Hay Festival Segovia 2023

How do you write a news story? How do you choose a good photo? What is a headline? In the El País journalism workshop, children will have the chance to learn about the art of journalism through activities that require no more than the desire to tell a story. In this hands-on session, the students of El Peñascal Primary School will choose their own story, learn how to write it up as a news item and put together a front page to take home as a souvenir. The workshop will be given by El País journalist Noelia Núñez.

How can virtual reality enhance a cultural experience? The Immersive Learning department and the Division of Arts and Humanities at IE University have curated a series of experiences for the participants of this year's Hay Festival Segovia, in which you can experience virtual reality and its applications to education. Is there such a thing as an original text? Goretti González will guide us to an answer in her immersive masterclass for 30 people.

In this event, participants will be invited to explore literary texts through the lens of virtual reality. Professor Goretti González, PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University and a specialist in Humanities and Languages will challenge us with her question: Is there such a thing as an original text?

Throughout the day from 11am to 7pm, except during masterclass times, festival-goers will be able to explore the metaverse and visit the IE Virtual Gallery on Spatial.io. They can also take in the exhibition of the winning photographs from the 2022 IE Foundation Prize in Humanities.

Free Admission every 30 minutes. Up to 30 participants at a time (Except from 12:00 to 12:50)

Masterclass: 9 euros

Event in English

Reading books, which only a few years ago seemed to be stagnating or even in decline, is undergoing changes that bring some optimism to the horizon. This comes along with some interesting trends in habits, like an increase in the number of audiobook users. This round table addresses the opportunities of the audiobook from the perspective of publishers and platforms. Ángela Álvarez, director of Penguin Random House Audio; Juan Baixeras, country manager Spain & Italy, Audible; Álvaro Curiel, country manager Storytel, Mariana Féged, general manager Spanish Markets, France & EMEA, Bookwire; Rafael Luna, director of marketing and business and digital at Editorial Anagrama and Raúl Pérez, head of Digital eBook and Audiobook Grupo Planeta will explore this topic together.

Event in Spanish

Is there a more masculine archetype than the world-renowned spy and notorious womanizer James Bond? What adventures can courageous women lead in the perilous eighteenth century world of smugglers? These questions of gender, genre and heroism sit at the heart of Kim Sherwood’s novels Double or Nothing, the first in a new series expanding the world of 007, and A Wild & True Relation, a literary historical feminist smuggling tale. Sherwood’s award-winning writing explores stereotypes related to gender and the role of women and women’s writing throughout history.

Kim is an author and creative writing lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, where she lives in the city. Her first novel, Testament (2018), won the Bath Novel Award and Harper’s Bazaar Big Book Award. It was longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Pick. In 2019, she was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Her second book, Double or Nothing (2022), is the first in a trilogy commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to expand the world of James Bond.

Kim Sherwood will discuss how her work confronts stereotypes and challenges gender norms in a conversation with Cristina Ward, Head of Arts at British Council Spain.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her books at the booth located at the main entrance of IE University.

Event in English.

Picasso is, without a doubt, the most celebrated, admired and representative artist of the 20th century, and yet his moral behaviour was questionable to say the least. In our moralistic 21st century world, hypersensitive to political correctness, and vigilant to themes of mistreatment and oppressive behaviours, José María Beneyto's Las Traiciones de Picasso —a non-fiction novel— raises the problem of the intrinsic value of the work of art; the relationship between creation and the life of its creator, and how far it is legitimate for an artist to justify his behaviour through his work. Beneyto is Professor of International Public Law and International Relations, a lawyer and a writer. He has been spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The event will be presented by Ana Nuria Fernández.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books at the library.

Event in Spanish

Popular action of the NGO AIDA to generate a community experience of meeting tradition and modernity through art and crafts, for the dissemination of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

30 horsepeople and 100 voluntary pedestrians will walk through the streets of the historic centre of the city, carrying 90 banners made ad-hoc, made by Marta Troya, a visual artist from Segovia, Angel Peris, a graphic artist, and Panamá Diaz, a photography artist, with images refering to the key words of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, combined with images of cooperation projects and people who benefit from these AIDA projects and other NGOs, along with original pieces from the three creators.

