Online Events

The European Union Prize for Literature is a European level initiative that recognises the best emerging fiction writers from countries participating in the Creative Europe programme. In the latest edition, the Spanish candidate, who received a special mention from the jury for his epistolary novel, Los días perfectos, was Jacobo Bergareche. He will take part in the Hay Festival, accompanied by three other authors who have attracted the attention of critics and readers with their debuts: Bibiana Candia, author of Azucre; Silvia Hidalgo, who made her debut with Yo, mentira and Aurora Freijo Corbeira, author of La ternera. All of them will share their experiences and opinions of the narrative art. Chaired by Ainhoa Sanchez, manager of literature and publishing at AC/E (Accion Cultural Española).

Event in Spanish

Authors will sign their works after the event at the stand on Calle Real.

Human beings have always made sense of their world by means of stories. But now, as people increasingly retreat into silos of perceived differences and the planet verges on catastrophe, the need for stories has never been greater, because storytelling offers us a way out of social and ecological collapse.

In this interactive workshop, Cece Helgesen, founder of StoryJam Europe based in Montpellier, France, will examine the role of storytelling in our personal and professional lives and guide participants through a series of exercises aimed at stimulating what she calls "the inner lens of storytelling," so that elements of lived experiences can be used to construct distinctive personal stories that connect with others and spur them to action.

Storytelling is a powerful tool that we can all use to work toward a more compassionate world, not only with each other, but with the planet itself.

Event in French

The discovery by the Russian-British scientist, Sir Konstantin Novoselov, of graphene, won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010. His discovery brings us a material that has numerous applications in our daily lives (in thermal and fire-resistant clothing, for example) and it has made him known around the world. He is currently working with the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials at the National University of Singapore, where he carries out research on intelligent materials that are able to mutate to adapt to certain requirements. However, Novoselov is not the kind of scientist who never leaves the laboratory. Quite the opposite, he pays great attention to the geopolitics of technologies and is an advocate against the concentration of all stages of production in a single country, a trend that is growing after the pandemic. He says that all of us become poorer in this way, and his position is that a region is strong not when it leads in a particular technology, but when it is able to educate, attract and retain talents able to design various technologies, since it is not yet clear what will be necessary for our future.

Novoselov will talk to Diego del Alcázar Benjumea, Executive Vice-president of IE University and the man in charge of this university’s technological immersion.

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish and vice versa

Volver a Contar: Latin American Writers in the British Museum Archives is an international collaboration between the British Museum and the Hay Festival, which explores 10,000 years of human history in the Americas. The project has involved inviting a group of writers to explore narratives about the past by means of a collection of Latin American objects never seen by the public in the British Museum. Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica and Puerto Rico), author of Austral; Lina Meruane (Chile), author of Sistema nervioso and Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) author of El invencible verano de Liliana will talk to the journalist Andrea Aguilar (Spain) in order to present this anthology of short stories published by Anagrama, which mingles rigorous research and fiction in order for us to better understand our history and try to resolve the gaps in the historical narrative.

Event in Spanish

After this event, Anagrama will offer a drink to celebrate the launch of the Volver a contar anthology

An in-depth conversation on justice, conflict, democracy and rule of law by Mark Muller Stuart and Soraya Saénz de Santamaria, moderated by Soledad Atienza.

Muller Stuart KC is a barrister specializing in international law and human rights. A member of King's Council since 2006, he advises global organisations. He has written books and reports on human rights and has carried out missions in places including Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Turkey. Founder of Beyond Borders, he works to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation in countries in conflict. Sáenz de Santamaria is a state lawyer, member of the Council of State, formerly Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of the Presidency from 2011 to 2018.

The event will be moderated by Atienza, lawyer, Dean of IE Law School, senior advisor at the International Bar Association, and author of the book Teaching Law.

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

The current international geopolitical situation makes it imperative to highlight, explore and debate the role of European values today. The Hay Festival invites Esteban González Pons, writer and MEP for the Partido Popular, a figure with a long political career, to do so along with Sara Bieger, representing the 14 European Chambers of Commerce in Spain.

A lawyer and writer, González Pons has held numerous posts in national and European politics. He has been an MEP since 2014, which gives him a broad insight to the issues to be addressed. Sara Bieger is managing partner of Alto Partners Executive Search and president of the Franco-Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

They will talk to the journalist Sandrine Morel of the French newspaper Le Monde.

Event in Spanish

Letters, numbers and thinking. Everything is more interconnected than you would expect, and the shortcuts provided by maths, which emulate those of nature, help people to think better, thus differentiating ourselves from even the best computer. Though data and artificial intelligence can be extremely beneficial tools in any creative process, humanity is in the numbers.

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, won the London Mathematical Society’s 2001 Berwick Prize. He works on television with immensely popular programmes about maths, as well as in the written press. His books include The Music of The Primes, The Number Mysteries, What We Cannot Know, The Creativity Code and Thinking Better. Du Sautoy will be in conversation with Ikhlaq Sidhu, Dean of IE School of Science and Technology in Madrid, as well as being the founder and Academic Director of UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology since 2005.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

The Mexican psychiatrist Orlando Mondragón is the first poet aged under 30 to win the prestigious Loewe Prize. His award-winning poetry book, Cuadernos de patología humana, deals with illness and death, but it is also concerned with writing and resurrection. Mondragón, who works as a hospital psychiatrist, seeks beauty through difficult situations, often ones that seem incommunicable. He is also the author of the book Epicedio al padre, winner of the Alejandro Aura Prize for Young Poets.

Mondragón will talk to Antonio Lucas, author of, among other books, Los desengaños, for which he was awarded the Loewe Prize in 2014.

Event in Spanish

Signing stands in front of the IE University building

Sally Helgesen and Marta Williams will present an innovative workshop based on Helgesen's acclaimed book How Women Rise. Designed to transform the careers of professional women, the workshop focuses on practical tools as well as concrete strategies for achieving success in the work environment. Over the course of the workshop, a dozen habits that can limit women's career advancement will be addressed. This unique workshop will offer practical solutions to break these negative patterns, and encourage personal and professional growth. The Amazing Stairway is designed to guide professional women through a process of profound transformation.

Helgesen, cited by Forbes as the world's foremost expert on women's leadership and internationally best-selling author of books on leadership, with a place in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. Among the books she has written are How Women Rise (where she includes her now famous "12 Habits Holding You Back"), Rising Together, The Female Vision and The Female Advantage. Williams is a pioneer in coaching and executive leadership in Spain and the U.S.A. with a career spanning over four decades.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

In the narrative world of Clara Dupont-Monod, misfit characters are to be found alongside others fighting for their survival in complex situations. Above all, her characters are passionate, especially the women she portrays, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

A specialist in medieval French literature, she began her career as a journalist at a very young age, writing in the press as well as for radio and television. She is the author of several novels, including La folie du roi Marc, La passion selon Juette, Le roi disait que j'étais diable, La révolte and S’adapter, which won the Femina, Goncourt des Lycéens and Landerneau prizes in 2021.

Dupont-Monod will talk with Isabelle Berneron, attaché for books, debate of ideas and media networks at the Institut Français D'Espagne.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University.

With simultaneous translation from French to Spanish

The name of Georges Simenon is linked to the astronomical figures racked up by the sales of almost two hundred titles (191 to be exact): 550 million copies sold to many millions of readers around the world. A big part of this stellar success is Inspector Maigret, who features in almost a hundred of his novels. Now the name of this prolific and bestselling writer, born in Belgium and who lived in Paris for much of his life, is becoming literary news again thanks to new editions of some of his novels, published together by Anagrama and Acantilado, as well as with to recent release of the film Maigret by Patrice Leconte, starring Gerard Depardieu. Talking about Simenon and the revived interest in his life and work will be his son John Simenon, who manages his father’s bequest and has been involved in the production of some of the films based on his work.

He will talk to Jesús García Calero, Editor of ABC cultural.

The event will be presented by Florence VanHolsbeeck, economic and commercial counsellor and representative of Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI).

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish and vice versa

John Simenon will visit the stand on Calle Real organized by Wallonia Region, Belgium, which will prepare a quiz based on the work of his father.

The Premio Nacional de Poesía Viva #LdeLírica was created by El Corte Inglés’ Ámbito Cultural and Piscifactoría Laboratorio de Creación, with Gonzalo Escarpa as director. It was born in 2019 with the aim of tracking national poetic talent. The call for entries starts on Instagram and crosses social media as an “active presence” through its eliminatory rounds, where the public see the finalists’ work in various Ámbito Cultural spaces (in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Santander and Las Palmas). The award ceremony of the fourth edition, whose winner will be announced on 10 September, will be held at Hay Festival Segovia with the poet Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Ajo Micropoetess and previous winner, the young Cadiz-born Marta Vicente Antolín. Gonzalo Escarpa will present the event.

Event in Spanish

Tamara Duda is a Ukrainian writer, journalist and translator born in Kyiv, and author of two novels. Her literary debut, Daughter, won her the prestigious BBC Book of the Year Award 2019.

With the outbreak of war in the Donbas, she abandoned everything to serve as a volunteer at the front. In 2014 and 2015, she and her husband raised funds and bought and delivered equipment and aid to Ukrainian soldiers. The author spent two years in combat areas and refers to the period as the most tragic, fascinating, intense and inspiring time of her life. The novel chronicles this experience, unfolding in Donetsk during the spring and summer of 2014. The events and stories in the novel are not fictional, but based on the author's experiences and the people she met while volunteering with the Ukrainian Army.

Duda will talk about her experiences in life and as a writer with Juan Carlos Galindo, a journalist for El País, author of the novel Hontoria, and contributor to Onda Cero’s literary talk show.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

How can philosophy promote fundamental values to help us understand today's society?

In this conversation, Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, PhD in Moral Philosophy, President of IE University, and author of several books including Pensadoras y visionarias: Las ideas de diez filósofas aplicadas a la gestión and Global Leaders: la importancia de la formación para los directivos del futuro, will reflect on education and philosophy by exploring the importance of critical thinking and the humanities in business management. He will address how these disciplines can prepare future leaders to face the ethical and social challenges of business and society.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University.

Event in Spanish

The House of Hungarian Music, a landmark centre dedicated to music in Budapest's City Park and one of Sou Fujimoto's latest works, opened its doors to the public in January. Martha Thorne, Dean of IE University's School of Architecture, prominent urban planner and former Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize, will welcome one of Japan's most famous award-winning architects to Hay Festival Segovia. Fujimoto has received important awards in his field, and is known for projects as outstanding as the Serpentine Gallery the Pavilion in Kensington Gardens or the Final Wooden House in Kunamoto, Japan. The architect, who perceives his projects as an understanding of the relationship between architecture, nature and the human body, will discuss his work with Martha Thorne. They will also explore their shared passion for design, creativity and the cultural heritage of architecture.

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.

A brilliant career as a philosopher, writer, academic and professor might be summed up in just one word: wisdom. Emilio Lledó is a wise man, a humanist, and increasingly essential in a world that tends to forget the humanities. He has written dozens of essays on thought, ethics, beauty and freedom, including Filosofía y lenguaje, El silencio de la escritura, Días y libros, Memoria de la ética. He has also received the highest national awards, such as the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, and the Gold Medal for Fine Arts, and holds the “lowercase L” chair at the Spanish Academy. Identidad y amistad. Palabras para un mundo posible (Identity and Friendship. Words for a Possible World) is his latest book.

Lledó will be in conversation with Elena Martínez, editor at Taurus publishers.

Event in Spanish

Once the event has finished, the author will sign books in the booth outside IE University.

Human beings are conditioned by multiple factors that shape their lives. In the past, women were born into a masculine world, put at a disadvantage from the start simply by being women. However, reality and literature are full of stories of people who defied the role that others had chosen for them, or rather for her. Sonsoles Ónega explores this in Las hijas de la criada, the latest Premio Planeta prize-winner that has garnered a legion of followers.

Ónega is a journalist, writer and host of the leading afternoon television program Y ahora Sonsoles. Author of other novels such as Calle Habana, esquina Obispo , Donde Dios no estuvo and Después del amor, she will talk about her work and the characters within it with Ana Gavín, director of Editorial Relations at Grupo Planeta.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

Event in Spanish

Ai Weiwei, one of China's most internationally renowned artists, both for his creative activity and his political activism, will come to the Hay Festival in a streamed event. His memoirs, entitled 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows, explore themes that touch on the very core of the Hay as a Festival of creation and thought: freedom of expression and activism, cultural and political history, as well as his creative life. His is a career that has not been limited to the visual arts, but encompasses other fields such as architecture (he participated in the design of Beijing’s National Stadium), music and film. In the book, the artist recounts his life in the United States from 1983 till 1993, and his rise to the status of superstar in the world of art.

Ai Weiwei will be in conversation with Anne McElvoy, British journalist and executive editor at The Economist, who has previously served as policy editor and head of audio. The Economist Ask, the bi-weekly Thursday programme/podcast conducted by McElvoy, has brought together hundreds of leading newsmakers from around the world.

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.

Journalism, a fundamental pillar of democratic societies, has become a symbol of the illiberal attrition which has taken off over the second decade of the 21st century, with emerging strands of populism, the victory of Trump, Brexit, Bolsonaro, and the situation in Catalonia to name but a few factors. These phenomena, which have demonstrated the weakness of journalism to defend the strength of the right to information, illustrate the loss of respect for the old fourth power of politics. If journalism is not feared, its function is not respected. What is more, the digital environment —atomising news into short bursts of reports that generate echo chambers within social networks, from which information is consumed according to the biases of each community of identity— has debased the currency of journalism. If truth lacks value, journalism loses its meaning.

Journalist Teodoro León Gross, author of the recent La muerte del periodismo, will explore this subject with three leading Spanish journalists: Jorge Bustos, Carlos Franganillo and Karina Sainz Borgo. Gross has worked with newspapers including El País, El Mundo and ABC. Bustos is Deputy Editor of El Mundo; political commentator in current affairs programs on Cope, La Sexta and Telecinco. He published Casi in 2024, adding to his other works Asombro y desencanto, Crónicas biliares and El hígado de Prometeo. Franganillo moved from his time at TVE to direct and present the evening news at Telecinco. He is the winner of the Ondas Award (2019), the gold medal at the New York Festival (2014) and the International Press Club’s award for best correspondent (2016). Venezuelan journalist and writer based in Spain, Sainz Borgo is currently a columnist and reporter for ABC; she has also worked with Onda Cero and Vozpópuli. A prominent figure in literature of the Venezuelan diaspora, her first novel, La hija de la española, was translated into 20 languages and became an international success. This was followed by Crónicas barbitúricas, El tercer país; and La isla del doctor Schubert.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the main entrance

Event in Spanish

Can you write about a misfortune and at the same time read it as restorative? People have many faces, and pain and also redemption are imprinted on them. A multipresence to which is added the gaze that others place on us and that also shapes us. This is what the Dutch writer Jente Posthuma explores in her writing. She will talk to Irene Hernández Velasco about her work and how her personal experiences influence it.

Posthuma debuted with Mensen zonder uitstraling in 2016, a critical and sales success, which was nominated for the Dioraphte Literatour awards, the Hebban Debuut Award and the ANV Debutanten. Her second novel, What I'd Rather Not Think About, has placed her as a finalist for the International Booker Prize 2024. Hernández Velasco is the head of the Culture section of El Confidencial.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her book in a room next to the IE University entrance

Event with simultaneous translation from English to Spanish