Hay Festival Europa28 – Events
Europa28 events are taking place at Hay Festivals around the world throughout 2018–2021.
Upcoming events
What is Europe now? Identity, culture and the post-covid times. Kapka Kassabova and Jane Teller in conversation with Adam Biles
Monday 27 September 2021, 19:30
Shakespeare and Company Bookshop, Paris
Two of the women from the powerful anthology Europa28, visions for the future, speak with Adam Biles about the "European" culture and experience. The book offers a vast range of perspectives, from 28 outstanding European women (thinkers, writers, scientists, entrepeneurs and artists) looking at this ever-changing continent with fresh eyes and suggesting ways in which we might rebuild it. Described by critics a modern Scheherezade, Kapka Kassabova (Bulgaria/UK) is the author of the polyphonic Lisière and L'Écho du lac (marchialy) -deep psycho-geopgraphic dives into a transboundary Balkan ecology where the human condition is expored in all its facets. Janne Teller is a critically acclaimed and best-selling Danish novelist and essayist; her work, including the well known Rien, confronts philosophical questions in life and civilization and often sparks controversial debate.
Watch the event onlineFind registration details for this event here.
Event in English
Europa(s): identity, feminisms and diversity. Kapka Kassabova and Jane Teller in conversation with Lindsey Tramuta
Tuesday 28 September 2021, 16:00
Cité des Arts, Paris
Two of the Europa28 participants speak with Lindsey Tramuta about pressing questions for Europeans: identity, the feminists movements and how to really embrace cultural diversity. As part of the Wom@rts network, Hay Festival put together a powerful anthology, Europa28, that collected essays from 28 otustanding European women (thinkers, writers, scientists, entrepeneurs and artists). The book offers a vast range of perspectives, looking at this ever-chaning continent with fresh eyes and suggesting ways in which we might rebuild it. Described by critics a modern Scheherezade, Kapka Kassabova (Bulgaria/UK) is the author of the polyphonic Lisière and L'Écho du lac (marchialy) -deep psycho-geopgraphic dives into a transboundary Balkan ecology where the human condition is expored in all its facets. Janne Teller is a critically acclaimed and best-selling Danish novelist and essayist; her work, including the well known Rien, confronts philosophical questions in life and civilization and often sparks controversial debate.
To register for this event, please email: presse@centre-simone-de-beauvoir.com.
Event in English
Past events
Hay Festival Europa28, Rijeka
6-9 October,Hay Festival Europa28 formed the second half of this project, as 28 women writers - one from each EU country - presented their visions for the future over four days in Rijeka.
Blending award-winning writers, scientists, performers and artists, participants included novelists Leïla Slimani (France) and Janne Teller (Denmark), travel writer Kapka Kassabova (Bulgaria), poet Asja Bakic (Croatia), actress Lisa Dwan (Ireland), and sociologist Renata Salecl (Slovenia). Each showcased their work in readings, workshops, performances and debates throughout the city, while an anthology, Hay Festival Europa28: Visions for the Future (Fraktura), was launched. Hay Festival brings readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events around the world to inspire, examine and entertain. Since starting in 1987 the Festival has been held in more than 30 countries across five continents, reaching a global audience of hundreds of thousands every year.
Hay Festival Europa28 is run in partnership with the WOMARTS project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme to pursue women’s equal share presence in the Arts.
Watch again all the events on the Hay PlayerHay Festival Segovia 2020. Edurne Portela, Janne Teller and Karolina Ramqvist in conversation with Giles Tremlett
Sunday 20 September 2020, 4.15pm
Virtual venue: Campus de Santa Cruz la Real, Universidad IE, Aula Magna
Three of the most engaging writers in Europe: Edurne Portela (Spain) author of Mejor la Ausencia, awarded the 2018 Prize for Best Fiction Book of the Year by the Madrid Bookshops Guild and Formas de estar lejos; Janne Teller (Denmark) author of the modern Nordic saga Odin’s Island, where she discusses political and religious fanaticism, or the existential Nothing, initially censored and considered today a classic by many critics; Karolina Ramqvist (Sweden) one of the most influential writers and feminists of her generation, who tackles issues such as sexuality, commercialisation and isolation, author of The White City. All three take part in the Hay Festival Europa28 project and anthology, which brings together 28 women writers, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs, one from each EU country, to convey their visions of the future of Europe through fiction or essay capturing a multidisciplinary snapshot of several of today's most interesting minds. They spoke with the writer and journalist Giles Tremlett. Furthermore, the city of Rijeka in Croatia, European Capital of Culture 2020, hosted an edition of the Hay Festival in Rijeka from October 5 to 9, 2020 with these 28 outstanding authors.
Karolina Ramqvist participated live by videoconference, while Janne Teller, Edurne Portela and Giles Tremlett were on stage.
Watch againEdurne Portela, Janne Teller, and Karolina Ramqvist in conversation with Najat el Hachmi
Monday 21 September 2020, 6:30pm - 8.00pm
Venue: Hall CCCB, Barcelona
In this session, the writers Edurne Portela, whose work speaks of violence, memory, and uprooting, Karolina Ramqvist, eminent among Swedish feminists and deemed to be one of the most influential writers of her generation, and Janne Teller, whose long career is dotted with controversy and heated debates, spoke with the writer Najat El Hachmi about how we might rethink Europe today, and how the perspective of women could change its narrative on the occasion of the publication of Europa 28. Mujeres escriben sobre el futuro de Europa (Europe 28: Women Write about the Future of Europe, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2020).
Edurne Portela, Janne Teller and Najat El Hachmi were on stage, while Karolina Ramqvist participated live by videoconference.
