William Graves, son and literary executor of Robert Graves, comes to the Hay Festival Segovia to talk about his father's literary legacy. An important part of this legacy were his letters from Mallorca, an intense correspondence which Graves maintained with writers, artists, muses and celebrities of the time. This immense archive is kept at the Robert Graves Foundation in Deià, the town to which Graves moved after leaving the United Kingdom with a resounding Good-Bye to All That. William will read excerpts from the letters, and other narrative and poetic texts by his father. And what better way to celebrate the recent publication of Goodbye to All That, in an unabridged edition with a new translation.

The voices of other writers and artists present in Segovia will accompany the reading, including Caroline Michel, Giles Tremlett, Ana Bosch, Andrew Brown, Pilar Álvare, Almudena Bermejo and Debbi Christophers, who will read paragraphs from his other works including I, Claudius, and The White Goddess. The readers will be joined by Félix Valdivieso as master of ceremonies.

In case of rain, the event will be moved to the IE University Sala Capitular

With readings in Spanish and English

Tamara Duda is a Ukrainian writer, journalist and translator born in Kyiv, and author of two novels. Her literary debut, Daughter, won her the prestigious BBC Book of the Year Award 2019.

With the outbreak of war in the Donbas, she abandoned everything to serve as a volunteer at the front. In 2014 and 2015, she and her husband raised funds and bought and delivered equipment and aid to Ukrainian soldiers. The author spent two years in combat areas and refers to the period as the most tragic, fascinating, intense and inspiring time of her life. The novel chronicles this experience, unfolding in Donetsk during the spring and summer of 2014. The events and stories in the novel are not fictional, but based on the author's experiences and the people she met while volunteering with the Ukrainian Army.

Duda will talk about her experiences in life and as a writer with Juan Carlos Galindo, a journalist for El País, author of the novel Hontoria, and contributor to Onda Cero’s literary talk show.

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

How can philosophy promote fundamental values to help us understand today's society?

In this conversation, Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, PhD in Moral Philosophy, President of IE University, and author of several books including Pensadoras y visionarias: Las ideas de diez filósofas aplicadas a la gestión and Global Leaders: la importancia de la formación para los directivos del futuro, will reflect on education and philosophy by exploring the importance of critical thinking and the humanities in business management. He will address how these disciplines can prepare future leaders to face the ethical and social challenges of business and society.

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

Event in Spanish

The British Council School Orchestra is formed by school students, teachers from the Music21 programme, and alumni who get together to enjoy musical expression. Their repertoire includes from baroque and classical pieces to popular and current ones. The school is committed to musical development, not only for the artistic results that are gained through learning, but also for the values that are acquired through teamworking, which include loyalty, challenge, flexibility, resilience, and care for one another.

The British Council School is a bicultural School which contributes to the British Council’s global mission of promoting British culture and its language, as well as building connections with cultures from all around the world.

Human beings are conditioned by multiple factors that shape their lives. In the past, women were born into a masculine world, put at a disadvantage from the start simply by being women. However, reality and literature are full of stories of people who defied the role that others had chosen for them, or rather for her. Sonsoles Ónega explores this in Las hijas de la criada, the latest Premio Planeta prize-winner that has garnered a legion of followers.

Ónega is a journalist, writer and host of the leading afternoon television program Y ahora Sonsoles. Author of other novels such as Calle Habana, esquina Obispo , Donde Dios no estuvo and Después del amor, she will talk about her work and the characters within it with Ana Gavín, director of Editorial Relations at Grupo Planeta.

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

Event in Spanish

To improve on an emotional and sexual level, the first thing is to know yourself. From there, we can help others in their personal growth. That is why advice is very important, putting yourself in the hands of those who can help us and being the people we want to be.

María Esclapez is a health psychologist with training in Clinical and Health Psychology, Clinical Sexology, couples therapist and sex coach. As a popularizer she has collaborated with numerous media outlets, both written (El País, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Elle), and audiovisual Telecinco and RTVE. She has published five books: Sexual Intelligence, Love Your Sex, I Love Me, I Love You, Your Safe Place and the novel Mujeres que arden. Marta Segrelles is a psychologist and has written Hug the Girl You Were and Dear Mom: You Hurt Me.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her work

Event in Spanish

"Spain is obsessed with British culture", "British writers can’t get enough of Spanish history". Two writers who have lived in and written about each other’s countries will consider whether these truisms hold water. We will look at where this mutual fascination comes from, where it’s going and the role of culture in the wider UK/Spain relationship. Anna Bosch is a journalist for RTVE, specialising in international news. She has been correspondent in London, Washington and Madrid, is co-author of Europa soy yo and author of El año que llegó Putin. Giles Tremlett is an author, journalist and biographer based in Madrid. He has written six narrative non-fiction books and biographies that have been published in the US, UK and Spain. A former foreign correspondent, he has travelled widely across Iberia, the Maghreb and Latin America.

The discussion will be moderated by Debbi Christophers, cultural attaché at the British Embassy in Madrid.

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

Event in Spanish

Journalism, a fundamental pillar of democratic societies, has become a symbol of the illiberal attrition which has taken off over the second decade of the 21st century, with emerging strands of populism, the victory of Trump, Brexit, Bolsonaro, and the situation in Catalonia to name but a few factors. These phenomena, which have demonstrated the weakness of journalism to defend the strength of the right to information, illustrate the loss of respect for the old fourth power of politics. If journalism is not feared, its function is not respected. What is more, the digital environment —atomising news into short bursts of reports that generate echo chambers within social networks, from which information is consumed according to the biases of each community of identity— has debased the currency of journalism. If truth lacks value, journalism loses its meaning.

Journalist Teodoro León Gross, author of the recent La muerte del periodismo, will explore this subject with three leading Spanish journalists: Jorge Bustos, Carlos Franganillo and Karina Sainz Borgo. Gross has worked with newspapers including El País, El Mundo and ABC. Bustos is Deputy Editor of El Mundo; political commentator in current affairs programs on Cope, La Sexta and Telecinco. He published Casi in 2024, adding to his other works Asombro y desencanto, Crónicas biliares and El hígado de Prometeo. Franganillo moved from his time at TVE to direct and present the evening news at Telecinco. He is the winner of the Ondas Award (2019), the gold medal at the New York Festival (2014) and the International Press Club’s award for best correspondent (2016). Venezuelan journalist and writer based in Spain, Sainz Borgo is currently a columnist and reporter for ABC; she has also worked with Onda Cero and Vozpópuli. A prominent figure in literature of the Venezuelan diaspora, her first novel, La hija de la española, was translated into 20 languages and became an international success. This was followed by Crónicas barbitúricas, El tercer país; and La isla del doctor Schubert.

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

Event in Spanish

Can you write about a misfortune and at the same time read it as restorative? People have many faces, and pain and also redemption are imprinted on them. A multipresence to which is added the gaze that others place on us and that also shapes us. This is what the Dutch writer Jente Posthuma explores in her writing. She will talk to Irene Hernández Velasco about her work and how her personal experiences influence it.

Posthuma debuted with Mensen zonder uitstraling in 2016, a critical and sales success, which was nominated for the Dioraphte Literatour awards, the Hebban Debuut Award and the ANV Debutanten. Her second novel, What I'd Rather Not Think About, has placed her as a finalist for the International Booker Prize 2024. Hernández Velasco is the head of the Culture section of El Confidencial.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her book in a room next to the IE University entrance

Event with simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

Science and art are disciplines that often take seemingly opposite paths. But each, in its own field, seeks to provide answers to society's most important questions. The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, an eminently scientific institution, is aware of the need to involve agents from across society’s spectrum, especially artists, so that both disciplines may learn from each other's research and output.

Ana Prendes, assistant curator of Arts at CERN, communicator and project manager at Science Gallery in London, will talk with Guillermo Solana, Spanish philosopher, doctor of Philosophy, professor of Aesthetics and Theory of the Arts at the Autonomous University of Madrid and artistic director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

The event will be moderated by Ángel Cárdenas, expert manager in Latin America.

Event in Spanish

They walk among us. And they are part of our everyday lives. The gods of Mount Olympus and the heroes of classical antiquity are the protagonists of a fascinating series of myths that underpin what we call Western culture. And they never cease to amaze us. Modernising these myths and making them accessible to all is the aim of Pequeña historia de la mitología clásica by Emilio del Río, with illustrations by Julius. Del Río will talk about modernity and the relevance of myths in our lives with writer and journalist Carlos Aganzo.

Del Río is an academic, writer, communicator, and professor of Latin Language and Linguistics at Madrid’s Complutense University. His feature on RNE, Verba volant, has become a real radio success, after the success of books such as Latin lovers, Calamares a la romana or Locos por los clásicos. Aganzo is the author of some twenty books of poetry and as many travel books. Former director of Diario de Ávila and El Norte de Castilla, he is currently director of the Vocento Foundation.

Event in Spanish

The history that shapes Italy before its unification is marked throughout by the struggles of states, kingdoms, families and many conflicting interests. The Medici are the protagonists of many of these stories, which combine acts of bravery and cowardice that go beyond the mere conquest of power. Art, as an expression of opulence and supremacy, has its own prominent role to play.

Member of one of the most emblematic and representative families of European collectors, from the Renaissance to the present day, direct heir to a history entwined with the most admired art in the world, Lorenzo de' Medici has just published the novel El Fiorentino, in which he weaves a tale around a family jewel. He will talk to journalist Irene Hernández Velasco. She worked at El Mundo, as correspondent in New York, Rome, London and Paris until 2023, when she joined El Confidencial, where she is Head of Culture.

Event in Spanish

We only get one life and certain characters will stop at nothing to achieve their dreams, however unreachable they may be, and even if they come at a staggering cost. The writer determined to explore an unscrupulous character must bear in mind that to avoid cliché, everything has to fit, even when the puzzle has an infinite number of pieces. In his new novel, El mejor del mundo, Juan Tallón tackles the story of a soft-hearted egocentric who essentially understands nothing of the world around him; an outcast despite having it all.

Tallón is a journalist and writer, he has worked as a journalist in media such as El Progreso, Jot Down and El País, among others. He is the author of several books in Galician and in Spanish. He has published non-fiction works such as Libros peligrosos and Mientras haya bares as well as the novels El váter de Onetti, Fin de poema, Salvaje oeste, Rewind, and Obra Maestra. The writer will talk to Nacho Orovio, lead journalist of A Fondo, La Vanguardia newspaper’s investigative journalism team.

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

Event in Spanish

Many of the women who have made their mark in centuries past did so in spite of the conventions of the time and thanks to intelligence, ambition and passion combined in equal measure into a force that sometimes destroyed them. Writer Reyes Monforte tells one such story in depth in La condesa maldita, the real-life Countess Maria Tarnowska, descendant of the Scottish queen Mary Stuart, member of one of the most important Russian aristocratic families of the court of the tsars and closely connected to the Romanovs. Overnight, she became the first femme fatale of the belle époque and the focus of the 20th century’s first true crime story. She was accused of instigating the murder of her soon-to-be husband, with the help of two of her lovers: Moscow's most famous lawyer, and the Russian translator of Charles Baudelaire’s work. It was the scandal that shocked the whole of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century.

Monforte will discuss the novel with Carlos Aganzo, author of some twenty books of poetry and as many travel books. Formerly editor of Diario de Ávila and El Norte de Castilla, he is currently director of the Vocento Foundation.

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

Event in Spanish

Culture is a powerful instrument for strengthening the Spanish brand in the area of cultural cooperation. This is successfully promoted by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), which reaches two million people in 130 countries.

Actress, journalist and television presenter Cayetana Guillén Cuervo and AECID's Director of Cultural and Scientific Relations, Santiago Herrero, will discuss the image both of our culture and our artists abroad, and the opportunities to promote development through them, seeking to answer questions such as whether we are fully aware of our potential in Spain, and is our culture appreciated outside our own country?

Event in Spanish

Concepts such as algorithm, data, and artificial intelligence overlap in an ever-accelerating race toward horizons that are increasingly distant from the common good. The demand for European digital sovereignty or decentralization of digital infrastructures is gaining strength, But the concentration of Big Tech in the market is increasing in the light of the passivity of many governments.

Francesca Bria is an innovation economist, professor, and digital and technology policy advisor to the European Commission. She is also part of the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board to the Spanish government. Along with Miquel Molina, writer and deputy director of La Vanguardia, she will discuss a key question: Are we still in time to reverse this trend?

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

The historian sticks to facts and data to try to explain, with rigor, what has happened and interpret why it has happened. In the historical novel, the author also plays with the truth of some facts, but they are the starting point of a story in which the characters are modeled at the author's service. It is not about disfiguring, but about going further and showing what she thinks of them, how she believes they made his decisions. It is fictional reality, a way of telling “our way.” And in that field, Julia Navarro moves like a fish in water. Journalist and writer, she became known in the literary world with The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud, which was published in 30 countries. The success of her books, common on the best-seller lists, led her to leave journalism. Among her titles are novels such as Tell me who I am, Shoot, I'm already dead, You won't kill, or, the latest, A shared story.

Navarro will talk about her work, experiences, and inspirations with Jesús Ruiz Mantilla, a journalist and writer who works at El País, where he writes for the cultural section. He has written novels such as Los ojos no ven, Preludio and Gordo, which won the Sent Soví Prize for gastronomic writing, Ahogada en llamas, Placer contra placer and Contar la música. Hotel Transición won the Fernando Quiñones Unicaja Novel Prize.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her book in the Plaza Mayor bandstand in front of the theatre.

Event in Spanish