Online Events

La Delicia de Alicia play a vibrant, elegant, modern and experimental mixture of jazz with elements of pop genres such as funk, rock and hip hop, topped off with the addition of afrobeat, Latin jazz and Eastern rhythms. To bring a delightful end to the festival Saturday, we present the grooves of La Delicia de Alicia.

War can both engender clamour and silence. Some people feel it imperative to talk about every life lost and every building destroyed, channelling their emotions into creative expression. For others, war means silence, stripping them of their ability to vocalize trauma and their experiences.

Journalist Luke Harding, writer David Rieff, poet and combat medic Yaryna Chornohuz and Svitlana Povaliaeva explore the emotional and professional space between experiencing and narrating war. Chaired by journalist Tetyana Ogarkova, the panel will discuss who can write about war, how conflict should be written about and the challenges of doing so, and what books can teach us about war.

The greatest loss of the pandemic has been the disaster of millions of people losing their own lives or loved ones to the illness, and so this event is proposed as a homage to every one of them, through the art and work of acclaimed writers. This reading is part of a global action that began with the Berlin International Literature Festival (https://www.literaturfestival.com/), at which many cultural organizations around the world commemorated those who are no longer with us, through poetry and literature. With the participation of Gabriela Aguirre (Mexico), Rocío G. Benítez (Mexico), Mererid Hopwood (United Kingdom), Daria Larisa Juárez (Mexico) and Rafael Volta (Mexico).

Event in English and Spanish with Spanish subtitles

Last February, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Sir Hugh Elliott, received the selected oranges and lemons from the Carlos V gazebo, in the palatial complex of the Royal Alcazar of Seville, to make the bitter marmalade consumed in the British Royal House. Elliott now returns to Seville to perform a symbolic ceremony of return and deliver the already prepared marmalade to the mayor of the city, José Luis Sanz.

Bitter marmalade consumed in the British Royal House is made from the oranges of the Royal Alcazar of Seville, a tradition that was introduced by Queen Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, wife of the Spanish monarch Alfonso XIII. She was born at the Scottish residence of Balmoral, the summer residence of the English royal family.

Event in Spanish

Russian imperialism, and how Russian writers have contributed to building the myth of the country is the topic of academic Ewa Thompson’s (she will join remotely) book Imperial Knowledge: Russian Literature and Colonialism. Published in 2000, the year in which Vladamir Putin became president, the book and its topic hold even greater relevance now.

Thompson is joined by novelists Oksana Zabuzhko and Elif Batuman and poet Paata Shamugia to discuss why literary critics failed to see Russia as a colonial power, whether Russian imperialist discourse differs from colonial discourse in Western literary traditions, and the role Ukraine can have in helping people re-read Russian literature through a lens that takes the current conflict into account. The discussion is chaired by the Guardian’s chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins.

The German historian, writer and journalist Philipp Blom has established himself in recent years as an author of many talents, writing works on the history of knowledge, essays and novels that have been translated and published around the world. His two most recent works Nature’s Mutiny (2020) and Was auf dem Spiel steht (2021) respectively tackle a previous period of climate change and what that meant for society, and some of the most urgent matters facing us today with all their natural and socio-political circumstances and difficulties, with an emphasis on the need to prepare for the coming transformations. In conversation with Juan Carlos Pérez.

Latin American literature is in a process of renewal and growth, given strength by new, young voices who are breaking with established formal and thematic norms, offering readers the chance to see contemporary Latin American realities from very different perspectives. On this occasion we bring together two of those voices, selected from the recent list drawn up by Granta magazine, which has named the 25 best young Spanish-language fiction writers. Carlos Manuel Álvarez (Cuba) studied Journalism at the University of Havana, founded the independent magazine El Estornudo and has contributed to various international publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and El País. In 2017 he was selected as one of the 39 best Latin American writers under 40 for the Bogotá39 list. His most recent novel is Falsa guerra, in which a number of characters are drifting, in the geographical or figurative sense, in the USA, Europe or Cuba. Paulina Flores (Chile) is a Literature graduate from the University of Chile and is the author of Humiliation (Roberto Bolaño Prize), which has been acclaimed by critics. At this event she will present her novel Isla decepción, a story based on fact and set in Punta Arenas, Chile. In it, Marcela, the protagonist, leaves behind her life in Santiago to visit Miguel, her father, and to renew herself. There she discovers that Miguel is hiding a young Korean who has fled his country. Mónica Ojeda (Ecuador) is the author of the book of poetry El ciclo de las piedras (2015), of the novels La desfiguración Silva (2014), Mandíbula (2018) and Nefando (2016, 2019), and of the book of short stories Las voladoras (2020). She was also included in the Bogotá39-2017 list. In conversation with Francesco Manetto.

Fashion, design, art and architecture have shared styles, trends and influences throughout history. Analysing the interconnections and the relationships between these areas is a challenge: ways of working and style references in art, fashion and architecture are increasingly converging, as is the history and role of the avant-garde in all these disciplines: sustainability and multidisciplinary creators in a global environment also contribute to recharacterising the cities in which they work.

Eloy Martínez and Stephan Janson will talk about changes in urban centres and how these changes come about.

Eloy Martínez de la Pera is an art and fashion curator as well as a producer of contemporary art exhibitions for public and private organisations; projects that reflect the beauty of the dialogues that silently take place between photography, visual arts and fashion, which has allowed him to design some of the most mediatic exhibitions in recent years. These exhibitions contribute to the dissemination of the image of a prestigious city.

Stephan Janson is a French designer and curator currently working for Yves Saint Laurent aux musées, in Paris, with which Yves Saint Laurent celebrates the 60th anniversary of his first fashion show, and pays tribute to him with an exhibition in six museums, to highlight his contribution to the image of Paris as a city of art: the Musée Picasso (until 15/4), the Musée d'Art Moderne and the Musée d'Orsay (until 15/5), the Centre Pompidou and the Louvre (until 16/5), and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent (until 18/9).

Moderated by Amalia Bulnes, cultural journalist and literary critic. She worked in El Diario and now collaborates with El País, Canal Sur Radio and Television.

Event in English

The German historian, writer and journalist Philipp Blom has established himself in recent years as an author of many talents, writing works on the history of knowledge, essays and novels that have been translated and published around the world. His two most recent works Nature’s Mutiny (2020) and Was auf dem Spiel steht (2021) respectively tackle a previous period of climate change and what that meant for society, and some of the most urgent matters facing us today with all their natural and socio-political circumstances and difficulties, with an emphasis on the need to prepare for the coming transformations. In conversation with Juan Carlos Pérez.

The war in Ukraine is causing large amounts of damage to the environment. Weapon systems and mass burials are causing soil contamination, while Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant has devastated entire ecosystems in southern Ukraine, raised the risk of waterborne diseases and destroyed irrigation systems and farmlands, threatening global food security. Russian shellfire near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant fuels fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

The shadow of history also looms over the conflict’s environmental effects; the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power station was a catalyst for the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union, and cultural revolution in Ukraine.

Lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, literary critic Tamara Hundorova and writer Rebecca Solnit (Tamara and Rebecca will join remotely) talk to writer Sasha Dovzhuk about how Russia’s actions are affecting the global ecology and whether international law can prevent a new ecological catastrophe.

María Dueñas (Spain) is the author of the publishing phenomenon Time in Between (2009), which, apart from becoming a bestseller has also been made into an award-winning television series. She has since published four novels, the last of which has been Sira (2021), the sequel to Time in Between (2009). It is set after the Second World War in London, Jerusalem, Madrid and Tangiers and tells the story of Sira Bonnard, formerly Arish Agoriuq, formerly Sira Quiroga, who is working with the British Secret Services and is confronted with scenes of tension, tragedy, risk and also motherhood. María Dueñas talks about this memorable book with Irma Gallo.

Martha Thorne and Kunlé Adeyemi will discuss the sustainable transformation of cities and the mechanisms that advance these changes.

Kunlé Adeyemi is a Nigerian architect, urban planner and creative researcher. He is the founder and director of NLÉ, an architecture, design and urban planning practice based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Adeyemi studied at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. He worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for almost a decade before starting his own office in the Netherlands.

Martha Thorne is a renowned American urban planner. She is currently a senior advisor to the Henrik F. Obel Foundation, where she runs a programme that brings together professors to discuss climate change and how architecture can improve the lives of people and the planet. A distinguished professor at IE University, she was dean of the IE School of Architecture and Design from 2015 to 2022. From 2005 to 2021, she was Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, popularly known as the "Nobel Prize for Architecture".

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish

Babyn Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, was the site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. On 29–30 September 1941 alone, some 33,771 Jews were killed. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romani people. An expert panel gathers to remember the tragedy and honour its victims.

Participants:
Dr. Paul Robert Magocsi (he will join remotely), Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto; Board Member, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (Toronto, Canada). Dr. Vladyslav Hrynevych, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine). Dr. Ihor Schupak, Director, Tkuma Ukrainian Institute for the Study of the Holocaust and of the Museum of Jewish Memory and the Holocaust; Board Member, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (Dnipro, Ukraine). Dr. Yegor Vradiy, Assistant Director of the Tkuma Ukrainian Institute for the Study of the Holocaust and of the Museum of Jewish Memory and the Holocaust (Dnipro, Ukraine).
Moderator: Oksana Forostyna, Europe's Futures Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (Kyiv, Ukraine).

