I'll wear it to bed, says Emma Thompson after award win at Hay Festival

I'll wear it to bed, says Emma Thompson after award win at Hay Festival12 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEleri GriffithsBBC WalesGetty ImagesActress and writer Emma Thompson has been awarded this year's Hay Festival Medal for DramaActress and writer Emma Thompson has been awarded this year's Hay Festival Medal for Drama.The Love Actually star was honoured at Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, where she spoke with author Elizabeth Day about the novels that shaped her life.Hay Festival chief executive Julie Finch praised Thompson's "intelligence, absolute wit, humour and fearless" storytelling.She said Thompson's career had given audiences "real insight into humanity" through her work on screen and in literature.During the event, Thompson reflected on her childhood, feminism and the books that changed her life.Emma said the first novel she was inspired by was Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr Todd, despite its dark themes."The reason it was one of my favourites is because it was the longest," she said.She explained that she and her siblings would deliberately choose long bedtime stories to spend more time listening to their father read aloud, describing his voice as "honeyed". She said those moments helped shape her lifelong love of language and storytelling.Emma said she admired Potter's writing because it "didn't talk down" or "patronise" children."Children are the sacred audience. You must do your very best work for them because they're absorbing so much," she said.Reflecting on her upbringing, she added that she felt "very, very lucky" to have been raised by parents who never patronised her, encouraging her intellectual curiosity from an early age.Dame Emma said her love of reading continued into adulthood, with authors such as Jane Austen and fantasy writers shaping her imagination and worldview."Books devoured me, they ate me,&q...