Hay Festival Digital Querétaro 2020

Journalist, writer and Farsi-language translator. Victoria Belim (Ukraine) grew up in the United States and currently lives in Belgium. She speaks 20 languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian. Her literary debut is entitled The Rooster House (2023) and is a work of memoire, told as a novel, about Vika, a woman who returns to the Ukraine of her birth to investigate the death of her great-great uncle in the 1930s. It is an exploration of the history of a country marked by conflict and devastation, one with a new war just beginning. Belim narrates this story, which is about both a family and a nation, in prose that is captivating, mysterious and beautiful. In conversation with Yael Weiss.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish available

The acclaimed historian, winner of the 2013 Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writer's Award, will talk about her latest work Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self, which tells the story of a group of thinkers and poets who shaped the way we think about ourselves and the world. This group, who came together in the German town of Jena in the late 18th century, instituted a revolution that can still be felt today. With a book written in lively prose and full of engaging anecdotes, Andrea Wulf (United Kingdom-Germany) offers a panorama of the most important ideas of Romantic philosophy and how these have become a part of the contemporary understanding of the subject. In conversation with Diego Rabasa.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Two contemporary poets talk about being a poet in 2023, about style, content and the links between language and other artistic disciplines. At the end of the discussion there will be a short reading. With Hanan Issa (Wales/Iraq), a Welsh writer and filmmaker of Iraqi origin, and 2022/23 Cymrawd Rhugwladol Hay Festival / Hay Festival International Fellow; and Querétaro poet Dalia Larisa Juárez (Mexico). They will talk to Luz María Lepe about their literary work, in which language and cultural heritage mix, come into conversation and sometimes disagree.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Edmundo Paz Soldán (Bolivia) is one of the most respected figures on the Spanish-language literary scene. A lecturer in Latin American Literature at Cornell University, he is the author of 13 novels, which have been translated into a dozen languages and have won numerous prestigious awards. His most recent book is La mirada de las plantas (2022), a novel in which the alteration of consciousness mingles with the complex reality inhabited by the protagonist, Rai, a psychiatrist who experiments with hallucinogenic plants and virtual reality, which results in experiences that resurrect a past of abuse and separation, framed within the conflict-strewn reality of the book’s geographical setting. He will talk about the book with Eliezer Budasoff.

The Hay Festival wishes to recognise the great cultural work of Hispano-American bookshops, paying homage on this occasion to its associate Cálamo bookshop (Zaragoza, Spain), on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. This is a good time to reflect on the present and future of the bookselling trade. Ana Cañellas, Paco Goyanes, Brenda Navarro and Manuel Vilas in conversation with Cristina Fuentes la Roche.

Elisa Guerra (Mexico) lectures in Education at the University of Harvard. In 2015 she was named Best Educator in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Inter-American Development Bank, and she was a member of the International Commission of UNESCO’s Futures of Education. Adriana Grimaldo (Mexico) has a Master’s in Creativity and Imaginative Education. She is an Academic Consultant to CIRCE (Centre for Imagination in Research, Culture and Education) and Academic Coordinator in Imaginative Education, Mexico. These two guests, together with the writer and educator, Pablo Boullosa, have written Aprendizaje: una forma de vida. Alcances y prácticas de la educación imaginativa. This is a text book for Imaginative Education and an innovative educational proposal that compiles testimonies from teachers at all levels of education, telling how they have implemented innovative educational practices in their classes, applying imaginative education.

Irene Solà (Spain) is the author of the publishing success When I Sing, Mountains Dance (2019), written in Catalan and translated into Spanish and many other languages, published in over a dozen editions and winner of the 2019 Cálamo Prize and the 2020 European Prize for Fiction. This polyphonic novel, set in the high Pyrenees, tells the story of farmers, poets, witches, mothers and ghosts, surrounded by the magnificence of the exuberant and relentless natural world of the high Pyrenees. Solá will talk to Yásnaya Elena Aguilar about this extraordinary novel and her new book, Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres, a story of living and dead women in a rural context, presented for the first time in Mexico.

The sociologist Claudine Haroche (France) is emeritus Director of Medical Research at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is affiliated to the School for the Higher Study of Social Sciences (EHESS) in France. In her book L’avenir du sensible, the author asks about the “sensitive” nature of human beings, based on the Renaissance ideas that have shaped our bodily, emotional and individual identities. Faced with a situation today in which so many of these identities have become fluid, the author examines the profound transformations in ways of being, feeling and thinking in the contemporary world, and reflects on the fate that awaits us, given these changes. At this event with Mito Reyes, Haroche will talk about her areas of speciality, including bodily behaviours, the mechanisms of psychological functioning, and how this affects ways of being and feeling human.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish available

In Koli Jean Bofane is one of the most preeminent Congolese writers, and his work is an examination of the globalisation and violence of post-colonial African societies. He is the author of five books that have been acclaimed by critics and have won numerous awards. In his most recent work published in Spanish, Mathématiques congolaises, we get to know the tribulations that Célio faces in a Kinshasa plagued by war, hunger, political corruption, social havoc and death, where the strains of this hostile environment take the characters to extreams that make us question, in essence, what is right and what is wrong? he will talk to his editor, Emiliano Becerril.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish available

Three writers talk about their works which deal with a matter that is both everyday and essential in our lives: care. The journalist Daniela Rea (Mexico) is the author of Fruto, a book that is about the contradictions of care based on 14 voices from different generations. The Mexican writer Tania Tagle presents her first book of essays, Germinal, which contains ten years of reflections on pregnancy, birth and raising her first child. The Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra, author of ten books that have been translated into at least 20 languages, has received awards such as the English PEN Award and the Prince Claus. In his book, Literatura infantile (2023), he offers a series of stories, both fictional and non-fiction, about childhood and fathering. In conversation with Elvira Liceaga.

