Hay Festival Cartagena 2024

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias 2024 was held from 25 to 28 January. In this page you can find the events in the general programme as well as Hay Joven activities for university audiences, Hay Comunitario sessions which took place in different areas of Cartagena, Reading Clubs and Talento Editorial.

Events video and audio is available on Hay Festival Anytime.

Event HFC12

Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Rosmery Armenteros

 Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
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Maricruz Rivera Clemente (Puerto Rico) is an environmental and anti-racist activist, with a doctorate in Social Work from the University of Puerto Rico. Founder and director of Corporación Piñones se Integra COPI, a project that promotes culture, sustainable development and the creation of educational opportunities for Afro-descendent communities in Loaiza (Puerto Rico). She is also the co-founder of Corredor Afro, a project that promotes black aesthetics from Piñones-Loíza to the world. This specialist in matters linked to inequality, resistance, racism and poverty will talk to Rosmery Armenteros.
Free event
Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Rosmery Armenteros

Event HFC13

Brillith Sossa Wilches

Workshop on being: our local identity

 La Canoa Literaria
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How much do you know about your territory? This workshop seeks to create individual awareness about the role that the person has within their community. It will involve an exercise in introspection, asking participants to reflect on their identities, personal histories and their place in the community. It will also involve activities linked to self-esteem and personal recognition, in order to reinforce the feeling of belonging, through creative writing exercises. With the participation of the reading mediator Brillith Sossa Wilches (Colombia).
Free event
Brillith Sossa Wilches

Event HFJ8

Mayra Santos-Febres in conversation with Ricardo Chica

 Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Biblioteca)
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We talk to an outstanding figure in contemporary literature of the Caribbean: Mayra Santos-Febres (Puerto Rico), a writer and academic, recipient of awards such as the Juan Rulfo Prize and the prestigious Guggenheim, Ford and Rockefeller fellowships. Co-creator of the University of Puerto Rico’s creative writing programme and founder of the Festival of the Word (2008-2019). As a researcher she is an authority on the subject of Afro-descendants and racialisation. Her most recent publication, La otra Julia, which won a Guggenheim Fellowship, is a fictionalised biography of the Puerto Rico poet and journalist Julia de Burgos. In conversation with Ricardo Chica.
Event free for the university community
Mayra Santos-Febres in conversation with Ricardo Chica

Event HFJ6

Rafael Navarro de Castro in conversation with María del Rosario Osorio Fortich

 Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Aula Máxima de Derecho)
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Rafael Navarro de Castro (Spain) has a degree in Sociology and a diploma in Rural Development. He lived in Madrid, working in the film and television industry for years before he decided to leave it all and move to Monachil, a village in the Spanish mountains, where he works in traditional agriculture, raising hens, as well as in ecological activism. After his novel La tierra desnuda, he presents Planeta invernadero, a novel with stories and characters that will change readers’ ways of understanding what they consume, what they eat and how they live. In conversation with María del Rosario Osorio Fortich.
Free event
Rafael Navarro de Castro in conversation with María del Rosario Osorio Fortich

Event TE1

Victoria García, Valentín Ortiz and Tomás Rubio in conversation with Raúl Quinto

Bookstores. Not Everything Goes: Bibliographic Collection and Community Commitment

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón Mutis)
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Evicted just before and right after the pandemic, bookstores have become a central hub of cultural life in the first half of the 21st century. The selection of their bibliographic collection, tailored to the needs of the community they serve, is one of the keys to their survival. Another, equally important, is their cultural and social activity. Featuring Victoria García from the Dos Mangos bookshop (Barranquilla), Tomás David Rubio (Libélula Libros, Manizales), Valentín Ortiz of Saga Libros (Bogotá) and Spanish writer Raúl Quinto.
Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Victoria García, Valentín Ortiz and Tomás Rubio in conversation with Raúl Quinto

Event 22

Nikole Hannah Jones in conversation with Aurora Vergara Figueroa

The 1619 Project and historical reparations in the Americas

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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Nikole Hannah-Jones (United States) is a journalist who specialises in racial justice, and who received the Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project, a collaborative effort that has also published a book and made a documentary film exploring the history of slavery in the United States. She will speak to Colombian academic Aurora Vergara about the 1619 Project and the new movements for historical reparation which are arising all over the Americas, working to recover the silenced histories of racialized groups who have been left out of official history.

