Arequipa 2020

The Peruvian writer Katya Adaui presents a beautiful book for children, illustrated with the delightful artwork of Eduardo Tokeshi. Paty is a little dog who is growing older, but her companion Ciro is ready to look after her, learning about the passage of time, loyalty and affection. Moderated by Emperatriz Vizcarra.

For children aged 5 and over

Rocío Quillahuaman (Peru/Spain) was born in Lima and lives in Barcelona. She studied Audiovisual Communication and has worked for PlayGround, Grupo Zeta and Gestmusic. She is currently one of Spain’s most viral illustrators thanks to her animated videos, which are satires on the social and political reality she sees around her. To date she has created over 300 animations and has more than 177 thousand followers on Instagram. Here she presents her first book, Marrón. In conversation with Gustavo Pino.

In this talk aimed at students, Nando López (Spain), with his usual affability and warmth, will promote an exchange regarding his play Nunca pasa nada, which explores the concerns of young people born in the 21st century, their conflicts and the problems that they must face at a social level, as well as with in their families. In conversation with Franky Flores Apaza.

Ages 14 and over

Contemporary fiction writer Katya Adaui, author of three books of short stories, presents her second novel, Quiénes somos ahora, a work that revisits an episode from a family’s past that has left wounds that have not yet healed. In conversation with the writer Kathy Serrano.

The illustrator Andrea Lértora presents and activity based on her books Sayri y el mensaje del cóndor and Sayri y el telar de las estrellas, which tell the tale of Sayri, a very special boy who discovers great secrets in nature, accompanied by condors, the mountain, the sea and the stars. Andrea will share these stories with the young attendees and will lead a drawing session.

For children ages 7 to 11 and teachers

Nando López (Spain) is an award-winning writer and dramatist, with a PhD in Hispanic Philology. Winner of the 2020 Gran Angular Prize and the author of books for adults and teenagers, he holds an outstanding position in young adult writing in Spanish, with an impressive body of work that includes over thirty books, including the acclaimed La edad de la ira. As a dramatist, his works for theatre include Nunca pasa nada and #malditos16. His latest book is El río de las primeras veces.

Jeremías Gamboa (Peru) is a journalist, academic and one of the most outstanding writers from his country and in the Spanish-speaking world. His first novel, Contarlo todo, the story of a young man from a humble background in contemporary Lima, was praised by critics. His most recent novel, Animales luminosos, is a short story that tackles some of the most important themes of our time, such as migration and culture shock. He will talk to Ricardo Sumalavia.

Two fiction writers who write, publish and live together will talk about their most recent literary projects, as well as their respective creative processes, as individuals and as a couple. Kathy Serrano, born in Venezuela, educated in Performing Arts in Russia and currently based in Peru, presents her first novel, El dolor de la sangre. Ricardo Sumalavia is the author of short stories, microstories and five novels, the most recent of which is Croac y el nuevo fin del mundo. In conversation with Giovanni Barletti.

We present a highly anticipated digital journalism workshop, designed for communications students in particular and university students in general, with Andrea Díaz Cardona, Guillermo Olmo and Carolina Robino, members of the BBC Mundo team, who will explain the working model of one of the world’s most respected media organizations, known for its news quality and rigour, and they will also talk about how its news and contents are conveyed in our digital era.

Event for students

A workshop for exploring the concepts and tools involved in travel writing, and its link with other ways of expressing the world, with the Argentinian journalists Federico Bianchini and Ernesto Picco, both winners of the Michael Jacobs Travel Writing Grant. The workshop seeks to strengthen an interest in travel writing, creating a new space for reflecting and working on this genre for interested journalists, and boosting the legacy of Michael Jacobs and his literary bequest. Requirements: journalists or writers from Ibero-America interested in travel writing, with or without experience, who are working on a journalistic or travel writing project.

Call for applications now closed

Rocío Quillahuaman (Peru/Spain) was born in Lima and lives in Barcelona. She studied Audiovisual Communication and has worked for PlayGround, Grupo Zeta and Gestmusic. She is currently one of Spain’s most viral illustrators thanks to her animated videos, which satirise the social and political reality she sees around her. To date she has created over 300 animations and has more than 177 thousand followers on Instagram. Here she presents her first book, Marrón. In conversation with illustrator Rosita Charaja.

Where is the literary and storytelling tradition of the indigenous peoples kept? How can we access contemporary literary work in indigenous languages? Carmen Pachas Piélago offers an informative, entertaining view of the indigenous peoples of Old Peru through fiction, connecting children with our identity. Roberto Daniel Zariquiey Biondi is an expert in the indigenous languages of Peru and a researcher into the Amazon languages. He has a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of La Trobe in Australia and teaches at the PUCP’s Department of Humanities, Linguistics and Literature. He is also a researcher with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Germany), Zurich University and the National Geographic Society. In conversation with the historian Jorge Bedregal la Vera.

