Colombia Digital 2021

The Cartagena native Alfonso Múnera (Colombia) is a Doctor in Latin American and Caribbean History from the University of Connecticut; he has been Colombian Ambassador in Jamaica and in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as General Secretary of the Association of Caribbean States. He has written three essential works for understanding Colombian history: El fracaso de la nación, Fronteras imaginadas and La independencia de Colombia: olvidos y ficciones. He will talk about his work with Raúl Román.

What happens when great artists and athletes get to the end of their careers? In The Last Days of Roger Federer, in his characteristic style, Geoff Dyer portrays figures as different as Bob Dylan, Friedrich Nietzsche and Boris Becker, offering a lucid reflection on success and decadence. Through anecdotes and history, the author shows us the last days of these geniuses, demonstrating that it is possible to find meaning in the finite, and to continue to reinvent ourselves long after youth has ended. In conversation with the journalist Fernando Gómez.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Juan Carlos Flórez will chair a very interesting conversation about proposals for changes, and adjustments in our lifestyles that can make a difference in the search for a more just, sustainable and plural society, with some marvellous guests: Mauricio García Villegas (Colombia), Mariana Mazzucato (USA/Italy/UK), Rebecca Solnit (United States) and Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe).

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The award-winning journalist, writer and documentary-maker, Eliane Brum (Brazil), lives and works in Altamira, in the Amazon rainforest. She has received around 40 journalism prizes. She writes for Spain’s El País and is the author of La Amazonia: viaje al centro del mundo (2024), a book that narrates her move from Sao Paulo to Altamira, a city where the construction of one of the world’s largest (and most ecologically devastating) dams is taking place. She writes about the negligence and corruption that is changing the face of the Amazon. In conversation with Erna von der Walde.

Simultaneous translation from Portuguese to Spanish available

Héctor Abad Faciolince (Colombia) is one of Colombia’s most acclaimed and loved voices, author of the contemporary classic Oblivion. A Memoir. Winner of various prizes for fiction and for journalism (including the Simón Bolívar Prize), his works have been translated into 15 languages. In 2016 he founded the Colombian independent publishing company Angosta. His latest novel, Salvo mi corazón, todo está bien, is based on true events and tells the story of a priest who is waiting for a heart transplant. He will speak to Ricardo Silva.

Two writers will talk to Daniella Sánchez Russo about their recent work. With the acclaimed author of The Adventures of China Iron (shortlisted for prestigious awards such as the International Booker and the Médicis), Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (Argentina) returns with the powerful Las niñas del naranjel (2023), about the historical figure Catalina de Erauso, the Nun Alférez, who was born in Spain in the late 16th century and who crossed America dressed as a man. And with Gloria Susana Esquivel (Colombia), writer and podcaster, creator of the popular programme Womansplaining, and author of several books, including the recently published novel Contradeseo (2023), which explores the lives of three young adults who share an apartment. Written with a complex, unsettling prose, the author tells the story of a newly-married couple and a friend who has recently ended a relationship and who stays with the couple in exchange for domestic work.

Over the course of four decades, and with 15 years as a columnist, Margarita Rosa de Francisco has become one of the most entertaining and influential personalities in the Colombian media. Her roles in soap operas such as Gallito Ramírez (1986-87) and Café con aroma de mujer (1994-95) made her a star of national television. She has acted in around 20 film and television productions, has contributed to media outlets such as El Tiempo, SoHo, Ellas and El Espectador and has won many prizes, including the Simón Bolívar, TV y Novelas, Macondo and the India Catalina awards in Colombia, as well as the recent Horizon Award at the 2023 Venice Film Festival for Best Actress in the film El Paraiso, directed by the Italian Enrico María Artale. She will talk to Ricardo Chica Gelis about her second book, Margarita va sola (2023), a collection of memories and reflections on matters that range from revealing one’s body and erotic initiation, to her thoughts about God and identity.

Our book clubs are intimate events with guests selected from the Hay Festival programme. These small-scale events will be a chance to talk in depth about the most recent work published by those invited. At this event, Javier Moro (Spain) will talk to Margarita Valencia about his book Nos quieren muertos. In this rigorous, dramatic book, Moro deals with the life of a figure who is important for an understanding of contemporary Venezuela: Leopoldo López. Upon being jailed in 2014, after leading massive protests against the Maduro government, López became a symbol of the struggle for democracy in the country.

The book should be read before attending.

Four experts from different fields will talk to Inés Santaeulalia about the urgency of preserving the planet’s biological diversity. Brigitte Baptiste (Colombia) is one of Colombia’s most eminent scientists, and is an expert in matters of the environment and biodiversity. Eliane Brum (Brazil), is a Brazilian journalist and author of La Amazonia: viaje al centro del mundo (2024); Philippe Sands (France/UK), a distinguished human rights lawyer, is currently working to create international legislation against ecocide; Rebecca Solnit (United States) has received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Book Critics’ Circle Award and is the wide-ranging author of over 20 books. Her most recent title is Whose Story Is This?.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Anil Seth is a British scientist who works in research into the biology of consciousness. He a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, and is Co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, and the Brain, Mind and Consciousness programme run by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. His most recent publication is Being You (2021), an impressive work of non-fiction that deals with the mental construction that we identify as “ourselves”, starting with the biological basis of neuronal fabric and its functions, motivated by that great mystery which modern science is seeking to resolve: what is consciousness and where does it come from?

Anil Seth will participate in this event digitally.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The award-winning journalist, writer and publisher Tina Brown (UK) has a long career in the British and American media. Between 1970 and 2001 she was Editor-in-Chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. In the year 2000 she was given the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2009 she founded the Women of the World initiative, a summit held in New York, London, Toronto, Dubai and New Delhi and involving women leaders, CEOs, global activists and celebrities including Hilary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and the Nobel prizewinners Leymah Gbowee and Nadia Murad. Brown is also the author of the Vanity Fair Diaries and the bestseller The Palace Papers, an incisive investigation that takes us inside Buckingham Palace, revealing stories that help us to understand the British royal family as never before. She will talk to Kirsty Lang.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available