This event was organised with support from the Hay festival Segovia.
Kapka Kassabova, Caroline Muscat, Zsofia Bán and Sophie Hughes
Tuesday 26 May 2020, 4pm – 4.45pm BST
Virtual venue: Llwyfan Cymru Digidol – Wales Digital Stage
We celebrate four of the contributors to the Hay Festival Europa 28 project, part of the Rijeka European Capital of Culture 2020. With so many flare-ups of nationalism and isolationism in recent years, there is a sense that Europe needs to be fixed, or, at the very least, profoundly reconfigured; whether it is to address the grievances of those feeling disenfranchised from it, or to improve social cohesion, or even continue to exist as a democratic transnational entity.
Bringing together 28 acclaimed women writers, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs from across Europe, this powerful and timely anthology looks at an ever-changing Europe from a variety of different perspectives and offers hope and insight into how we might begin to rebuild.
Kassabova is Bulgarian by birth and lives in Scotland. She is the author of Street Without a Name, Border and To The Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace. Muscat is one of Malta’s leading investigative journalists. She contributed to and co-edited the book, Invicta: The Life and Work of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Bán is a Hungarian writer, critic and scholar. Her recent works include the novel, Night School: A Reader for Grownups, and The Summer of Our Discontent. Chaired by Hughes, a leading literary translator and the editor of the Europa 28 anthology.
Watch againLeïla Slimani, Lisa Dwan, Hilary Cottam and Sophie Hughes
EUROPA 28 – A SENSE OF RENEWAL
Join us online: Tuesday 26 May 2020, 6.30pm – 7.15pm BST
Virtual venue: Llwyfan Cymru Digidol – Wales Digital Stage
We celebrate three more contributors to the Hay Festival Europa 28 project, part of the Rijeka European Capital of Culture 2020.
Moroccan-born Slimani won the Prix Goncourt for her novel Lullaby, and is the author of Adèle and Sex and Lies. Dwan is an Irish actor whose Beckett performances have toured the world. She has recently collaborated with Colm Toibín and Margaret Atwood. Cottam is a social activist and the author of Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us & Revolutionise the Welfare State. They talked to Sophie Hughes.
Watch againEvents at Hay Festival Arequipa (Peru), 7-10 November, 2019
Leïla Slimani in conversation with Sophie Hughes
Friday, November 8, 2019
Leïla Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, which she won for the shocking thriller and global best-seller, Lullaby. She discusses her work and her new novel Adèle with the British publisher and translator Sophie Hughes. Through her work, she defends women’s rights by addressing, in particular, female sexuality, Slimani is Presidents Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture.
With the support of the Embassy of France and Wom@rts
Hispano-American dialogues. Karina Sainz Borgo in conversation with Fernando Iwasaki
Friday, November 8, 2019
Cuadernos hispanoamericanos promotes the knowledge and exchange between writers from different genrations and nationalities, brought together by a common language and literary tradition that was enriched by writers with diverse origins. The Project calls for an establsih autor to select a younger writer from the other side of the Atlantic. In this occasion, Fernando Iwasaki (Mexico) has choosen to speak with Karina Sainz Borgo (Spain) about her book La hija de la española. This is an initiative that builds bridges between continents and different perceptions.
With the support of AC/E Acción Cultural Española and Wom@rts
Migrant writings. Edmundo Paz Soldán, Marco Sifuentes and Karina Sainz Borgo in conversation with Javier Lafuente
Friday, November 8, 2019
What leads a person to leave their country behind in search of a better future? In Latin America the term “migratory crisis” is beginning to be used to describe the phenomenon that is affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Central America, Mexico and the United States, but also in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and even in Peru. Marco Sifuentes, based in Madrid, is a columnist for El Comercio newspaper and writer of the books H&H. Escenas de la vida conyugal and K. O. PPK: Caída pública y vida secreta de Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Edmundo Paz Soldán, author of a dozen books of fiction, including novels and short stories, is a lecturer in Latin American Literature at Cornell University, New York. Karina Sainz Borgo, who has been living in Madrid since 2006, presents her first novel, It Would Be Night in Caracas (2019), about a young woman who, after the death of her mother, flees from a Caracas that is falling into chaos. They talk to the Spanish journalist Javier Lafuente about the state of affairs on a continent whose history has been written by migrants.
With the support of Wom@rts
Contemporary french writing. Olivier Guez and Leïla Slimani in conversation with Anne Solange Noble
Friday, November 8, 2019
The French writer and journalist Olivier Guez, contributor to major international publications such as The New York Times, Le Monde and Frankfurter Allgemeine, talks about his most recent novel, The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, which has won him the Renaudot Prize. The novel tells the life story of a man of great cruelty, one who was hunted and never found: the doctor of Auschwitz, Josef Mengela, now dead, from the Second World War to his flight into hiding in South America. Leïla Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, which she won for the shocking thriller and global best-seller, Lullaby. She will talk about her work and her new novel Adèle. Through her work, she defends women’s rights by addressing, in particular, female sexuality, Slimani is Presidents Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture. In conversation with Anne Solange Noble. This event will be presented by Joaquín Cáceres Rosado.
With the support of Wom@rts and the French Embassy
#MeToo. Lorena Álvarez and Rocío Silva Santisteban in conversation with Naiara Galarraga
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Things are gradually improving for Latin American women, and this path towards equality is one that needs to be travelled looking forwards. What is needed is both cultural change in society and changes in the political agendas of the various countries. In conversation with Naiara Galarraga, the Peruvians Lorena Álvarez and Rocío Silva Santisteban discuss the situation for women in Latin America and how to overcome the culture of sexism.
