Hay Festival Cartagena 2025

Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom) is the chief culture writer for The Guardian. In her book Greek Myths: A New Retelling, she explores the myths of Heracles, Theseus, and Perseus, the Trojan War—its origins and consequences—and tales from Thebes, Argos, and Athens. The book is composed of stories of extremes that deeply resonate with our times: mysterious diseases devastating cities, environmental disasters that destroy lives, and women enduring violence at the hands of men. In this new and thrilling interpretation by Charlotte Higgins, female characters take center stage, with Athena, Helen, Circe, Penelope, and others weaving stories in imagined elaborate tapestries. In conversation with Jonathan Levi.

With simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish

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, Juan Gómez-Jurado (Spain) will talk to Clara Elvira Ospina about his book Todo muere, the last part of his acclaimed Reina Roja series, and a long-awaited ending to one of the most read and loved contemporary sagas in the Spanish language.

Those attending must have read the book

Four experts on the classical world will talk to Toni Celia about the lessons we can take from that period, so far off in time, but so influential for Western culture, and whose echoes can still be heard in our legal systems, the philosophical tradition, and in the sciences and arts. Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom), Chief Culture Writer at The Guardian, is the author of Greek Myths. A New Retelling, about the influence of ancient Greece on our times; Pablo Montoya (Colombia) is the author of Marco Aurelio y los límites del imperio which portrays the last of the five “good emperors” of Rome; and with John Sellars (United Kingdom), philosopher and the author of books such as Lessons in Stoicism, Epicurus and the Art of Happiness and now Aristotle: Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Greg Clark (United Kingdom) is one of the foremost international experts on urban development and globalisation. Author of many books and over 100 reports on cities, investment, innovation and leadership, Clark has worked on the challenges facing cities, and the strategies involved in their sustainability, evolution and prosperity. Global Cities: A Short History analyses the concept of the global city since antiquity, including classic metropolis such as Athens and Rome, as well as the epicentres of our globalised world such as New York, London and Singapore, while also touching on themes such as the economy, war, migration and technology. In conversation with Sergio Díaz-Granados.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

We talk literature and journalism, and about the links between the two with Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti) a committed novelist, poet and intellectual, one of the most outstanding representatives of global French-language literature, as well as a journalist and lecturer in French and Creole literatures at the University of Port-au-Prince. His most recent book is Bicentenario. In conversation with Felipe Restrepo Pombo.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish