Hay Literature Festival suspends its founder over bullying claims

This has not been the Hay Literature Festival’s best month.

First came the sexual assault allegations related to its sister event; now come the bullying accusations against its founder and director.

The Guardian reports that Peter Florence was suspended on October 1 and remains so “pending the outcome of a grievance procedure initiated by one of our staff.”

That staff member, according to a Guardian source, is not Caitlin McNamara, who went public with her assault claims against the United Arab Emirates’s minister of tolerance this month.

The Ministry of Tolerance was responsible for funding the Hay festival’s sister event in Abu Dhabi.