Accompanied by the music of the traditional Segovian dulzainas, the procession will go through the streets of Segovia from the Aqueduct to the Plaza Mayor, at noon, in the style of the traditional ceremonies for the celebration of great deeds, with a choreographed finale in the square itself, in which the participating volunteers will place the banners in such a way that they form a triple artistic installation, in the open air, which will remain until nightfall, to be later exhibited in the Cathedral's retrochoir.

Despite the prejudices society might hold about young people and their reading habits, children and teenagers are actually among those who read the most in Spain; a higher percentage, in fact, than people older than them. So, if young people are among those of us who read the most, why do we think that they don't? How do young people read? What genres do they prefer? How do they consume literature? How do social networks and new technologies influence reading? How does reading influence their values, interests, and choices? Gemma Lienas, a writer with a long career in literature for children and young people, and winner of the Ramón Llull (2003) and San Joan (2018) prizes, will explore these and other questions, along with Redry (David Galán), poet and winner of the Espasa poetry prize (2019), and Marta Álvarez, youth editor at Anaya.

The event will be moderated by Carme Riera, writer and academic, winner of the National Prize for Spanish Literature (2015).

At the end of the event, the authors will sign copies of their books at the book stall on Calle Real.

Event in Spanish

A looped screening of the documentary of the performance carried out at last year's Hay Festival Segovia by the AIDA Association, called The Theory of Unification: the sheep of Mr. Montes, directed by Luis Mengs and produced by the AIDA Association. 400 sheep belonging to Mr. Rafael Montes were herded to the Segovia aqueduct. The sheep each had the words YES or NO written on their backs, and formed random groups and clusters, which tried to illustrate Einstein's Unification Theory, as well as the possibility of individuals living together in peace, despite their different opinions. This performance was part of Kate Daudy and Kostya Novoselov's international art and science project called "Everything is connected".

The first afternoon sessions will feature Luis Mengs and Javier Gila, director and executive producer of the short documentary film.

The future of our societies depends on the commitment to preserve our planet earth and its ecosystem. In an immersive and thought-provoking conversation three distinguished visionaries —Vincent Doumeizel, Valerie Trouet and David Lindo— will explore their unique perspectives on nature and the profound wisdom it offers in a conversation with sustainability expert Isabela del Alcázar.

Doumeizel is a renowned French environmentalist and sustainability advocate, in his last book he reflects on powering the seaweed revolution. Trouet is a Belgian paleoclimatologist whose book Tree Story: The History of the World Written in Rings received such as Doumeizel’s an outstanding acclamation by the critique. Lindo on his side is known by many as “the urban birder”, prominent naturalist and broadcaster on the BBC, he is considered as one of the world's leading experts in ornithological tourism and urban birds. How will be the unveiled harmony of nature?

The publishing house Caballo de Troya summons the three writers chosen in 2023, Aida González Rossi, Violeta Gil and Margaryta Yakovenko, for a conversation about their latest works. Within the similarities and divergences in the works of these three Caballo de Troya authors, they will open up a space for reflection on the new narrative voices in the work of a publishing house that functions as a political and social tool, with books that make people uncomfortable and authors that write shamelessly.

At the end of the event, the authors will sign copies of their books at the library.

Event in Spanish

The war in Ukraine and its effects on geopolitics and the economy in Europe are reasons to bring to the fore a debate on the role of European values today. Hay Festival Segovia invites the professor of International Law and jurist José Maria Beneyto and Carmen Sanz, president of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Spain and president of the European Chambers, for this semester of the year. She is participating on behalf of the 14 European Chambers in Spain to talk about the subject.

Event in Spanish

Throughout society, the role of women has not yet reached full equality with that of men. One of the most important issues is the invisibilisation of women over the age of 50, which occurs both in life —with professional, emotional and sexual obstacles— and in art, where they are not represented or offered models they can identify with. Elia Barceló, in her literary work, aims to give voice and prominence to women who, with extensive life experience behind them, still have a long future ahead. She will talk about this with Marisol Teso, head of Culture at Mediaset.

Barceló is considered one of the most versatile authors on the current literary scene, as well as one of the most prestigious in the field of fantasy and science fiction. She has published 30 novels, some for adults and others for young people, and some 90 short stories, in Spain and abroad. She is the author of highly successful works such as El color del silencio, El secreto del orfebre, Las largas sombras, El eco de la piel, La noche de plata, Muerte en Santa Rita and the most recent, Amores que matan. She has won numerous awards. In 2020, she was awarded the National Literature Prize in the Children's and Young People's category for El efecto Frankenstein (The Frankenstein Effect).