Two journalists will talk about the arduous job of presenting the reality in their countries, twin nations that suffer from endemic violence. Patricia Nieto (Colombia) has been awarded the Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize and the José Martí Latin American Journalism Award, given by the Prensa Latina agency. His most recent book, Crónicas del paraíso (2022), is a compilation of over thirty years of reports on the war in Colombia, giving a face and a voice to those who suffered it in their own lives: displaced persons and those who lost loved ones. The journalist Joseph Zárate (Peru) has received several prestigious awards, including the 2018 Gabriel García Márquez Journalism Prize, the 2016 Ortega y Gasset Prize and the 2015 PAGE National Prize for Environmental Journalism, created by the UN; he has edited IDL-Reporteros and is a resident editor at Radio Ambulante. In conversation with Mariana Sánchez Aizcorbe, a journalist with a long career in media organizations such as CNN and Al Jazeera.

The celebrated illustrator Liniers (Argentina) was born in Buenos Aires and lives in the state of Vermont, USA. He is an avid reader, and the first things he remembers reading as a child, and which have inspired some of his own cartoons, were classics such as Mafalda and Tintin. Liniers has since become a hugely acclaimed illustrator for his comic series Macanudo and for designing covers for musicians such as Andrés Calamaro and Albert Pla, a front page for the New York Times Magazine, and also for his live shows with Kevin Johansen and Alberto Montt. In conversation with local cartoonist Omar Zevallos Velarde.

Nando López is a writer and dramatist, and lectures on the Master’s course in Playwriting at the University of Alcalá de Henares. He has a doctorate in Hispanic Philology and holds an outstanding position in young adult writing in Spanish, with an impressive body of work that includes over thirty books, including the acclaimed La edad de la ira. His latest book, El río de las primeras veces, is a love story involving two young women, set after a year when it seems as if nothing will ever be the same again. Some say that you never pass over the same river twice, but there are rivers you cross more than once.

Event for students

Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua) is a major figure on the international literary scene. Her work has been translated into over 20 languages, and it includes poetry, novels, essays and children’s literature. This prolific writer has received many awards, including the Biblioteca Breve Prize, the Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz Prize, the Mariano Fiallos Gil Prize, the Casa de las Américas Award, the Anna Seghers Prize and the Generación del 27 International Prize. She is a member of the Nicaraguan Academy of the Language and the French Ministry of Culture recognized her as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature. As an activist, Belli was a part of the Sandinista Front, fighting against the Somoza dynasty dictatorship, and she took part in the Sandinista revolution, the subject of her memoire El país bajo mi piel. She is also the author of some very successful novels, including La mujer habitada and Pergamino de la seducción. In 2018 she was awarded the Hermann Kesten Prize, by PEN Germany, for her work in favour of press freedom and human rights. She was also the president of PEN Nicaragua until 2021. In conversation with Carolina Robino.

The story of a journalist who, while giving classes in creative writing to a woman imprisoned for murder, decides to write a book telling the story of the convict, who hopes it will become a bestseller, but the project brings a clash between two generations of women. The theatre company, Animalien, was founded by Fiorella Pennano and Norma Martínez, who have been creating theatrical and audio-visual projects in Peru and abroad since 2017.

Two authors present their new work at this event, in conversation with the writer Ricardo Sumalavia. Something in common in the work of these two writers is that they both portray the violence that permeates our societies. Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (Argentina) is a writer, cultural manager and educator; she currently holds the Laboratory of Experimentation in the Writing Arts Chair at the National University of the Arts. Her publications include Slum Virgin, Le viste la cara a Dios, Romance de la negra rubia and The Adventures of China Iron, a novel that was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize. Vanessa Londoño (Colombia) is a writer and journalist; she studied Law at the University of El Rosario in Colombia and did a Master’s in Creative Writing at New York University in the United States. Winner of the Aura Estrada and Nuevas Plumas prizes in 2017, she is the author of the novel El asedio animal (2021), which was very well received by the critics.

Alex von Tunzelmann is a British writer, filmmaker and historian. She wrote the screenplay for the feature film Churchill (2017) and several episodes of the series Medici. She is the author of four books, the most recent of which is the acclaimed Fallen Idols (2021), in which she analyses our forms of conserving and confronting the past as a society, particularly through the creation and destruction of monuments, examining the history of twelve statues, some famous, some infamous. In 2022, she presents the book Historia filmada which is the Spanish-language version of a compilation of columns, Reel History, which she wrote for The Guardian; the book combines her viewpoints as historian and filmmaker, offering a rich and diverse panorama of the history of film and the historical characters whose lives have been taken to the big screen. In conversation with the Arequipa poet and film fan Heiner Valdivia and the filmmaker Miguel Barreda Delgado.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Rosemary Sullivan is one of Canada’s most outstanding writers and a truly talented biographer. She is the award-winning author of 15 books, in which she has told the life stories of eminent figures such as the Canadian authors Margaret Atwood, Gwendolyn MacEwen and Elizabeth Smart, and the artist Leonora Carrington. She will talk to the Canadian Ambassador in Peru, Louis Marcotte, about her ideas regarding authoritarianism and democracy that have come from the experience of writing her most recent books. The first of these is Stalin’s Daughter. The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva, which tells the life story of the daughter of Joseph Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva. The second book is entitled The Betrayal of Anne Frank and is the result of a rigorous investigation that reveals the answer to one of the great mysteries, one that has attracted millions of readers around the world: how was Anne Frank’s family discovered? This was probably one of the most famous unsolved cases in history. Joining forces with an impressive team of researchers, former FBI agents, and using the advantages of the new technologies, Rosemary Sullivan has brought to light the key pieces that complete an extraordinary puzzle regarding the tragic story of the Frank family.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish