Online events

The links between two of the most terrible dictatorships of the 20th century are to be found in 38 Londres Street, by Philippe Sands (UK). The Nazi criminal Walter Rauff ended up in Punta Arenas, in Chilean Patagonia, collaborating with the Pinochet regime. Sands, who worked as a lawyer in the former dictator’s trial, reconstructs the relationship between Rauff and Pinochet, a story of justice and impunity told using documents, archives and testimonies.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

An exceptional event brings together Jorge Perugorría and Leonardo Padura, who will discuss their shared love of cinema, followed by a screening of Neurótica anónima, directed by Perugorría. The film tells the story of Iluminada, an older woman who works as an usher in an old movie theater that has become her emotional refuge and strongest connection to life. When the cinema is threatened with closure, she faces the loss of her only symbolic home, as the film reflects on memory, unfulfilled dreams, and a deep love for cinema.

Héctor Abad Faciolince and Catalina Gómez Ángel were together in a pizzeria in Kramatorsk —in the disputed region of Donetsk— when the building was hit by a Russian air attack. Both survived unhurt, but the journalist and writer Victoria Amelina, their guide and travel companion, died a victim of the Russian missiles. Ahora y en la hora is the story by Abad Faciolince of these events, his testimony to tragedy; a narrative about life, aging, death, war, violence and guilt.

All events on Sunday, February 1st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, has been writing opinion articles for different outlets for almost 20 years and for five of those he has been a regular contributor to Spain’s El País. He now presents a selection of the best articles he has published there. Esto ha sucedido is the work of an intellectual committed to the political reality around us, but also of an observer concerned about the transformation of the world after the pandemic. A manual to guide us through the complexities of our times. In conversation with Javier Moreno.

All events on Sunday, February 1st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

Carry Somers (UK) has been one of the standard-bearers of ethical fashion since she co-founded Fashion Revolution, and asked a question that changed the industry and raised awareness among thousands of people: “Who made your clothes?”. She has recently published The Nature of Fashion, an epic sweep through the history of clothes, from learning to create garments from plants, to the changes that textiles have made to our world and the natural landscape. This writer received the honour of being invited by the Kogui people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to investigate their traditions and clothing. She talks to Rossy Lemos.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

Homage to the porro, one of the major musical styles of the Colombian Caribbean. This event will combine a concert and a conversation. We will hear, live, the sincejelana group Acorbanda de Colombia, led by the accordionist and composer Rodrigo Rodríguez; this band is made up of 12 musicians and a guest guitarist. Maestro Rafael Pérez Alviz, a researcher into Caribbean music, and Daniel Samper Pizano will take part in a conversation about the history and cultural wealth of porro.

PULEP Code: AYC168

All events on Sunday, February 1st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

Experts in world-building and weaving magic from the everyday and gravitas from the absurd, Congolese author and academic, Alain Mabanckou and beloved Kenyan novelist, Yvonne Owuor offer up a conversation about the necessity of imagination and challenging received truths. This is an unmissable meeting of incredible creative minds with storied careers in the literary world.

In the spirit of Prof. Wangari Maathai's hummingbird analogy that viewed no act in the face of insurmountable odds as small or insignificant, advocate and Katiba Institute, Programmes Manager, Patriciah Joseph; civic impact collective founder, Ziya Africa and grassroots activist Wanjira Wanjiru gather for a necessary conversation about Kenya's current political dispensation. As the election season draws nearer, perhaps it is time to reflect on what more each of us can do.

Don't miss this special spotlight on award-winning short fiction writers from across the globe whose dedication to the craft is sure to encourage the next generation of writers. Hear from Caine Prize winners Lesley Nneka Arimah and Makena Onjerika plus newcomer Shani Akilah in conversation with Chair of the Caine Prize, Ellah Wakatama, OBE.

David Maillu is a prolific Kenyan known for his enthralling novels dating from the 1970s. He has written over 60 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in Kikamba, English, and Kiswahili. Mailu's sensational novel, After 4:30 –which was first published in 1974– was recently reissued and spoke to the realities of the lives of urban housewives, office secretaries, and sex workers. Mailu's bold and provocative style both shocked and revolutionised literature from East Africa, firmly entrenching Maillu’s name among the older generation of literary giants. Mailu will be in conversation with Nyambura Mutanyi.

