Hay Festival Colombia Digital

Jennifer Ackerman (United Kingdom), the author of The Genius of Birds, returns with her new book, What an Owl Knows. The tales of the world are full of owls: for different cultures it has represented wisdom, mystery, or even presages of death. Popular culture also features the owl, which appears in the Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh stories. These birds, which are able to turn their heads a full 180°, have a very special anatomy, but why are these creatures of the night so famous? This new book is a mixture of natural history treatise, a study of behaviour, and a look at the symbolism of these extraordinary animals. In conversation with Rosie Boycott.

Jennifer Ackerman will participate in this event digitally.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Salman Rushdie (India / United Kingdom / United States) is a major figure in contemporary literature and a very prolific author. His Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, and was deemed the best of all winners on the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the prize’s creation. He has been the President of PEN America, a member of the UK’s Royal Society of Literature, is a French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2023. On 12 August 2022, he suffered an attack that nearly killed him, 30 years after the proclamation of a fatwa following the publication of The Satanic Verses. The author relates these events, his recovery, and gives a powerful reflection on literature, art and freedom of expression in his most recent publication, Knife. He will talk about this and his most recent novel, Victory City, with Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

María Negroni (Argentina) is an Argentine writer and poet, with a doctorate in Latin American Literature from Columbia University in New York. His work covers various genres, including poetry, essay and fiction, and she has received important fellowships, including the Guggenheim and the Rockefeller. Her publications include the poetry book Islandia, which won an award from the PEN American Center, and the novels El sueño de Úrsula and La Anunciación. Her latest books are La idea natural (2024) and Utilidad de las estrellas (2024), which presents a fusion of austere and minimalist language with intense, expressionist images. She will talk about this book with Mario Jursich.

In conversation with Claudia Gurisatti, two experts will talk about the multiplicity of contemporary realities. The civil engineer and economist, Alejandro Gaviria (Colombia), was Deacon of the Economics Faculty at the University of the Andes and Assistant Director of the National Planning Department. An outstanding researcher and author of novels and essays, his latest book, El desdén de los dioses, meditates on genetic modification, artificial intelligence, ideological extremes and climate change. Bruce Mac Master (Colombia) is an Economics graduate from the University of the Andes, co-founder in 2004 of the Granitos de Paz Foundation and boardmember of ISA, ISAGEN, Colombia Telecomunicaciones and Bancóldex; he is also the author of El continente de los países resignados.

In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. We reflect on the importance of culture and literature, based on the questions: What value does fiction have for society? How can we render visible and learn from non-hegemonic narratives? What role does art play in the construction of a more peaceful, empathetic society that is aware of its challenges? With Piedad Bonnett (Colombia), Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom), Nicola Lagioia (Italy) and Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) in conversation with Pilar Reyes.

Interpretation from English to Spanish available

In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. In a context in which the environmental crisis and climate change have become urgent matters, festival guests urge us to reconsider our relationship with the planet based on the following questions: How can we change existing narratives to tackle the climate emergency? How can we make the exploitation of raw materials compatible with their climate impact? How can extensive farming be made compatible with protecting biodiversity in Colombia? Peter Frankopan (United Kingdom), writer and historian; Virginia Mendoza (Spain), journalist, writer and anthropologist; Gustavo Ulcué Campo (Colombia), Nasa film and television producer. In conversation with Rosie Boycott.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The origin of racism against Afro-descendent people goes back to slavery, empire building and the capitalist development of the world. In conversation with Paula Moreno will be Susan Neiman, a US philosopher and writer, author of Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil; and Rinaldo Walcott (Barbados / Canada) is a writer, critic, researcher in the area of Black Diaspora Cultural Studies, gender and sexuality, and author of the book On Property: Policing, Prisons, and the Call for Abolition.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. With democracy being questioned and affected by growing disinformation, the participants at this round table invite us to reflect on the following questions: Are we experiencing the end of the single Western narrative? Are there models other than the democratic one? Will we give up our civil rights to have more security? How should we combat disinformation? How should governments manage immigration? With Daniel Coronell (Colombia), Anne Applebaum (United States), Nataliya Gumenyuk (Ucrania), Susan Neiman (United States) and Edward Chancellor (United Kingdom). In conversation with Jon Lee Anderson.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. We are asking ourselves more and more whether we are progressing towards equality of gender, race and class; we tackle this matter based on the following questions: How can we fight structural racism? How is it possible to guarantee that artificial intelligence does not increase existing inequalities? What can the city learn from the countryside, and vice versa? With Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Bocafloja (Mexico), Ochy Curiel (Dominican Republic) Colm Tóibín (Ireland) and Justin Torres (United States) in conversation with Ayisha Osori.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available