us to cover, and we'll see if we can oblige.

Brace yourselves, too, for the torrent of horrendous, Hay-based puns that will be polluting your screens from Friday. As all of ours - Making Hay, Hay wane (for anything written on the final day) Hay Hey! - are heavily recycled (in an act which I like to think endorses the festival's theme of sustainability) I promise a choice item from our slush pile to anyone who comes up with something new.

Until tomorrow ...