With the support of Wom@rts
Rodrigo Hasbún and Emiliano Monge in conversation with Sophie Hughes
Saturday, November 9, 2019
The Bolivian author of Palestinian background, Rodrigo Hasbún, was included on the Bogotá39 2007 list, made up of 39 of the best Latin American fiction writers under the age of 40. His latest novel, Los años invisibles (2019), is set in Cochabamba in the 1990s and contemporary Houston. A group of teenagers experience a turbulent last year of school, with each of them involved in a number of affairs, including one with a teacher twice his age. 20 years later, a friend of this group decides to tell these stories. The Mexican writer and political scientist Emiliano Monge, one of the Bogotá39 2017 generation, presents his latest non-fiction novel, No contar todo (2018), a story about the Monges and about Mexico. The book talks about the need to escape from others and from oneself; about abandonment, love and sexism; about that which is said, that which is hinted at and that which remains unsaid; about lies and the different violences we face. In conversation with Sophie Hughes.
With the support of Wom@rts
Luis Hernán Castañeda and Karina Sainz Borgo in conversation with Juan Carlos Nalvarte Lozada
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Luis Hernán Castañeda is a writer from Lima who has been living in the United States since 2006. He is the author of ten novels, two of which are young adult fiction. His latest book is entitled El imperio de las mareas, a dystopian novel set in a flooded and chaos-ridden Lima, where broken families try to survive. The cultural journalist Karina Sainz Borgo (Venezuela), currently based in Madrid (also since 2006), presents her literary debut, La hija de la española, sold to be published in 22 countries. The novel narrates the story of Adelaida Falcón, who sees Caracas being destroyed before her eyes while she deals with the grief of her mother's death. Both will talk to Juan Carlos Nalvarte Lozada, writer and historian. Author of the sorth novels Nothing Hill (2013) and El Indignado (2015).
With the support of Wom@rts
Events at Hay Festival Segovia (Spain), 19-22 September, 2019
The carapace that disfigures the past: hard truths, kind lies. Elia Barceló and Juan Carlos Laviana in conversation with Blanca Rosa Roca
Thursday, September 19, 2019
The best-selling author of The Colour of Silence Elia Barceló once again captures critical acclaim and public imagination with The Echo of the Skin, a novel about a family saga tinged with mystery that showcases her gift for narrating the times in which we live. With her characteristic mastery of narrative construction, Barceló delves into the past and reveals secrets that at once disturb and enrich the profile of the heroine. Barceló has received numerous awards for her work, including the UPC International Science Fiction Award for The World of Yarek and the Ignotus Prize for the best science fiction story in Spanish for Humo y Espejos (‘Smoke and Mirrors’). She will talk with journalist Juan Carlos Laviana, chaired by Blanca Rosa Roca, director of Roca Editorial.
Coorganised with Roca publishing in collaboration with Segovia council and Wom@rts
A vivir que son dos días. Javier del Pino in conversation with Valeria Luiselli and Aurelio Martín
Friday, September 20, 2019
Journalist Javier del Pino, director of A vivir que son dos días, from la Cadena SER, the programme with the highest number of listeners during the weekend (over 2.2 million), talks about immigration and journalism, Mexico and its extraordinary culture with the Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli, who is visiting Segovia to launch her new book Lost Children Archive. They discuss writing in such a tumultuous period, where the media are focused on natural disaster, political change, polarisation and disillusionment, with journalist Aurelio Martín.
Coorganised with the Association of journalists of Segovia and Wom@rts. In collaboration with Cadena Ser
Populism here and there. José María Beneyto and Renato Cisneros in conversation with Paola del Vecchio
Sunday, September 22, 2019
A look backwards and forwards, by José María Beneyto – Spanish Doctor of Law and Philosophy and Letters who has published books and articles on international law including The Government of Europe: Institutional Design of the European Union – and Renato Cisneros, Peruvian journalist and poet, notably for Algún día te mostraré el desierto (‘One day I will show you the desert’). They exchange their concerns about the advance of populism and nationalism and discuss the political reality in Europe and America with Italian writer and journalist Paola del Vecchio.
Coorganised with the Institute of European and International Studies in collaboration with Wom@rtsExile and lost identity. Theodor Kallifatides in conversation with Monika Zgustova
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Writer Theodor Kallifatides was born in Greece in 1938 and emigrated to Sweden in 1964, where he began his literary career. He has published more than forty works comprising fiction, essays and poetry, which have been translated into several languages and have received multiple awards over the decades. At seventy-seven, suffering from writer’s block, he makes the difficult decision to sell his Stockholm studio and travels to his native Greece with the hope of rediscovering the easy flow of language. He gathers his observations and emotions in Another Life and explores the relationship between a meaningful life and meaningful work, and how to reconcile himself with ageing. Kallifatides exchanges impressions about life in exile and the impact on identity with translator, writer and journalist Monika Zgustova, who was born in Prague and settled in Barcelona four decades ago. Zgustova has sixty translations from Czech and Russian, for which she has received the City of Barcelona Award and the Angel Crespo Prize. She is also author of six novels, with the latest, Un revólver para salir de noche (‘A handgun to go out at night’) due to be published this autumn. Her work of fiction revolves around exile, the loss of identity and the intimate life of people in times of totalitarianism.
Coorganised with the Swedish Embassy, the Embassy of Cyprus and the Embassy of the Hellenic Republic in Spain in collaboration with Galaxia Gutenberg publishing and Wom@rts.
Events at Hay Festival Querétaro (México), 5-8 September, 2019
Screening of the documentary El testigo: Caín y Abel. Presented by Jesús Abad Colorado and Kate Horne
Thursday, September 5, 2019
British documentary maker Kate Horne has captured stories from Colombia in her projects Hostage in the Jungle, about the six-year kidnapping experience of the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt; and Gabo, la creación de Gabriel García Márquez, about the country’s most famous author. In 2018 she debuted as a director with El testigo: Caín y Abel, a documentary about the life and work of the Colombian photographer Jesús Abad Colorado, who has dedicated the last 25 years of his life to portraying the armed conflict in Colombia. El testigo is a film that shows how the powerful images of his work are more than just a record of the war: they are a hymn to life and a message of hope.
The documentary will be introduced by the director and by Jesús Abad Colorado.
Language: Spanish
Duration: 73 minutes
With the support of British Council and Wom@rts
Diego Luna in conversation with Gaby Wood
Friday, September 6, 2019
With three decades of experience as an actor and, more recently, as a film, theatre and television director, Diego Luna is one of Mexico’s most high-profile stars. He started acting in some scenes of the soap opera El abuelo y yo with his best friend, Gael García Bernal, with whom he acted in the film that made his name Y tu mamá también (2001), directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2002 he moved to Hollywood, working thereafter with actors such as Salma Hayek, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn and Penélope Cruz; his eclectic career has included films ranging from The Terminal (2004) to Star Wars: Rogue One (2016). He is currently starring in the series Narcos: México. After five years in Los Angeles, in 2013 he returned to Mexico and, as well as participating in national productions, he has been involved in causes fighting injustice in the country, such as the recently presented El Día Después initiative. Luna will talk to Gaby Wood.
With the support of the British Council and Wom@rts
Listen again on Hay PlayerMichael Ondaajte in conversation with Gaby Wood
Friday, September 6, 2019
The award-winning Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje is the author of more than ten poetry books and seven novels, including The English Patient (1992), winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize and made into a film in 1996, an adaptation that won nine Oscars, including Best Film. In Warlight (2018), Ondaatje tells the story of Nathaniel, a fourteen-year old boy, and his older sister Rachel, who move with their parents to Singapore in 1945, fleeing a London in ruins. The young people are in the custody of people of doubtful origin and are immersed in strange situations that eventually become clear over the following 12 years. In conversation with the journalist Gaby Wood.
Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available
With the support of the Booker Prize, the British Council and Wom@rts
Listen again on Hay PlayerAmerica Today. Sarah Churchwell and Ben Rhodes in conversation with Olivia Zerón
Saturday, September 7, 2019
This event features two festival guests who have a profound understanding of the current political panorama in the United States. Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor and speechwriter for Barack Obama, demonstrates this in his book The World As It Is (2018). Sarah Churchwell is the Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London. She has published Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream (2018), which analyses two terms that are ever-present in the discourse of President Donald Trump (and public opinion), “the American dream” and “America First”. They will talk to Olivia Zerón.
Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available
With the support of Wom@rts
Poetry reading with Elvira Sastre and Andrea Valbuena
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Two voices from the old continent recite their verses at this special reading. Elvira Sastre (Spain), winner of the Emiliano Barral Prize and the Biblioteca Breve Prize (2019), began writing poetry aged 12. At 15 she started publishing with the blog Relocos y Recuerdos, and has so far published the poetry books Cuarenta y tres maneras de soltarse el pelo (2013), Baluarte(2014), Ya nadie baila (2015), La soledad de un cuerpo acostumbrado a la herida (2016) and Aquella orilla nuestra(2018). Andrea Valbuena (Spain) publishes poetry on his blog conlopuestoypalabras, inspired in the use of this format by Elvira Sastre. He has published the poetry books Una tormenta tropical lleva mi nombre (2014, self-published), Mágoa (2016) and Si el silencio tomara la palabra (2018).
With the support of Acción Cultural Española
Events at Hay Festival Wales (United Kingdom), 23 May–2 June, 2019
The British Academy Platform 3: Border - A journey to the Edge of Europe. Kapka Kassabova talks to Misha Glenny
Saturday 25 May, 2019
When Kapka Kassabova was a child, the border zone between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was rumoured to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, so it swarmed with soldiers, spies and fugitives. Today she sets out on a journey to meet the people of this triple border – Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, and the latest wave of refugees fleeing conflict further afield. She discovers a region that has been shaped by the successive forces of history: by its own past migration crises, by communism, by two world wars, by the Ottoman Empire, and – older still – by the ancient legacy of myths and legends. Border is a multi-award-winning piece of history and reportage.
In association with the British Academy and Europa28
Watch or listen again on Hay Player
From Che Guevara to Juan Guaidó: Understanding Latin America. Jon Lee Anderson talks to Sophie Hughes
Saturday 25 May, 2019
The New Yorker’s frontline journalist reports from the most volatile and dynamic region in the world. He introduces the graphic version of his biography Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life and explains what’s happening today in Venezuela.
In association with Wom@rts and Creative Europe
Europa28: The Future of Europe. Paula Bonet, Hilary Cottam, Kapka Kassabova, Janne Teller and Sophie Hughes
Monday 27 May, 2019
Hay Festival is working with Rijeka Capital of Culture 2020 in Croatia to commission 28 writers and thinkers from across the continent to reimagine the future of Europe. Four of the 28 join us in Hay this year to preview their ideas and stories. Bonet is an artist from Spain, Cottam a social historian and philosopher from Britain, Kassabova a Bulgarian-Scots journalist and Teller a novelist and former UN officer. They talk to the translator, editor and writer Sophie Hughes.
