Hay Festival Querétaro 2021 – Events for Children and Young People

Juan Gedovius is a writer, musician and illustrator, and has published over 40 books. Here he will give a drawing and writing workshop based on his illustrated version of Alice Through the Looking-glass, in which he gives colour and shape to the chess pieces that take on life in the classic book by Lewis Carroll.

The main character of Mi pelo chino says that she used to find her curly hair annoying because it was unlike the hair of other girls her age. However, one day her grandfather teaches her the special care that her Chinese hair needs, and all the hairstyle possibilities it offers, because this shows how she can be beautiful in different ways. This is a story about the construction of an identity in peoples who have traditionally been ignored in national cultural production. Jumko Ogata Aguilar (Xalapa, 1996) 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. In conversation with Elisa Guerra.

The main character of Mi pelo chino says that she used to find her curly hair annoying because it was unlike the hair of other girls her age. However, one day her grandfather teaches her the special care that her Chinese hair needs, and all the hairstyle possibilities it offers, because this shows how she can be beautiful in different ways. This is a story about the construction of an identity in peoples who have traditionally been ignored in national cultural production. 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. She will talk to Tere Alcántara.

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 about the way he sees the Middle East, the West and Mexico.

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. At this event she will talk about her latest book, Las voces de los árboles, a work that takes readers into a parallel world in which trees of different species and places around the world tell their stories and allow us to reflect on the harm we are doing to the planet.

Valeria Gallo studied design at the National Institute of Fine Art’s Design School. She is an animator and creator of visual narratives, illustrator of over 40 books and the author of En sus zapatos, Nunca es demasiado circo and ¿Feminismo? ¡Eso qué! This last book is a graphic novel that tells the story of Camila, a teenager who couldn’t care less about feminism, until she begins to find out about women such as Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Malala Yousafzai and many more. Coming into contact with these figures, the heroines of the history of women’s rights, makes Camila question many things in her life, and finds in feminism a tool to turn these questions into action for change, actions to create a fairer, more equal world.

Adiós, Glinka is a moving story written by Arnoldo Kraus (Mexico), illustrated by Alejandro Magallanes (Mexico), about how the members of the Genauer family will have to learn to accept the departure of their beloved dog Glinka when she is getting towards the end of her life. Arnoldo Kraus offers an event for children and their parents, to introduce them to a story about the mysteries of life and the passage of time. In conversation with Felipe Rosete.

CaminaLee is an initiative that organizes walks aimed at connecting your feet and your brain, letting you listen to stories, characters, history, legends and adventures, all from a different perspective. Connecting with your imagination and your inner wisdom while you walk, feeling what you see. Walking but also reading to visit other worlds, fantastic worlds that you were not aware of, worlds where you can learn about the past, the present and the future. With CaminaLee, we will go out and tour iconic locations in the old quarter, finding the most important sites, monuments and churches, as well as some of the historical legends of the city. An explanation will be given about each of them, including the Teatro de la Ciudad, the Guerrero Gardens, the Palacio Municipal, the Church of Santa Clara, the Fountain of Neptune, the Casa de la Marquesa, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro route and many other places, sharing the legends of La Carambada, El Marquéz de la Villa del Villar del Águila, La Zacatenaca, among others, with rest stops and discussion of historical figures and the chance to draw them too.

To participate in this activity, please click here to fill in the registration form

Every child must be accompanied by an adult

At this event with Margarita Sada, illustrator of the book Sansón, written by Jenny Pasivic, the graphic artist will talk about the process of creating an illustrated book, in order to reveal the meaning that she has sought to give to the creative process of making Sansón, a work whose main character is the little mouse of the same name. Through it, she aims to show that every person, independently of their size or physical characteristics, has great personality and heart, just like Sansón the mouse. At this interactive event, the children attending will have the chance to draw themselves, with the author’s help, as mice who are happy to accept themselves as they are.

The plot of the book Corazones de estambre, written by Braulio Guerra and illustrated by Ana Karen Valdés, is told through words and pictures. If we do not let the words out, they become entangled and make a knot inside of us, just like the wool of the title. That is why it is good to have techniques to disentangle the knots. At this interactive activity, the participants will carry out a workshop with woollen yarn, together with Braulio Guerra, who will explore how to disentangle the emotional knots we all face in our lives.