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Nikole Hannah Jones in conversation with Aurora Vergara Figueroa

Event 23

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Colson Whitehead and Javier Zamora in conversation with Leonard Benardo

South to North conversations

 Centro de Convenciones (Salón Barahona)
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Four authors talk to Leonard Benardo about their writing, talking about the particular perspective of their work with respect to current social questions. With Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (United States/Palestine) author of Kaan and her Sisters and Something About Living, winner of the US 2024 National Book Award, Viet Thanh Nguyen (United States), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Sympathizer; Colson Whitehead (United States), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Underground Railroad; and Javier Zamora (El Salvador / United States), author of Solito.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Colson Whitehead and Javier Zamora in conversation with Leonard Benardo

Event 24

Colm Tóibín in conversation with Charlotte Higgins

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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Colm Tóibín (Ireland) is a novelist, journalist and educator, and is one of the most influential writers in contemporary literature. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards, including the E. M. Forster Award in 1995 and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for The Master (2004). His most recent work, Long Island (2024), the highly-awaited sequel to Brooklyn (2009), explores the life of Eilis Lacey two decades after her move to Long Island, dealing with the impact of the past on the present. He will talk to Charlotte Higgins.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Colm Tóibín in conversation with Charlotte Higgins

Event 25

Polly Russell and Gustavo Ulcué Campo in conversation with Adriana Martínez

Archive and library, more than just places of knowledge

 Palacio de la Proclamación (Auditorio Juan José Nieto)
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We celebrate two complementary spaces, the archive and the library, exploring experiences in different parts of the world: Polly Russell (United Kingdom) of the British Library, shares with us her experience of curating archives and exhibitions with a gender focus; and with Gustavo Ulcué Campo (Colombia), of the Nasa nation and expert in archives and heritage. In conversation with Adriana Martínez.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)

Polly Russell and Gustavo Ulcué Campo in conversation with Adriana Martínez

Event CL2

Camila Sosa Villada in conversation with Margarita Valencia

 Casa Hay (Centro de Convenciones)
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At its book clubs, Hay Festival Cartagena offers intimate encounters with a selection of festival guests. These are spaces to talk in greater depth about recent work by some of the festival’s participants. At this event, Camila Sosa Villada (Argentina) will talk to Margarita Valencia about her book Tesis sobre una domesticación. The protagonist, a trans actress, finds she is trapped by marriage and social convention.

Those attending must have read the book

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Camila Sosa Villada in conversation with Margarita Valencia

Event HFJ10

Florence Thomas in conversation with Julián Navarro

 Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar (sede Manga)
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The psychologist, columnist, writer and feminist activist Florence Thomas (France / Colombia) is recognised as one of the most influential voices in the women’s rights movement in Colombia. At 81 years of age she presents Fragmentos de vida, a book that weaves public and private memories, from her childhood in France to her activism in favour of the rights of Colombian women at the National University and the decriminalisation of abortion. Thomas reveals a life characterised by diversity and challenges, defying the narrative of a linear, perfect life. In conversation with Julián Navarro.
Event free for the university community
Florence Thomas in conversation with Julián Navarro

Event HFJ9

Mariano Sigman en conversación con Rita Sierra

 Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Aula Máxima de Derecho)
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Mariano Sigman is an Argentinean neuroscientist who studied Physics at the University of Buenos Aires, has a PhD in Neuroscience from the Rockefeller University, and did post-doctoral studies in Cognitive Sciences at the Collège de France. Founder and Director of the Integrative Neuroscience Laboratory at Buenos Aires University, he has been recognised with international awards including the Career Development Award and the Scholar Award. His new book, Artificial: la nueva inteligencia y el contorno de lo humano (2023), co-written with Santiago Bilinkis, explores the impact of artificial intelligence in our lives. He discusses the potential benefits as well as the challenges, and analyses how this technology can transform our reality. In conversation with Rita Sierra.
Event free for the university community
Mariano Sigman en conversación con Rita Sierra

Event HFJ7

Virginia Mendoza in conversation with Jorge Sará

 Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Biblioteca)
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Something that has strongly characterised the evolution of our species and our societies is our relationship with water. In La sed. Una historia antropológica (y personal) de la vida en tierras de agua escasa, its author takes us on a fascinating journey through time and space, inviting us to reflect on our link with water. The journalist and anthropologist, Virginia Mendoza (Spain), is the author of books that explore roots, as well as their lack. Winner of the Manuel Iradier Award for Communication in 2019 for her contribution to the La Exploradora Geographical Society, she will talk to Jorge Sará.
Free event
Virginia Mendoza in conversation with Jorge Sará

Event TE2

Luis Solano and Pilar Reyes in conversation with Mario Jursich

Publishing Houses. The Construction of Their Catalog: Rationality, Passion, and Social Responsibility.

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón Mutis)
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Book professionals face the greatest of challenges: a questioning of their credibility. Their reputation is largely built and maintained on the methodical, serious, responsible and professional creation of a catalogue, whether this is an editorial fund, the stock of books on sale at a bookshop, or the clear and rational layout of a library’s collection. Now, more than ever, publishers, bookshops and libraries have a public responsibility with the people who use them.
With Luis Solano (Barcelona, Spain) of Libros del Asteroide, and Pilar Reyes (Colombia), an editor at Alfaguara. They will talk to Mario Jurisch.

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Luis Solano and Pilar Reyes in conversation with Mario Jursich

Event HFC14

Yomi Adegoke and Johny Pitts in conversation with Mónica Moreno Figueroa

 Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
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Yomi Adegoke is a British writer and journalist, author of The List, winner of the Groucho Maverick and Marie Claire Future Shapers awards, and included on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Johny Pitts (United Kingdom) is a television presenter, writer and photographer, as well as an editor at the electronic magazine Afropean.com, an essential guide for the Afro-European diaspora, and now a book: Afropean. Notes from Black Europe. In conversation with Mónica Moreno Figueroa.

Consecutive interpretation from English to Spanish available

Free event
Yomi Adegoke and Johny Pitts in conversation with Mónica Moreno Figueroa

Event HFC15

María Hesse

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (biblioteca)
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When María Hesse finished her studies in Special Education, she took up her pens to work as a professional illustrator. She has worked on text books for the Edelvives publishing company, and her latest publication is El Miedo. In this book, she faces up to her own fears, those that have accompanied her throughout her life and the same ones that she shares with so many other women. Through a highly visual and allegorical language, her pages bring to life anxiety, manipulation, precariousness, change, loneliness, madness, maternity, aging and death.
Free event
María Hesse

Event HFC16

Javier Cajiao

 Pontezuela
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After travelling and working in the Amazon region, the Colombian biologist Javier Cajiao dedicated his life to teaching, researching and writing books. With his Guía secreta de aves, the author invites us to discover more about the world of these mysterious animals, creatures that fascinate us with their song and their colours, which surround us both in the countryside and the city, and which can teach us so much about the world.
Free event
Javier Cajiao

Event HFC17

Workshop with Carolina Garzón Blanco

Musical biographies

 El Pozón
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The Cartagena-raised Carolina Garzón Blanco is a graphic designer, author and illustrator of a number of books, including La herencia de nuestros mayores, a collection of stories about the Colombian Pacific; Bonito que canta, about the childhood of the great singer-songwriter, Petrona Martínez; and Agüela, se fue la nuna, a children’s book written by the poet Mary Grueso. In this workshop, participants will listen to three musical tracks and, based on them, select characters narrated in the songs to create their own literary characters.


Free event
Workshop with Carolina Garzón Blanco

Event HFC18

Elisa Guerra

Las voces de los árboles

 Ballestas
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A storytelling session where trees take center stage, lending their voices to explore themes such as solidarity, emotions, and learning. Elisa Guerra, named "Best Educator in Latin America" by the Inter-American Development Bank and author of educational and children's books, presents this interactive session where boys and girls delve into the secret life of trees and the lessons they can teach us.
Evento gratuito para la comunidad de Ballestas
Elisa Guerra

Event 26

Leila Guerriero in conversation with Ana Cristina Restrepo

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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The writer and journalist Leila Guerriero (Argentina) presents her book La llamada, a profile of the Argentine Silvia Labayru, a member of the armed group Montoneros and who in 1976 was kidnapped, tortured and raped at the Escuela de Mecánica la Armada clandestine detention centre, where thousands of people were held and murdered during the dictatorship. Labayru survived the experience, and was interviewed by Guerriero, beginning in 2021, while waiting for the outcome of the first trial for crimes of sexual violence committed against women who disappeared during the dictatorship, at which Labayru was a plaintiff. In conversation with Ana Cristina Restrepo.

Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
Leila Guerriero in conversation with Ana Cristina Restrepo

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