Alexander the Great went down in history as a mighty conqueror, but, as always, behind the legend lay the person. That is where the young writer, Planeta Prize 2023 finalist, Alfonso Goizueta, steps in with La sangre del padre ('The Blood of the Father'); a novel that endeavours to reflect the chiaroscuro of power and its devastating propensity to destroy any dreams of freedom. With historical rigour, Goizueta traces the life of a man who wanted to weave his own dreams fighting his enemies, but also facing up to his personal contradictions and those of the people closest to him. He will lead a seminar with María José Ferrari, professor and Vice Dean of Academic Affairs at IE Arts & Humanities.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event

Event in Spanish

The José Manuel Lara Foundation firmly believes that the promotion of reading leads to social transformation, especially among young people. To this end, the students of the IES Francisco Giner de los Ríos Secondary School in Segovia will meet with a writer they have chosen themselves; the poet David Galán Redry, teacher from Valladolid, online poet, and winner of the ESPASAesPOESÍA 2019 award.

The aim is to encourage reading among the students and at the same time explore the idea that books can be used for more than as a source of escape or leisure, that more and better reading can lead them to improve their grades and open doors to a brighter future. The José Manuel Lara Foundation pursues social transformation through reading as it is evident that a young person who reads will gain more knowledge, be more skilled in critical thinking, will have greater possibilities for the future and, therefore, will be happier.

Event in Spanish

2024 is a significant year for Europe, with the EU Parliament elections last June and the 35th anniversary commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn. The Hay Festival Segovia comes together with the Goethe-Institut Madrid and the German Embassy in Madrid to weave these events into a project celebrating the ideas of cooperation and, especially, of being united in our plurality. The interactive art installation invites passers-by to take part in this diversity by removing one of the six thousand wooden blocks engraved with quotes by some of the greatest European thinkers. As the blocks with their quotes disappear, so will the wall.

Selected as one of the best young British novelists by Granta magazine in 2023, Eley Williams's short fiction appears in anthologies including The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story, Pilot Press's Modern Queer Poets and Liberating the Canon, edited by Isabel Waidner. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, her debut collection Attrib. and other stories won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and her novel The Liar's Dictionary; in which she unpacks how rigorous and also absurd language can be, won a 2021 Betty Trask Award and was named one of The Guardian books of the year.

Williams will discuss her work, her influences and her view of contemporary literature with Cristina Ward, British Council in Spain’s Head of Arts.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the main entrance

Event in English

François-Henri Désérable returned from a long trip to Iran after the harsh repression of the uprisings of 2022 with a sense of powerlessness over his experience and the need to tell the story. Arrested by the Revolutionary Guards, he was forced to leave the country. Yet the plan had been so much more peaceful: to follow in the footsteps of travel writer Nicolas Bouvier in Iran. He was already on the outbound plane when it all went wrong with a phone call urging him to turn around as his life could be in danger. From this bitter experience was born the book L’Usure d’un monde: une traversée de l’Iran. ('The Wear and Tear of a World. A Journey through Iran'). Born in 1987, Désérable featured on the prestigious Blanche de Gallimard 2013 list of authors, with Tu montreras ma tête au peuple, a novel set in the French Revolution. With Évariste he won prizes such as the Geneviève Moll Biography and Histoire de Paris. He established himself as one of the best writers of his generation by winning the Grand Prix de l'Académie Française 2021 with Mon maître et mon vainqueur.

Désérable will talk to Eva Orúe, journalist, writer, cultural manager, and director of the Madrid Book Fair. The event will be introduced by Isabelle Berneron, attaché for books, ideas and media networks at the Institut Français D'Espagne.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the lecture room next to the entrance

With simultaneous translation from French to Spanish

Does art really work as an instrument for raising awareness? In front of her work La Colmena Desplazada ('The Displaced Hive'), an altarpiece of 25 pieces carved in wood and printed on paper, the NGO AIDA presents the artist Clara Carvajal in conversation with IE University professor Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga, PhD Arts, and Catalina Tejero, Vice Dean of Arts and Humanities, IE University.

They will discuss the artistic process of the work as well as its message: a commentary on the human desire to seek and achieve new goals and challenges, and overcrowding in the forms of mass tourism of mountaineers on Mount Everest; the new space race in the private sphere; and the waves of immigrants who risk their lives trying to reach borders as desirable as they are inaccessible, and whose situation is of great concern to NGOs.

Event in Spanish

Craft and technology fuse in the realm of design, creating a landscape where tradition meets innovation and the past is preserved and reinvented through the use of contemporary tools. This event will delve into this intricate relationship and explore how cutting-edge technology can elevate and protect craftsmanship. From artisanal techniques to digital advances, join us as we discover the symbiotic fusion that honours and transforms the rich heritage of design. David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design will converse with Simoneta Gómez-Acebo, representative of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship and active member of the Contemporary Association of Arts and Crafts, Belén Llamas Ferrier, president of the Contemporary Association of Arts and Crafts and Miguel Leiro, designer, curator, and educator founder of Office of Design and curator of the MAYRIT Bienal a leading experimental architecture and design platform.

Event in English with simultaneous translation to Spanish

Human beings have always made sense of their world by means of stories. But now, as people increasingly retreat into silos of perceived differences and the planet verges on catastrophe, the need for stories has never been greater, because storytelling offers us a way out of social and ecological collapse.

In this interactive workshop, Cece Helgesen, founder of StoryJam Europe based in Montpellier, France, will examine the role of storytelling in our personal and professional lives and guide participants through a series of exercises aimed at stimulating what she calls "the inner lens of storytelling," so that elements of lived experiences can be used to construct distinctive personal stories that connect with others and spur them to action.

Storytelling is a powerful tool that we can all use to work toward a more compassionate world, not only with each other, but with the planet itself.

Event in French

An in-depth conversation on justice, conflict, democracy and rule of law by Mark Muller Stuart and Soraya Saénz de Santamaria, moderated by Soledad Atienza.

Muller Stuart KC is a barrister specializing in international law and human rights. A member of King's Council since 2006, he advises global organisations. He has written books and reports on human rights and has carried out missions in places including Afghanistan, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Turkey. Founder of Beyond Borders, he works to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation in countries in conflict. Sáenz de Santamaria is a state lawyer, member of the Council of State, formerly Vice President of the Spanish government and Minister of the Presidency from 2011 to 2018.

The event will be moderated by Atienza, lawyer, Dean of IE Law School, senior advisor at the International Bar Association, and author of the book Teaching Law.

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

The advent of artificial intelligence raises many questions for the writing industry and, in particular, for writers, translators and journalists. CEDRO’s director general, Jorge Corrales, along with journalist Juan Soto Ivars, will have a conversation led by the writer, deputy director of the RAE and president of CEDRO, Carme Riera, to discuss generative artificial intelligence and its impact on the publishing sector. They will explore the effects of using and training these tools on authors' rights, and the concept of authorship in the face of the new challenges that these technologies present.

Soto Ivars is a writer and columnist for El Confidencial and El Periódico de Cataluña. He appears on radio and television programmes such as Julia en la Onda and Espejo Público, and also presents a special feature on censored and condemned books for the programme Cuarto Milenio. His latest publications include the essays La trinchera de letras (which won the Premio Internacional de Ensayo Jovellanos prize) and Nadie se va a reír: la increíble historia de un juicio a la ironía (Premio Fam Cultura Pop Eye prize-winner)

There will be a book signing at the end of the event.

Event in Spanish

In the 80s, the group Mecano, with Ana Torroja at the microphone, formed the centre of a web of thousands of anonymous voices which sang their songs anywhere, at any time and in any place. The relationship between music and words is as true as it is ambiguous at times, as is the relationship between historical and personal time.

Blanca Baltés and Emilio Peral Vega reflect on this, and how it manifests itself in literary and musical forms of expression. Baltés is a playwright, theater researcher and entrepreneur in the audio world; she holds a PhD in Spanish Linguistics and is the author of Mamá no lo sabe todavía, a novel that tells the interconnected stories of several Spanish women during the second half of the 20th century. Peral Vega is professor of Spanish Literature, Vice-Dean of Culture, Institutional Relations and Library at Madrid Complutense University. Together with Elena Torres Clemente, he has published Mecano. Inspiración poética y genio musical.

There will be a book signing by both authors at the end of the conversation

Event in Spanish

Letters, numbers and thinking. Everything is more interconnected than you would expect, and the shortcuts provided by maths, which emulate those of nature, help people to think better, thus differentiating ourselves from even the best computer. Though data and artificial intelligence can be extremely beneficial tools in any creative process, humanity is in the numbers.

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, won the London Mathematical Society’s 2001 Berwick Prize. He works on television with immensely popular programmes about maths, as well as in the written press. His books include The Music of The Primes, The Number Mysteries, What We Cannot Know, The Creativity Code and Thinking Better. Du Sautoy will be in conversation with Ikhlaq Sidhu, Dean of IE School of Science and Technology in Madrid, as well as being the founder and Academic Director of UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology since 2005.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

Sally Helgesen and Marta Williams will present an innovative workshop based on Helgesen's acclaimed book How Women Rise. Designed to transform the careers of professional women, the workshop focuses on practical tools as well as concrete strategies for achieving success in the work environment. Over the course of the workshop, a dozen habits that can limit women's career advancement will be addressed. This unique workshop will offer practical solutions to break these negative patterns, and encourage personal and professional growth. The Amazing Stairway is designed to guide professional women through a process of profound transformation.

Helgesen, cited by Forbes as the world's foremost expert on women's leadership and internationally best-selling author of books on leadership, with a place in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. Among the books she has written are How Women Rise (where she includes her now famous "12 Habits Holding You Back"), Rising Together, The Female Vision and The Female Advantage. Williams is a pioneer in coaching and executive leadership in Spain and the U.S.A. with a career spanning over four decades.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

Some structures transcend time and borders, and have an enormous effect on the future of their surroundings. So it is with the Segovia Aqueduct, a magnificent example of the grandeur and vision of the Roman Empire in the lands it conquered. Dominica Contreras from the San Quirce de Segovia Royal Academy of History and Art, and leading expert in the dating of Segovia’s Aqueduct, is the author of the book El misterio del Acueducto de Segovia: vicisitudes y datación. She will explore this theme with the Professor of Archaeology at Madrid’s Autonóma University, Joaquín Barrio. Originally from Segovia, Barrio is a specialist in archaeological heritage conservation and restoration.

There will be a book signing after the event in the room next to the main entrance of IE University.

Event in Spanish

Creators like writers, journalists, poets, storytellers, and filmmakers use different registers to transmit a narrative and images to others. What are their techniques, their voices, what mental and psychological training do those artists need, especially when they are undertaking more than one of these disciplines at the same time? Are there creative masks to put on and take off? Mariana Torres and Hugo Martín will read their own texts and talk about their creative process, their obsessions and their quests.

Torres, Brazilian writer and filmmaker, living in Spain, is a founding member of Escuela de Escritores. In 2015 she published the book of stories The Secret Body. She directed the short film Rascacielos, which won awards at various film festivals. In 2017 she was included in the Bogotá 39 list, a selection of the best young writers in Latin America by Hay Festival. Martín Isabel is a young poet from Segovia who has published Monstruo maúlla (First Prize in Poetry of the XXXIII Young Art Contest of the Junta de Castilla y León, 2021/22) and La sensibilidad enferma (XIX National Youth Poetry Prize Grande-Aguirre , 2023).

The event will be moderated by Laura Ventura, literature professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University and journalist for the Argentinian newspaper La Nación.

Event in Spanish

Ernesto Delgado, the winner of the 36th edition of the Loewe Poetry Prize for Creation for his work Pálpito, will have a conversation about his influences and his work with the poet Ben Clark, winner of the Loewe prize in 2017, as well as the 2023 Premio de la Crítica de poesía castellana.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event

Event in Spanish

In the narrative world of Clara Dupont-Monod, misfit characters are to be found alongside others fighting for their survival in complex situations. Above all, her characters are passionate, especially the women she portrays, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

A specialist in medieval French literature, she began her career as a journalist at a very young age, writing in the press as well as for radio and television. She is the author of several novels, including La folie du roi Marc, La passion selon Juette, Le roi disait que j'étais diable, La révolte and S’adapter, which won the Femina, Goncourt des Lycéens and Landerneau prizes in 2021.

Dupont-Monod will talk with Isabelle Berneron, attaché for books, debate of ideas and media networks at the Institut Français D'Espagne.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event in the room next to the entrance of IE University.

With simultaneous translation from French to Spanish

Women in literature often star in powerful stories that always seem to have a fissure of a wound running through them. And that wound is portrayed not as an impediment, but as their incentive to move on in life and, especially, in love. These many truncated stories, which rise together in transcendence over hurt, is what Elvira Sastre and Eva Orúe will talk about.

Sastre, born in Segovia, has published the collections of poems Cuarenta y tres maneras de soltarse el pelo, Baluarte, Ya nadie baila and La soledad de un cuerpo acostumbrado a la herida. She works with musicians, singer-songwriters and other poets. Her novel Días sin ti won the Biblioteca Breve Prize (2019), and she has released Las vulnerabilidades, in which she combines drama with psychological suspense. The writer fills theatres and concert halls with her poetry recitals, and shares her poetry, experiences and her personal world with readers online.

Orúe is a journalist, writer and cultural manager, and currently directs the Madrid Book Fair.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event at the bandstand in the Plaza Mayor

Event in Spanish