Burundian theater performer and playwright Laura Sheïlla Inangoma's Sisters of the East ('Soeurs de l'Est') is a monologue by Hoda, a young Sudanese woman imprisoned in a Khartoum prison. Presented in Nairobi for the first time, the play will be recited by acclaimed Kenyan playwright, Sitawa Namwalie as she tells the story of two women locked in separate cells of the "Black Hole" for killing one of their cellmates. To escape unscathed, Hoda delves into the depths of their lives, their nightmares, and their dreams. This unmissable monologue explores themes of resistance, women's armed struggle, and the complexities of morality versus justice. The reading will be followed by a Q&A between the author and performer.

Science journalist Marta Peirano and sci-fi writer Mahmud El Sayed offer a temperature check on the rapidly-evolving capabilities of tech and AI. Peirano has written a book, El rival de Prometeo on automata and artificial intelligence and variously on AI and alternatives to collapse. Sayed is the 2023 Future Worlds prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Colour winner whose debut novel, The Republic of Memory is set on a generation ship on the brink of revolution as its crew begin to ask why they should toil for a people, and an empire, none of them remember.

In a world of rapidly reducing attention spans, the journal persists as a sumptuous, curated feast of the best new voices in literature and visual art. Publishing daring fiction and poetry; meditative longform pieces on culture and politics and existing as a playground for fresh, radical ideas. Hear from the editors of literary journals; Ntone Edjabe (Chimurenga), Olivia Kidula (Will This Be a Problem?) and Arslan Attar (The Desi Collective) regarding the legacies of their publications and the communities they serve.

Amid musings on speculative cartography that welcomes repair and new configurations of abundance, we still exist in the reality of extractive capitalism and false allies working against the protection of natural heritage. Dr. Mordecai Ogada a carnivore ecologist, conservation policy scholar and author of The Big Conservation Lie and Fiona Tande, a distinguished Maasai wildlife filmmaker, conservationist and director of Pridelands Wildlife Film Festival. This panel investigates the complexities behind the management of natural resources and the rights of indigenous communities.

Live Music Performance & DJ set

Kenyan essayist and political analyst, Nanjala Nyabola; British-Nigerian poet and playwright, Inua Ellams; Catalan and Swiss poet, writer and translator, Pol Vouillamoz; and Natasha Brown; named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in and the Chair of the International Booker Prize 2026 judges, discuss identity, Otherness and unpack how they employ language as a precise emotional instrument.

A discussion on creative documentary storytelling with celebrated Senegalese filmmaker, Moussa Sene Absa and Kenya-based filmmaking duo, Maia Lekow and Chris King. Absa's charming, poetic films challenge dominant narratives while embracing the contradictions of post-colonial Senegalese life. Partners in life and art, Lekow and King employ an artful, long-form storytelling style —evident in their films, The Letter and How to Build a Library— that seeks to hold a mirror to our world and break down barriers.

Celebrating the necessity and philosophies underpinning the curatorial strategies behind Ake, a globally-acclaimed festival with Director Lola Shoneyin; an all-femme dance party from the perspective of event co-founder and performer, Njeri DJ Ziggie Gitungo; and Guinness world record holder, Tunde Onakoya who teaches the sport to low-income communities.

Alain Mabanckou grew up in Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo, and studied law in Brazzaville and Paris. A writer of poems and essays, Mabanckou wrote his first novel in 1998 with his fifth text, Broken Glass, ranked as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century by the Guardian. His work has won several prizes, including the Renaudot Prize and has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize twice. He is now a full Professor of Literature at UCLA. He discusses retaining clarity and perspective in an ever-evolving political and cultural landscape with Congolese creative, Nteranya Sanginga.

Exploring new paths to storytelling across literature, poetry, film and visual art with Nigerian writer, poet and performer, Wana Udobang; South African curator and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, Dr. Malatjie; and Kenyan visual research collage artist, Muthoni Mwangi. In conversation with Abigail Arunga.