The writer, priest and founder of the Amigos del Desierto association, Pablo d’Ors is the author of the unexpected publishing success Biografía del silencio (2012), an essay about introspection, meditation and spiritual contemplation. The author now presents Biografía de la luz (2021), a look at the life of Christ, the Gospel view of this extraordinary figure and how we can incorporate this into our everyday lives. He will be conversation with Juan Carlos Moreno Romo.

There was a time when consolation blossomed from language, a time when there was still a network of words to hold pain and lull anguish. Today, however, that vocabulary has vanished in a society that believes consolation is for losers. In his work, In Search of Consolation, Michael Ignatieff embraces his political status along with his historian and philosopher sides, and reveals how great figures of the past found solace and regained hope after facing their most personal setbacks.

Michael Ignatieff, Caroline Michel and Miquel Molina discuss the different areas of life in which we search for identity and hope.

Michael Ignatieff is an essayist, academic and former politician. He was the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and the official opposition from 2008 to 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held academic positions at Cambridge University, Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of Toronto. He is rector and president of the Central European University in Viena, and was a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. His books include Isaiah Berlin. A Life; The Warrior’s Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, Fire and Ashes, and The Ordinary Virtues, published in Spain by Taurus.

Caroline Michel is an internationally renowned literary agent and a leading figure on the British cultural scene. Caroline Michel has been the CEO of PFD since 2007. Prior to that, she ran the William Morris Agency in London for three years. She has over 25 years' experience in the publishing industry and ran Vintage at Random House and Harper Press at HarperCollins. She is the chair of Hay Festival, BFI Trust chair and a former trustee of Somerset House. She is a Fellow of the RSA and Vice President of the London Library.

Miquel Molina is deputy director of La Vanguardia. He has worked at El Periódico and Segre. He was a correspondent for the Europa Press agency and a contributor to various economic publications. He has published the regular opinion column in La Vanguardia on culture and cities since 2002. He is the author of two novels and several essays, the latest being Cinco horas en Venecia (Five hours in Venice). In 2010 he received the prize for Non-sexist Communication awarded by the Association of Women Journalists of Catalonia.

Hay Festival Querétaro deeply regrets the death of Jean-Luc Nancy, who was going to participate in this edition.

This event will be a tribute to the outstading French philosopher. Professor of Philosophy and author of over 30 books, he has dealt with major themes such as national identity and nationalisms, desire and the limits of community experience. His most recent book is Sexistence (2020), which tackles the topic of human sexuality from a philosophical point of view, returning to the ideas of great thinkers such as Kant and Freud, putting an emphasis on how our experience and relationship with sex creates and feeds the individual, civilization and culture.

This documentary, directed by Luciana Kaplan, focusses on the extraordinary story of María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, better known as Marichuy, the first indigenous woman to aspire to become president of Mexico, in 2017. In the end, Marichuy did not become a candidate, falling short of achieving the number of signatures required by the National Electoral Institute; however, the articulation of her proposal achieved something much more important: to unify the struggles of the indigenous peoples of Mexico into a community force, one that proposes care for the environment as a central expectation. The documentary will be followed by a discussion involving its director, Luciana Kaplan, and Samantha César, a representative of the National Indigenous Council, from the Amilcingo community (Morelos); moderated by Sonia Corona, an El País journalist.

The Digital event will start at 16:15.

Language: Spanish, Maya, Yaqui, Wixárika

Duration of the documentary: 82 minutes

As well as public and political life, conflict has a significant impact on peoples’ private lives. Families change, circles of friends decrease or expand, colleagues change, and even complete strangers can come to be extremely close.

Filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk and translator and essayist Yurko Prokhasko reflect on what relationships will be like after the war. Chaired by poet Olena Huseinova.

Victoria Amelina was a novelist, essayist and poet, and a friend of the festival, who died following a Russian missile attack in June 2023. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Amelina trained as a war crimes researcher, travelling to areas liberated from Russian occupation and listening to and recording the testimonies of witnesses and survivors.

In memory of Amelina, PEN Ukraine’s executive director Tetyana Teren, writer Larysa Denysenko and human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk (she will join remotely) talk to journalist Christina Lamb about Ukrainian women’s fight for justice. They share their future vision of the country, how victory for Ukraine will not happen without just punishment for war criminals, and why women need to be at the centre of it all.

The acclaimed Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez, whose stories and novels have been translated into 30 languages, has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Alfaguara Novel Prize, the IMPAC Prize for The Sound of Things Falling and the 6th Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana Prize for the short story collection Songs for the Flames. His most recent novel, Volver la vista atrás, is based on the life of the famous Colombian film director, Sergio Cabrera. This portrait of a half century that changed the world is a fascinating social investigation, one that is intimate and political at the same time. Vásquez presents his book together with Cabrera, in conversation with Yael Weiss.