Spaces for buying and selling, socialisation and discovery, bookshops are also the subjects of literature and for interpretation. Often readers create strong links with their local bookshops, and these links develop into relationships that can last a lifetime. From this personal, almost intimate, perspective, three writers and a bookseller will talk about the love created, as well as the fallings out that can also happen on the way. With Liliana Colanzi and Socorro Venegas in conversation with Lola Larumbe.

The lawyer and investigator Juan Jesús Garza Onofre (Mexico) presents his most recent book No estudies Derecho (“Don’t Study Law”). This striking title introduces a book that takes a critical look at the main vices and obstacles that divide the work of law from the ideal of serving the rule of law and citizens, and proposes a redefinition of the profession, one based on creativity and empathy. With this talk, the author invites us to imagine a new relationship with justice and its intermediaries. In conversation with professor Juan Francisco García.

Jumko Ogata Aguilar (Mexico) is a writer and an Afro-Mexican anti-racism activist. Originally from Veracruz, she studied Latin American Studies at the UNAM. She writes fiction, essays and film criticism. Her writings have been published in the Revista de la Universidad de México and by the British Council in Mexico, and she writes a column for Coolhuntermx. She contributed to the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, published by Sexto Piso in 2020, and recently released her first book for children, Mi pelo chino (2023), which is in both Spanish and Mixteco. In conversation with Carolina Sánchez.

Luis Jorge Boone and Julián Herbert, both from Coahuila, offer, with El polvo que levantan las botas de los muertos, a unique and intimate view of the Mexican Revolution, combining non-fiction with poetry and storytelling. By recovering the biographies of two people forgotten by history, that of a private in the federal army who is waiting for the enemy to arrive while he remembers his childhood, and that of a rural teacher who is made a member of the Congress founded by the Constitution of 1917. The authors remind of us of the many life stories that were buried by the violence of the war and by the passage of time.

This workshop, given by members of the BBC Mundo team, Carlos Serrano and Daniel García Marco, is aimed at Communication and Journalism students and will take a detailed look at the working methods of one of the world’s most respected media organisations, famous for the diversity of its programming and its news rigour and quality.

Leontxo García (Spain) has been speaking and writing for 40 years about chess and its fascinating links with different fields of knowledge. At this event with Jan Martínez Ahrens, the author will share some views on this activity, which in recent years has enjoyed great success among Internet users. He will talk about its positive effects on the mental and emotional development of children, and its benefits in terms of the prevention of Alzheimer’s, and even the role that chess players have had in the struggles for power among the different geopolitical blocs over the course of history.

Enforced disappearance is one of the most terrible problems that faces Mexican society today. Ten groups of victims of enforced disappearance are linked to the project Recetario para la memoria, a culinary, photographic and social initiative that seeks to make this issue, and the work of victims’ groups, visible through a printed book, co-published by the Universidad Iberoamericana de León. The book compiles the favourite dishes of the families of the people sought by tracking groups. With Edith Lendechy García, from the Colectivo Proyecto de Búsqueda de Celaya; the photographer Zahara Gómez; Bibiana Mendoza from the Colectivo Hasta Encontrarte de Irapuato; and the journalist and writer Daniel Rea. They will talk to Isabel Posadas.

The Basque writer Eider Rodríguez will talk about her first novel, Material de construcción. With this book, the author uses the genre of autofiction to tell the story of a childhood and family life that bear the scars of the alcoholism of her father. The writer, publisher, broadcaster and literature teacher, Elvira Liceaga (Mexico), presents her novel Las vigilantes, which introduces Julia, a woman who returns to Mexico, to her maternal home, where she is awaited by Catalina. On this return trip she meets Silvia, a pregnant woman. The stories of these three women mingle in a story of care and watchfulness in which each one becomes a reflection of the others. In conversation with Diego Rabasa.

Juan Villoro is one of the most appreciated and high-profile writers and thinkers in the world of Spanish-language letters. His body of work is both extensive and varied, ranging from fiction genres such as the novel and the short story, to essay, literary journalism and drama. Over the course of his career he has published over 50 books, received over 30 prizes —including the Herralde Novel Prize, the José Donoso Ibero-American Prize and the Gabo Foundation Prize for Journalistic Excellence—, and he has been awarded three honorary doctorates. In his recent book La figura del mundo (2023), Juan Villoro recreates his father, the Catalan-Mexican thinker, UNAM lecturer and founder of the UAM, social activist, Zapatista and author of many books of philosophy that are considered highly important in Mexico. A look at the public persona and the private individual, a great philosopher and the father of a great writer. In conversation with Edmundo Paz Soldán.

Maruan Soto Antaki is a writer, born to a Syrian mother and a Mexican father, who is one of the major Mexican analysts of the political and religious situation in the Arab world. He is the author of five novels and several books of non-fiction, including Pensar Medio Oriente, Pensar México and Pensar Occidente. He presents his first work of non-fiction for young people, Lo que hicimos mal los adultos, illustrated by Bernardo Fernández, Bef, with the intention of explaining some of the main conflicts in the world to today’s teenagers, so they have more tools available to them in order to understand the crises that will still be with them in the future. Based on his great understanding of the issues, he will talk with Imanol Martínez about the way he sees the Middle East, the West and Mexico.