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her books at the book stall on Calle Real.

Event in Spanish

How can virtual reality enhance a cultural experience? The Immersive Learning department and the Division of Arts and Humanities at IE University have curated a series of experiences for the participants of this year's Hay Festival Segovia, in which you can experience virtual reality and its applications to education.

How to make collaborative decisions to help our planet? In the Eye of the Storm is a three-part immersive experience about climate change. The participant will undergo an emotional and alarming personal experience of a hurricane, using virtual reality goggles, learn about one of the five key decision-makers in the climate change conversation through multimedia material and prepare for a role-based discussion on climate action.

This masterclass for 30 participants will be given by Isabela del Alcázar and Gonzalo Delacámara, sustainability experts.

Throughout the day from 11am to 7pm, except during masterclass times, festival-goers will be able to explore the metaverse and visit the IE Virtual Gallery on Spatial.io. They can also take in the exhibition of the winning photographs from the 2022 IE Foundation Prize in Humanities.

Free Admission every 30 minutes. Up to 30 participants at a time (Except from 12:00 to 12:50 and 18:00 to 19:15, as masterclass are scheduled)

Masterclass: 9 euros

Event in English

For fourteen editions, this activity has combined poetry with the beauty of a city set in unique surroundings. This time, the ancient stones of the Library of the Casa de la Lectura welcome the voices of the poets themselves, who will read their own works and those of their favourite writers. The poet Amalia Iglesias and the journalists and writers Carlos Aganzo, Carlos Hernández-Lahoz and Angélica Tanarro will take part.

Event in Spanish

The winner of the 35th edition of the Loewe Poetry Prize, Cuban Reiniel Pérez Ventura, will read a selection of poems from his collection of poems Las sílabas y el cuerpo, in a conversation with journalist and director of ABC Cultural, Jesús García Calero.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books at the book stall in Calle Real.

Event in Spanish

Prof. Adriaan Geuze founded West 8 in 1987, an industry-leading, international landscape architecture firm, working across the fields of infrastructure, landscape and urban design. Headquartered in Rotterdam, and with offices in Belgium and North America, West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with a diverse and multi-disciplinary team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. Geuze is internationally acclaimed for his pioneering work in the Netherlands and abroad and his oeuvre includes two transformational metropolitan parks in Madrid – Madrid Río along the Manzanares river and Parque Central in Madrid Nuevo Norte; Governors Island in New York; Jubilee Gardens in London and Yongsan National Park in Seoul, South Korea. In 2022, Adriaan Geuze was appointed as Professor of Landscape Architecture at Technical University Delft and was awarded the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) stating him and his firm as changing the relationship between cities, nature, and people.

Geuze will converse about the relation between healthy cities, people, parks and architecture with David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design whose recent research deals with innovations in architecture practice and production during times of socioeconomic turbulence.

The event will be introduced by Roel Nieuwenkamp, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Spain.

After decades of leading the drive towards a green economy, Europe is now falling behind China - and faces the prospect of also being overtaken by the US. Beijing is already an electric vehicle, solar and wind juggernaut and has a growing stranglehold on critical minerals. Now, Joe Biden's ground-breaking Inflation Reduction Act is changing the global green game, luring business, investment and jobs to America. Europe is responding. But is it really up to the fight? Join Jesse Norman, UK transport, technology and decarbonisation minister, Pilita Clark, Financial Times columnist and associate editor, Bianca Dragomir, director of Clean Tech for Iberia, Gonzalo Delacámara, an international expert on water and energy economics, and María Margarete Gosse, German Ambassador in Spain, in conversation with Frederick Studemann, FT Literary editor.

The place: a decadent Venetian palace. The character: Inspector Kraken. Eva García Sáenz de Urturi weaves a tapestry of intrigues in which no one is free of suspicion and in which the present gives us deep hints about a dark past. A puzzle that Inspector Kraken tries to piece together through the keen pen of this writer from Vitoria —one of the most widely read novelists in Spain —in her latest novel: El ángel de la ciudad. Author of works such as El Libro Negro de las Horas and the Trilogía de la Ciudad Blanca, and having won the 2020 Planeta Prize with Aquitania, the author will talk about her latest work in conversation with the journalist Jesús Vigorra.

The author will sign her books in the theatre at the end of the event.

Event in Spanish