In association with Wom@rts and Creative Europe. Supported by Acción Cultural Española and The British Council
Watch or listen again on Hay Player
Events at Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias and Hay Festival Medellín (Colombia). January 30 - February 3, 2019
Meditation workshop with Kankyo Tannier
Wednesday 30 January, 2019
These workshop is open to all, with humour and simple explanations to find the inner silence, everyday. Kankyo Tannier is a budist nun form the Zen tradition. She lived 15 years in a monastery in France. She divides her time between a life surrounded by trees and animals and an modern, very social activity: videos, books, blogs, conferences. She is the author of The girft of silence: finding peace in a world full of noise, translated into 13 languages. Her aim is to share what is zen meditation and to show an example of contemporary espitituality that is accessible to all.
Kankyo Tannier in conversation with Claudia Restrepo
Wednesday 30 January, 2019
We live in the era of noise. We are part of the busy pace of society. We are constantly faced with excessive amounts of information and, at times, we explode and feel lost. What’s the solution to this problem? Kankyo Tannier (France) is a Buddhist nun, author of the book The Gift of Silence, where she presents us the essence of silence within the incessant noise we are destined to live in. Kankyo Tannier reveals the gift of silence through practical exercises that allow us to evade noise. In this talk she will be in conversation with Claudia Restrepo.
Nine kinds of activism. Sarah Corbett with Diana de la Vega.
Thursday 31 January, 2019
The work of activists is not only done through loud protest. This is the premise at the heart of Sarah Corbett’s discourse, who uses painstakingly-created hand-made crafts and well-thought out messages to do activism around social justice issues. She has given talks on TEDx and given workshops at different universities and art schools, and she is the author of the books A Little Book of Craftivism and How to be a Craftivist.
With the support of British Council and Wom@rts
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Workshop on memes and more with Luna Miguel
Thursday 31 January, 2019
A workshop with Luna Miguel: writer, poet and literary editor of the online magazine PlayGround. Internet is a word that is difficult to rhyme, but that does not mean that literature does not fit in it. On the contrary: through memes, viral articles from PlayGround and verses from the best instapoets, we will see how easy and necessary it is to read and create through social media.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Morten Strøksnes in conversation with Luna Miguel
Thursday 31 January, 2019
Morten Strøksnes was once in search of a beast that surpasses humans in so many barely imaginable ways: eight meters long, weighing in at a thousand kilos, with four hundred years of life expectancy, it inhabits a hidden marine ecosystem in the artic polar circle. In Shark Drunk, this Norwegian historian, writer and photographer tells the story of how, beside his friend Hugo Aasjord, he undertook his ambitious voyage to capture the boreal shark. He will talk with the Spanish editor, writer and journalist Luna Miguel.
Supported by Norla and Wom@rts
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Kankyo Tannier in conversation with Mario Mendoza
Friday 1 February, 2019
We live in the era of noise. We are part of the busy pace of society. We are constantly faced with excessive amounts of information and, at times, we explode and feel lost. What’s the solution to this problem? Kankyo Tannier (France) is a Buddhist nun, author of the book The Gift of Silence, where she presents us the essence of silence within the incessant noise we are destined to live in. Kankyo Tannier reveals the gift of silence through practical exercises that allow us to evade noise. In this talk she will be in conversation with Mario Mendoza.
Hay Player: Listen to the audio
Luna Miguel and Kim Thúy in conversation with Ingrid Bejerman
Friday 1 February, 2019
Narrators of imposing stories that explore in their work subjects as complex as death and grief. Luna Miguel (Spain) is an editor, columnist, poet and through her debut published in 2018, El funeral de Lolita, a novelist. Kim Thúy is a Vietnamese-Canadian lawyer, translator and writer who published in 2018 Vi. Una mujer minúscula. The novel narrates the experience of a family who live through the war in Vietnam, spending time in a refugee camp and finally migrating to Canada. They will be in conversation with Ingrid Bejerman.
With the support of Blue Metropolis, McGill University and Wom@rts
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Poetry Gala
Friday 1 February, 2019
Poets from several countries share with the audiences of Hay Festival Cartagena examples of their beautiful work. With Piedad Bonnett (Colombia), Mircea Cartarescu (Romania), Tamara Kamenszain (Argentina), Luna Miguel (Spain), Winston Morales Chavarro (Colombia), Ioana Nicolaie (Romania), Maria do Rosário Pedreira (Portugal) and Manuel Vilas (Spain). Moderated by Guido Tamayo.
With the support of the Embassy of Portugal and Wom@rts
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Meditation workshop with Kankyo Tannier
Saturday 2 February, 2019
A workshop for people of all ages which will explain, in a simple and fun way, how to find inner silence every day. Kankyo Tannier is a Buddhist nun in the Zen tradition. She lived for 15 years in a monastery in France. She divides her time between a life with trees and wildlife, and modern social activities: videos, books, blogs, conferences… She is an author of the book The Gift of Silence, which has been translated into 13 languages. Her goal is to promote Zen meditation and show the example of a contemporary spirituality that is accessible to all.
HAY PLAYER; Listen to the audio
Craftivism. Sarah Corbett in conversation with Camilo Jiménez Santofimio
Sunday 3 February, 2019
The work of activists is not only done through loud protest. This is the premise at the heart of Sarah Corbett’s discourse, who uses painstakingly-created hand-made crafts and well-thought out messages to do activism around social justice issues. She has given talks on TEDx and given workshops at different universities and art schools, and she is the author of the books A Little Book of Craftivism andHow to be a Craftivist. She will be talking about her way of fighting for issues that matter with Camilo Jiménez Santofimio.
