In 2022, the writer, cultural manager and reading promotor Velia Vidal (Colombia) was named as one of the world’s 100 most influential women by the BBC. She is the founder and Director of the Motete Cultural and Educational Corporation which works to promote reading and culture in her region (Chocó). With her first book, Aguas de estuario, the author tells of her personal return to her homeland to dedicate her life to offering reading support and cultural management, how the tensions between the centre and the periphery in a country like Colombia define much of this journey, and her struggle to dissolve these divisions. Her most recent publication, Para vernos mejor, is a reflection on representation in children’s literature, which questions a system that continues to privilege hegemonic discourses. In conversation with Elisa Guerra.