Online Events

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

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

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

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.

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.

Culture is renowned for building bridges. That it transforms borders into meeting points and overcomes language, racial and political barriers is an experience shared and understood by those who make their home in the creative arts. Building cultural bridges between Barcelona and Madrid is the subject of the conversation to be held at the Hay Festival by Sonia Mulero, Director General of the Banco de Sabadell Foundation, and Evelio Acevedo, Managing Director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation and Daniel Fernández, head of publishing labels such as Edhasa and Castalia and, since last December, president of the publishers of Spain.

They will talk with Miquel Molina, writer and journalist, and assistant editor of La Vanguardia.

Event in Spanish

He said in an interview that Roberto Bolaño changed his life as a reader and as a writer. Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr won the prestigious Goncourt Prize in 2021 with his novel La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men), the title referencing Bolaño's famous book Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives). The work is inspired by the life of the Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem, critic of colonialism, and the great tragedies of the 20th century, and is based on the relationship between the West and the African continent. He received prizes for titles such as La Cale, Terre ceinte and Silence du choeur before winning the most prestigious prize in French literature.

He will talk with Jacinta Cremades, literary critic and author of the novel Regreso a París.

The event will be presented by Isabelle Berneron, attachée for books, ideas and media networks at the Institut Français D'Espagne.

Event in French, with simultaneous translation into Spanish

There will be a book-signing at the bookstands in front of the IE University

Historian, television presenter, fiction writer and essayist, Simon Sebag Montefiore was present for the last days of the Soviet Union and travelled around the region during the 1990s. He has written on Russia for The Sunday Times, The New York Times and The Spectator, among other magazines and newspapers. A number of his book, including Stalin>: The Court of the Red Tsar, Titans of History and Jerusalem: The Biography have been translated into Spanish. The last book published in Spain by this writer, a descendent of a distinguished family of Sephardic Jews that had branches all over Europe, has been Written in History, a compilation of important letters written about politics, culture and art by great figures who have influenced our past.

Sebag Montefiore will talk to the British journalist Martin Ivens, Editor of The Times Literary Supplement.

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

With simultaneous translation from English into Spanish

The journalist Inés Martín Rodrigo made her name with her second novel, Las formas del querer, winning the prestigious Nadal Prize. Since then, she been talking about dancing a great deal. She says that writing the book was therapeutic, and let her understand herself better. Her first work of fiction was Azules son las horas, about Sofía Casanova, the first Spanish war correspondent; she has also published a compilation of interviews called Una habitación compartida.

Martín Rodrigo will talk to Jesús Vigorra, director and presenter of Canal Sur Radio’s La mañana de Andalucía.

Event in Spanish

Book signing at the stand on Calle Real

A bitter cocktail of high inflation, low growth, spiralling energy costs and war is fuelling fears that Europe may be returning to the hard times of the past. The 20´s? The 70´s? How can it rise to the challenge?

The Financial Times Weekend brings to Segovia exceptional panels to debate this new time for Europe, moderated by its senior editor, Andrew Hill together joined by Pilita Clark, associate editor and business columnist at the Financial Times who writes a weekly column on modern corporate life. The line-up covers from the sociopolitical context, with Ivan Krastev, a political scientist, chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and columnist for the FT; the economical turnouts with Professor Gayle Allard from IE Business School, the legal and political overview of decades of leadership by former Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena and the reading from the classics by humanist, bestselling author and political leader, Emilio del Rio.

Event in English with simultaneous translation

Currently Budapest has Europe’s largest and most ambitious urban cultural development, the Liget Budapest Project. An urban and cultural development plan that has transformed the Hungarian capital, involving internationally acknowledged architects, like Sou Fujimoto or Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). With five new buildings and half of the park area completed and three more to go, the project’s visionary, Laszlo Baan, also director of the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, will be at the Hay Festival to explain and elaborate on the project, and how it relates to comparable projects in Europe.

Isabel Fuentes, PhD in Museology of Natural and Human Sciences, has spent twenty years working in scientific communication and cultural management in institutions such as the Residencia de Estudiantes, the National Museum of Natural Sciences and the La Caixa Foundation. She is currently the director of CaixaForumand an expert in the transformation that a museum can bring about in the city inwhich it is installed.

Baan and Fuentes will talk with Miquel Molina, journalist and writer, assistant director of the newspaper La Vanguardia.

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish and vice versa

Pedro Zuazua claims to be a better person since he started living with cats. In working hours director of communications at El País, the journalist attracted thousands of readers with his first book, under the provocative title En mi casa no entra un gato (No cat will come into my house). Now convinced that cats will dominate the world, he has published Días para ser gato (Days to be a cat). And not content with that, he has written an entertaining and touching show with the musician Pablo Moro. The show started its tour in Madrid and Oviedo, filling venues, and now comes to Hay Festival Segovia designed to fit perfectly into “vermouth time”. They encourage the public to propose a song to be included in the show. Send an e-mail to enmicasanoentraungato@gmail.com. Pablo Moro's discography includes works such as Emepetreses (MP3s), Smoking Point, Pequeños placeres domésticos (Small domestic pleasures) and La vida solucionada (Life, solved).

