Hay Festival Arequipa 2023

Starting with one of the stories from her book, Las voces de los árboles, the educator Elisa Guerra will talk to teenagers about matters such as climate change, migration and resilience, culminating with an active exchange of ideas, based on the question What is the fire that affects you? Elisa Guerra (Mexico) has a Master’s in Education from Harvard University. In 2015 she was named Best Educator in the Latin American and Caribbean region by the Inter-American Development Bank, and was a member of the UNESCO Futures of Education’s International Commission.

A journalist from one of the world’s most important and prestigious media outlets will give a digital journalism workshop aimed at university students. This member of the BBC Mundo, Alejandro Millán, team will explain the working model of the Spanish-language section of this British news service, which is over a hundred years old and is renowned for its news rigour and quality, focussing particularly on audio-visual content creation and managing the social media.

Two major figures from the world of Peruvian education will talk about the subject with Killa Sumac Miranda Troncos. Patricia Salas (Peru) is a sociologist and expert in matters related to social development; she has a doctorate in Social Sciences from the Universidad Católica de Santa María and has been both Chair of the National Council of Education and Peruvian Minister of Education. Maritza Ramírez (Peru) is a dedicated Kukama activist who works to revitalise the language, as well as on the promotion of bilingual and intercultural education in Peru through documenting the Kukama language, developing educational materials and creating teaching spaces. Her work has been recognised nationally and internationally for its significant impact on the promotion of inclusive education that respects cultural diversity.

Daniel Mordzinski (Argentina), known as the “writer’s photographer”, has created a body of photographic work and an aesthetic closely linked to literature and its mystique: from his first photos of Jorge Luis Borges in 1978, including hundreds of writers who have passed in front of his camera, and with over 15 years of work linked to the Hay Festivals. He will talk about his extraordinary career, which has been built up at the frontier of images and words. In conversation with Jorge Jaime Valdez.

Américo Zambrano Romero (Peru) is a writer and journalist who is known for his ability to tell complex stories, bringing a human dimension to the cold statistics of crime. Winner of the 2023 National Journalism Prize, he talks to us about his recent book, Nuestros muertos, an in-depth investigation focussing on the events of 2023 after the failed coup attempted by Pedro Castillo in Peru. In the book, the author examines the decisions taken by the government to try and stop the protests that marked the beginning of its mandate. In conversation with Victoria Guerrero Peirano.

This event involves the screening of a 15-minute documentary, followed by a conversation between Alejandro Millán, producer of the documentary and BBC Mundo journalist, and Matías Zibell. The Tsimane are one of the 36 indigenous nations officially recognised by the plurinational state of Bolivia. Its 16,000 semi-nomadic members live in the Misión Fátima region, a remote corner of the Bolivian Amazon. Experts believe that it is their very isolation that contributes to the unique way in which this ethnicity ages, something that scientists have been studying for decades.

The author and musician Giacomo Roncagliolo (Peru) published stories and poems in the former fanzine Morfina between 2011 and 2013. In 2017 he was shortlisted for the Clarín Novel Prize for his book Ámok. His recent novel, El fantástico sueño de aniquilar esto, is a disturbing thriller that explores the addictive power of virtual sexuality and its sinister influence on contemporary desire. In conversation with Jorge Malpartida.

Official narrative, non-hegemonic narratives. How do the guests at this event position themselves? We talk to Hamja Ahsan (United Kingdom), Agustina Bazterrica (Argentina), Ekaitz Cancela (Spain) and Juan Manuel Robles (Peru) about their ways of narrating, and their choices when it comes to telling stories and representing reality. In conversation with Karima Ziali.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

In 2022, Hay Festival and the British Museum came together to organise the anthology Volver a contar: Escritores de América Latina en los archivos del Museo Británico, for which a group of ten writers examined narratives about the past through a collection of Latin American objects in the museum never seen in public before. In 2023 we presented the anthology Exploradores, soñadores y ladrones, in which six authors looked at the museum’s collections in order to create new compilation of texts that question and reimagine the predominant narratives. With Felipe Restrepo Pombo (Colombia), Philippe Sands (United Kingdom) and Gabriela Wiener (Peru), in conversation with Cristina Fuentes La Roche (Spain).

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Two authors examine, through their work, the meaning of family and identity as linked to origins and nationality. Fabiola Hablützel (Peru/Chile) presents La hermana del medio, a moving story about the importance of family and our place in the world. With her fiftieth birthday approaching, her mother reveals a secret that had been kept from her all her life, that Fabiola was adopted. The impact of the news leads the author to undertake a journey of self-discovery, from the streets of Callao to Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The director, screenwriter and novelist María Larrea (Spain/France) was born in Bilbao (Spain) and grew up in Paris, where she studied film at La Fémis. She presents her first novel, Los de Bilbao nacen donde quieren, in which Larrea tells the story, backwards, of a complicated family history, with illegal adoptions in the dying days of the Franco dictatorship. In conversation with Clara Elvira Ospina.

Two Peruvian writers talk to Enrique Planas about their latest books, in which nature and human emotions play major roles. The writer and social communicator María José Caro was included on the Hay Festival 2017 list of the 39 best Latin American fiction writers aged under 40. Her most recent work, Vida animal, tells the story of four friends on a hen night in Chosica, in which the author uses references to the animal world in order to guide us around the complexity of the human relationships. Susanne Noltenius, an outstanding Peruvian writer of German origin, is a graduate of the School of Creative Writing run by Alonso Cueto and Iván Thays, and has published successful works including Crisis respiratoria and Tres mujeres (2017 National Literature Prize in the Short Story category) and a number of books for children. Her latest book, Se hace otoño, tells the story of a woman who, under stress due to the political changes in her country and a difficult family history, seeks a new life in Germany, surrounded by nature and aiming to find emotional stability.

Two journalists from one of the world’s most important and prestigious media outlets, Alejandro Millán (Colombia) and Matías Zibell (Argentina), will give this digital journalism workshop aimed at university students. The two members of the BBC Mundo team will explain the working model of the Spanish-language section of this British news service, which is over a hundred years old and is renowned for its news rigour and quality, focussing particularly on audio-visual content creation and managing the social media.

El infinito placer de las matemáticas has become an unexpected bestseller, with almost twenty thousand copies sold in Spanish alone. The author, the Spaniard Alessandro Maccarrone, holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Barcelona, ​​and is a science educator and secondary school teacher. For the last 15 years he has been working as a teacher and popular educator, and he has discovered that physics and mathematics are not only infinite in breadth, but also in depth, and that in the most basic and everyday questions lies a great wealth, complexity and beauty. In conversation with Azael Paz Aliaga.

Poetry reading-workshop for women, taking the text by the poet Maggie Smith as a first inspiration to share and create poems together. It is not necessary to have written poetry before, but if participants have written any before, it is suggested they take some to the event. The workshop is moderated by the educator Elisa Guerra, shortlisted for the 2023 Loewe Poetry Prize. Her book Ellas, Afasia won the poetry prize awarded by the magazine Punto de Partida, published by UNAM (Mexico). Guerra runs Las Primeras Letras, a literary podcast-workshop for children.

We talk about our challenges as global societies from non-hegemonic perspectives. Hari Kunzru, a graduate of Oxford University with a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Warwick, has been a member of the executive board of the English PEN and named by Granta as one of the "best young British novelists"; he has also won various awards, such as the Observer Young Travel Writer of the Year and a British Book Award. In May this year he published his new book, Blue Ruin. Jonathan Castro (Peru) is a political and investigative journalist who works for the La Encerrona outlet. Karima Ziali is a Spanish writer and researcher of Moroccan origin. She has a degree in Philosophy, a Master’s in Anthropological Research and a doctorate in Migratory Studies. Her first novel is entitled Una oración sin dios. In conversation with Karen Bernedo.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The Cusco influencer, chef and social media phenomenon, Waldir Maqque, presents his book Qué riquito, based on the recipes he has shared with the public in recent years, in his own particular idiom and with all his passion for cookery. Alessandra Yupanqui, a designer, tiktoker and content creator, has created a personal project that has become a community in which she and her followers share stories, reports and reflections on identity and racial discrimination in Peru. Both will talk about their experiences and challenges with José Luis Ramos Salinas, Doctor in Social Sciences and UNSA lecturer.

Xabier Díaz is a writer and journalist of Spanish origin, known for his work on matters related to ecology and sustainability, and for his dedication to documenting the environmental matters and challenges faced by Latin America. In his new book, Abecedario Climático Peruano, he presents over a hundred illustrated words, with stories and photos collected in the coastal, mountain and rainforest regions of Peru over the course of fifteen years. The work highlights the local eco-heroes who lead climate action, while also preserving ancestral knowledge, and it combines personal testimonies with an analysis of the effects of climate change on different communities. In conversation with Andrea Chanove.

The education/information/citizenship triad is key for strengthening enlightened democracy. This event will involve sharing experiences of the French educational system in terms of education, teaching tools and continuous training on the subject for teachers, particularly including the topics of news, a critical spirit and civic values. With Serge Barbet (France-Argentina), a journalist who specialises in education and, since 2018, Director of the French Centre for Education on the Media and Information, in conversation with the French-Colombian philosopher Nelson Vallejo-Gómez.

Serge Barbet will join the event remotely.