With the support of ARCADIA, British Council and Wom@rts
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Events at Hay Festival Arequipa, Peru, 2018
Reliable journalism in the era of fake news: The BBC's model Kirsty Lang in conversation with Constanza Corzo Bianchi
8 November 2018
Kirsty Lang (United Kingdom) is the presenter of Front Row, BBC Radio 4’s flagship arts programme. She talked about the value and importance of a public television service like the BBC, considered to be one of the best in the world, and whose worth is even greater in the era of fake news and the internet. She talked about the importance for a country of funding good journalism with Constanza Corzo Bianchi.
Paula Bonet in conversation with Alejandra Ballón
9 November 2018
Paula Bonet is a Spanish writer and artist who has exhibited her work in ten countries. Since 2012 she has combined her painting and illustration work with literature and music, publishing and illustrating her own poetry, children’s books, non-fiction and song books. She has illustrated the books Léeme (Amaia Crespo, Andana, 2013), Escribe con Rosa Montero (Rosa Montero, Alfaguara, 2017) and Por el olvido (Aitor Saraiba, Lunwerg, 2018), and has written and illustrated Qué hacer cuando en la pantalla aparece The End (Lunwerg, 2014), 813 (La Galera, 2015), La Sed (Lunwerg, 2017) and Quema la memoria (Lunwerg, 2018). Pending publication is Roedores. Cuerpo de embarazada sin embrión, a book about the realities of the female body which talks plainly about the subject of miscarriage. She talked to the Arequipa artist and researcher Alejandra Ballón.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
John Paul Rathbone in conversation with Rosie Boycott
9 November 2018
The writer and journalist John Paul Rathbone, currently Managing Editor of the Latin American edition of the Financial Times, is the author of the book The Sugar King of Havana: the Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba’s Last Tycoon, highly praised by The New York Times. This work tells the story of one of the richest men in pre-Castro Cuba: a cultivated art collector with a talent for finance, who helped Che Guevara topple Bautista. Rathbone talked to the journalist Rosie Boycott not just about the incredible life of this man, but also the transformation of the country in recent years and Cuba’s current situation.
Helen Fielding in conversation with Rosie Boycott
9 November 2018
Helen Fielding is the author of Bridget Jones’s Diary, a worldwide literary phenomenon and a comedy classic, translated into 32 languages. After the book’s success, she wrote the sequel, Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason (1999). In 2001 and 2004 the film adaptations of the two books were released, and so Bridget Jones became an iconic early 21st-century character. Eighteen years after the first novel, she has published Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2014) and then Bridget Jones’s Baby, made into a film in 2016. In conversation with the journalist Rosie Boycott, Helen Fielding talked about her development as a writer and of her most famous character.
Stalin's Daughter: Rosemary Sullivan in conversation with Kirsty Lang
9 November 2018
Rosemary Sullivan is the author of fifteen books, including biographies, poetry, travel writing, short fiction and essays. Her most recent work, Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva, won the 2016 Plutarch Biography Prize and other Canadian prizes for non-fiction. She talked about this fascinating biography with the journalist Kirsty Lang.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
The importance of nature: Carlos Magdalena and Andrea Wulf in conversation with Rosie Boycott
9 November 2018
Two naturalists from different fields come together with the journalist Rosie Boycott to discuss something that is very precious to us: our environment. Carlos Magdalena, the Spanish botanist and star conservationist at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, the world’s most important, is known for his tireless labour recovering and conserving plant species on the edge of extinction, and has recently published The Plant Messiah. The British historian Andrea Wulf presented her work The Invention of Nature, in which she follows the footsteps of the great polymath Alexander von Humboldt and told how he inspired figures as diverse as Simón Bolívar and Charles Darwin.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
About the #MeToo campaign: Alejandra Ballón, Paula Bonet, Karina Pacheco and Gustavo Rodríguez in conversation with Paola Donaire
9 November 2018
The US feminist campaign, #MeToo, has shaken the world and struck a blow in favour of gender equality. Spanish-speaking artists will talk about how this feminist wave has broken over Latin America and Spain.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
The Poetry Pharmacy: William Sieghart in conversation with Kirsty Lang
10 November 2018
Since 2014, William Sieghart has dedicated thousands of hours to offering consultancy to people up and down the United Kingdom, prescribing short and powerful poems for all kinds of spiritual maladies. He tells the extraordinary story in his book The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul. This is not a conventional collection, but rather one created by the personal experience of the author, reciting real poems for people who need them. Each poem is paired with a specific condition: fear of the unknown, unrequited love, stagnation, feeling purposeless, convalescence or oppression. He talked to the British BBC journalist Kirsty Lang.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
The invention of nature: Andrea Wulf in conversation with Peter Florence
10 November 2018
Andrea Wulf is the author of the prize-winning The Invention of Nature, a biography that can be read as an exciting and entertaining adventure story. In it, she tells us about the experiences of Alexander von Humboldt, the great German explorer who opened the doors onto a view of nature that we still share today. Andrea Wulf talked to Peter Florence, founder and director of the Hay Festival, about all the different ways of looking at something as ambiguous and abstract as nature.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Literature and humour: Helen Fielding and Santiago Roncagliolo in conversation with Kirsty Lang
10 November 2018
Helen Fielding (United Kingdom) is the author of Bridget Jones’s Diary and the sequels Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Bridget Jones’s Baby. The adventures of Bridget Jones have been enjoyed around the world, in books and films, and the character has become a classic of comedy. In 2006, the Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo became the youngest ever winner of the Alfaguara Novel Prize with Red April. This author often uses dark humour, a resource that marks the tone of his work. They talked to the journalist Kirsty Lang.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Poetry Gala
10 November 2018
Once again we celebrate poetry with readings by festival guests. Some recited poems by César Vallejo, whose first poetry book is one hundred years old this year. With Frank Báez (Dominican Republic), Paula Bonet (Spain), Oswaldo Chanove (Peru), Alvaro Lasso (Peru), Miren Agur Meabe (Spain) Alejandro Palomas (Spain), Jerónimo Pimentel (Peru), Mariano Rolando Andrade (Argentina), Alonso Ruiz Rosas (Peru) and José Carlos Yrigoyen (Peru). Presented by the poet Javier Rivera.
HAY PLAYER: Listen to the audio
Events at Hay Festival Segovia (Spain), 2018
Coexistence in Europe: past, present and future
Riika Pelo, Dorota Maslowska, Sarah Hall, Radka Denemarková and Michael Krüger with Marta del Riego
21 September 2018
The round table organized by EUNIC Spain was attended by European writers: Riika Pelo (Helsinki, Finland), playwright, essayist and screenwriter and brand new National Literature Prize of Finland 2013 with her second novel Jokapäiväinen elämämme (Our daily life); and Dorota Maslowska (Wejherowo, Poland) enfant terrible of Polish literature, essayist, composer, singer and one of the most acclaimed and awarded voices of contemporary European dramaturgy. Representative of the bridge generation, her childhood was marked by the fall of communism and a wave of Western consumer culture. Sarah Hall, translated into more than a dozen languages and considered one of the twenty best young writers of 2013 by Granta, is a multi-award-winning writer of five novels, including Hawswater (2013 Commonwealth Writer Award for Best First Novel) and The Electric Michelangelo(finalist of the Man Booker Prize, Prix Femina Etranger and Commonwealth Writers Prize). Radka Denemarková (Kutná Hora, Czech Republic), Czech novelist, dramatist, screenwriter, translator and essayist who received the Magnesia Litera Prize for the best prose work of the year in the Czech Republic and the Usedom Literature Prize and the Georg Dehio in Germany; and Michael Krüger (Wittgendorf, Germany) editor and indispensable figure of the European literary panorama, as well as one of the most outstanding contemporary writers in the German language. He is the author of stories, novels, translations and several poetry collections. Moderated by Marta del Riego.
Listen to the audioJulianne Pachico and Sarah Hall in conversation with Ludovic Assémat
22 September 2018
Translated into more than a dozen languages and considered one of the 20 best young writers of 2013 by Granta, Sarah Hall (The Wolf Border, Madame Zero, The Beautiful indifference, The Electric Michelangelo) is a multi-award-winning novelist. Julianne Pachico (The Lucky Ones, The Tourists) is one of the great promises of British literature. Her first novel was finalist for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award. They share a love of and talent for writing short novels.
Hispano-American dialogues: Jorge Volpi in conversation with Luna Miguel
22 September 2018
Hay Dialogues with Hispanic American seeks to promote knowledge and exchange between writers of different generations and nationalities, united by the same language and a shared literary tradition. They are enriched by authors of diverse origins. In this talk the Mexican writer Jorge Volpi talked with the Spanish poet and writer Luna Miguel.
Clara Usón talks to Concha Barrigós
22 September 2018
Clara Usón’s latest novel El asesino tímido, is set during the transition in Spain and is based on the real case of the controversial death of Sandra Mozarovski, an actress who helped to break down the barrier of nudity in the post-Franco era and who apparently committed suicide. The daughter of a Russian diplomat, she moved in the highest social circles: her case was never resolved and greatly moved Spanish society of the seventies. Usón, one of the most respected literary voices of the moment, talked with Concha Barrigós, Head of Culture at EFE.
Events at Hay Festival in Querétaro, Mexico: 6–9 September 2018
Us too: On the #MeToo campaign
Wenceslao Bruciaga, Lydia Cacho and María Hesse in conversation with Gabriela Jauregui
7 September 2018
The #MeToo campaign has shaken the globe, fostering support for gender equality. Artists from the Hispanic world will talk about this movement, which started in the United States, and about how it has made waves around the world. The writer and journalist Wenceslao Bruciaga (Mexico); the journalist, activist and writer Lydia Cacho (Mexico); the Spanish illustrator María Hesse; and the Argentinean writer and journalist Lucía Lijtmaer took part in a round table moderated by Gabriela Jauregui.
Andrea Marcolongo in conversation with Sergio del Molino
7 September 2018
The Italian writer Andrea Marcolongo has managed to entrance thousands of readers around the world, unexpectedly, with Ancient Greek. La lingua geniale: 9 ragioni per amare il greco is the bestseller that brings the legendary language of Plato out of the classical world and into the 21st century. She talked to the Spanish writer and journalist Sergio del Molino.
What is art for? Lecture by Jeanette Winterson
8 September 2018
The US campaign, #MeToo, has shaken the world, helping to build support for gender equality. The writers, journalists and activists Vivian Gornick (USA), Jeanette Winterson (UK), Rosemary Sullivan (Canada) and Eliezer Budasoff (Argentina) have been working for gender equality through fiction and non-fiction, through the written and spoken word, through literature and through images. At this event with the BBC journalist Antía Castedo, they talked about the #MeToo social media campaign, ways of being heard and promoting the path towards a more equitable world.
Us too: on the #MeToo campaign
Vivian Gornick, Jeanette Winterson, Rosemary Sullivan and Eliezer Budasoff in conversation with Antía Castedo
8 September 2018
Jeanette Winterson (UK) took the literary scene by storm in 1985 when she published the semi-autobiographical novelOranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Now, with more than 25 books published over more than 30 years as a writer, reflecting on matters such as religion, the LGTB community and art, Winterson is one of the major figures in contemporary British literature. Talking about art, she wrote in one of her columns forThe Guardian: “We censor it, sentimentalise it, treat it as a commodity. But we can’t reduce its power.” So, what is art for? This outstanding English writer reflected on this question to talk about art’s incredible transformational power.
Illustrating feminism: María Hesse and Raquel Riba Rossy in conversation with Felipe Rosete
Sunday 9 September, 2018
The Spanish feminists and illustrators Raquel Riba Rossy and María Hesse transmit their values through their graphic novels. They talked to Felipe Rosete about their work in the art industry with regard to feminism. Raquel Riba Rossy is the author of Más vale Lola que mal acompañada and recently she has published ¿Qué Pacha, mamá?. Both works feature the famous and revolutionary character, Lola Vendetta. María Hesse highlights the importance of feminism in her illustrated book Frida Kahlo: Una biografía, and this year once again deals with feminism, by challenging gender and its social constructions through another famous person, David Bowie, in her new book: Bowie.
The Hay Festival illustrated: Liniers and Alberto Montt with Bef, María Hesse, Peter Kuper, Powerpaola and Raquel Riba Rossy
9 September 2018
Two draughtsmen, Ricardo Liniers (Argentina) and Alberto Montt (Ecuador-Chile), accepted the challenge to take the stage, to host a unique experience. An event with irony, acidic humour and ideas, as well as the special participation of the audience and guests on the stage. Here they created a live improvisation of drawings, reflecting a range of themes and figures from current affairs. Raquel Riba Rossy (Spain), María Hesse (Spain), Peter Kuper (USA) and Powerpaola (Colombia-Ecuador) were moderated by the two illustrators: while they spoke to the audience, the guests drew the jokes and ideas that came out of this spontaneous exchange.
Events at Hay Festival in Wales, 24 May–3 June 2018
Fictions: Bogotá 39. Claudia Ulloa Donoso, Emiliano Monge y Laia Jufresa in conversation with Daniel Hahn
27 May 2018
The second of two sessions introducing the most exciting voices of Latin American fiction, award-winning stars of the 2018 selection for Bogotá 39, and launching the English-language edition of a globally published anthology. Claudia Ulloa Donoso is a short story writer from Peru, whose collection Little Birds beautifully combines cruelty and tenderness. Emiliano Monge's The Arid Sky has seen him hailed as a Mexican Cormac McCarthy. Laia Jufresa's masterpiece Umami is a darkly comic portrayal of contemporary life in Mexico City. They talked to Daniel Hahn.
The Index on Censorship Platform: The death of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the truth about Malta
Rachael Jolley, Paul Caruana Galizia, Caroline Muscat and Katya Adler
28 May 2018
The journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia investigated corruption in the Maltese government for decades in the face of intimidation, libel threats and persecution. She was assassinated in a car bomb attack on 16 October 2017. The editor of Index on Censorship is joined by Daphne's son Paul and her fellow Maltese journalist Caroline Muscat of The Shift News. They talked to the BBC's Europe Editor.
Margaret Atwood, Tishani Doshi, Mererid Hopwood, Ulrike Almut Sandig, Evelyn Schlag and friends
29 May 2018
To celebrate the centenary of the Armistice of 1918, we commissioned poets from the main protagonist nations to respond to a Great War poem from their own culture. We had poems in French, Russian, German, Welsh and several forms of English. The new poems were read in the event for the first time, in the original language and in English translation alongside the works that inspired them, and other poems of the time.
Listen to the audio and watch the videoFictions: Brother in Ice
Alicia Kopf with Daniel Hahn
1 June 2018
This hybrid novel – part research notes, part fictionalised diary, part travelogue – uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist's own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and sister to an autistic brother. Conceptual and emotionally compelling, it advances fearlessly into the frozen emotional lacunae of difficult family relationships. Deserving winner of multiple awards upon the book's Catalan and Spanish publication, Kopf has been hailed as one of the greatest emerging talents in world literature.
Events at Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias in Colombia, 25–28 January 2018
Bogotá39-2017: Amphibious Writers I
Mariana Torres, Diego Erlan and Eduardo Plaza in conversation with Camilo Hoyos
25 January 2018
Three authors who combine writing with other occupations, in this case publishing, journalism and language teaching, talk about what it means to move between the different worlds in which they live and work. They also talked about their latest books with the literary critic and columnist Camilo Hoyos: Mariana Torres (Spain-Brazil), Diego Erlan (Argentina) and Eduardo Plaza (Chile).
Bogotá39-2017: The Way to Fiction
Martín Felipe Castagnet, Mauro Libertella and Juan Manuel Robles in conversation with Paula Canal
26 January 2018
Four of the best under-40-years Latin American writers will talk about how their lives found the way to fiction. Why is fiction important? What is it for? Does it help or is it just an entertainment? These are only some of the questions raised during this interesting debate.
Fiona Mozley and Lisa McInerney in conversation with Peter Florence
26 January 2018
Fiona Mozley is a British writer, finalist of the Man Booker Prize 2017 with her debut novel Elmet. Lisa McInerney is an Irish writer, author of Glorious Heresies and The Blood Miracles, and winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. They talked about their work with Peter Florence, founder of the Hay Festival.
Books and feminisms: The library of Marguerite Durand
Lauren Bastide in conversation with Gabriela Jauregui
27 January 2018
The feminist journalist Lauren Bastide (France) is a former editor of Elle France magazine and a former presenter on Canal+; she created the podcast Nouvelle Ecoutes, on which she interviews women. Lauren speaks with the writer Gabriela Jauregui about the tradition and history of feminism and its link with books and printing presses, through the figure Marguerite Durand, creator of a library that preserves 70,000 books and documents about women´s history and the fight for their rights.
