Hay Festival Colombia Digital

Hay Festival Colombia took place from 21 to 30 of January 2022, with events in the cities of Cartagena de Indias, Medellín and Jericó. You are currently browsing the digital programme of the festival.

If you want to browse the in-person events of Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, click here.

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Event 15

Lina Meruane, Dr. Nick Makoha and Safiya Sinclair in conversation with Lily Bekele-Piper

Mothers loom large

Sunday 10 May 2026, 5pm EAT Main Stage

Exploring how maternal figures materialize in fiction and life and the gray areas between truth and reverence with 2024 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature winner and poet, whose memoir, How to Say Babylon chronicles her mother's strength and sacrifices; Pol Vouillamoz, a Catalan and Swiss poet and winner of the 2018 Horta Youth Literature Prize for the play El nom de la mare ('The Mother’s Name') and award-winning Chilean writer and scholar, whose essay, Contra los Hijos ('Against Children') warns of the dangers of conservative ecofeminist ideals.

A frank conversation about how maternal figures materialize in fiction and life and the gray areas between truth and reverence with 2024 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature winner and poet, Safiya Sinclair whose memoir, How to Say Babylon chronicles her mother's strength and sacrifices; Ugandan poet and playwright based in London, Dr Nick Makoha, whose work explores fatherhood and was recently shortlisted for the 2025 T.S. Eliot Prize and award-winning Chilean writer and scholar, Lina Meruane whose essay, Contra los Hijos (Against Children) warns of the dangers of conservative ecofeminist ideals.