They will sign at the stands at Calle Real

Event in Spanish

The creative personalities of Jorge Volpi and Carlos Granés meet in the intersection of narrative and the essay. Volpi, who predominantly writes novels, has garnered awards for titles such as En busca de Klingsor, La tejedora de sombras and Una novela criminal (Alfaguara Prize 2018). He also writes short stories and essays, including El magisterio de Jorge Cuesta, which won him the Premio Plural prize, and La guerra y las palabras. Partes de guerra is his most recent novel. Carlos Granés, social anthropologist, fuses the discipline with art and literature. His titles include La revancha de la imaginación and Delirio Americano, a book where he analyses the many cultural, political and ideological currents that have contributed to the invention of modern Latin America. He is a regular contributor to the magazine Letras Libres. His work El puño invisible won the Isabel Polanco International Essay Prize. The two writers will talk about the idea of their works as communicating vessels at the Hay Festival.

Event in Spanish

There will be a book-signing at the bookstand on Calle Real.

In Falling Is Like Flying the Dutch writer Manon Uphoff recreates a childhood of terror, marked by a tyrannical and abusive father one who, at the same time, had a perverse charm. The death of her older sister was the trigger for Uphoff to begin writing, not a typical autobiographical chronicle, but creating a symbolic and poetic universe that connects the traumas of her past with Greek mythology, fairy tales and science. The work was shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize and also won the Charlotte Köhler Award. Previously, Uphoff has published Begeerte, a collection of short stories, and the novel Gemis, also shortlisted for the Libris Prize.

She will talk to the journalist Irene Hernández Velasco, who has been a correspondent in various countries and currently works for El Mundo newspaper.

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

With simultaneous translation from English into Spanish

The rights of women can also be defended in the realm of eroticism. This is a central premise for the writing of Emecé Condado, who aims to demystify sex and break down stereotypes through literature. After working on blogs and digital magazines, and on the collective work Segovia erótica (Ediciones Derviche), she has published her first book of short stories, Nunca más (libros.com). Cristian Fernández, a multi-genre writer, considers eroticism an essential ingredient for romanticism, but with a critical eye for the perfect dosage. He has just finished publishing Riperdá, El Holandés Errante (Ediciones Derviche), a historical novel set in the first half of the of the 18th century. They will talk to the journalist Aurelio Martín.

Once the event has finished, authors will sign books in the booth at calle Real.

Event in Spanish

Mark Muller Stuart QC is a leading barrister specialising in international law, terrorism and human rights litigation. He has been a member of the Queen's Counsel since 2006 and advises numerous international law organisations.

He has also written a number of books and reports on human rights and conflict-related areas, having conducted international missions in Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, India, Cuba, Colombia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Afghanistan. He is co-founder of the Delfina Arts Foundation, as well as founder and executive director of Beyond Borders, an international platform based in Scotland that works to break down borders between peoples and help facilitate wider international cultural exchange, dialogue and reconciliation.

Álvaro Gil Robles is a prestigiuos Spanish politician and lawyer, former Ombudsman and the first Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. He has held several positions in important official bodies, among them, candidate of the European Court of Human Rights, integrating the Selection Committe, the body in charge of the Peace Agreement between the Government and the FAR, and selecting the magistrates of the special jurisdiction for the Peace Process of Colombia with President Juan Manuel Santos. He has written several books and articles in his field of expertise, including: Los Nuevos Límites de la Tutela Judicial (The New Limits of Judicial Protection). He is the President of the Valsain Foundation for the promotion and defence of democratic values, founded with a group of friends with significant work in the dissemination of these values.

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish

Patronage of different kinds is one of the major forms of promoting and protecting creative works. Three outstanding cultural figures who understand its importance, both in the public and private spheres, come to the Hay Festival Segovia. They are Antonio Filipe Pimentel, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, also in the Portuguese capital, who will talk about private patronage; and the ambassador Antonio Monteiro, Chair of the Millennium Bank Foundation, who will talk about support for public institutions and private creators through his foundation.

Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici, a direct descendent from a branch of the historical family of patrons, will moderate this event.

Event in Spanish

"Humans have spent decades trying to teach other animals our language... but have made little effort to learn theirs.” So says Eva Meijer, writer, philosopher and singer-songwriter, who bases much of her work on questions of language, both political and animal, since writing her award-winning doctoral thesis: Cuando los animales hablan (When Animals Speak). Her sixth novel, Sea: now, has been translated into eighteen languages. Her biography includes a long history of struggling and living with depression. This is the subject of one of her latest works translated in Spain: The limits of my language. Meditations on depression. She publishes essays and columns in the media in her native Netherlands.

Eva Meijer will talk to Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, journalist and writer, author, among other works, of Papel

There will be a book-signing at the bookstand in front of IE University

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish