Hay Festival Arequipa 2021

This writer, shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt, Miguel Bonnefoy (Venezuela/France) returns with L’inventeur, a new novel that has something of the quixotic about it and which brings to life the figure of Augustin Mouchot. Practically unknown today, Mouchot was a mid-19th-century French inventor and pioneer in the use of solar energy, who managed to create a machine able to produce a block of ice using only the light of the sun. However, his extraordinary achievements were buried by the economic interests involved in the coal trade. In conversation with Orlando Mazeyra, the author will talk about this striking figure, whose inventions could have completely transformed the course of history as we know it.

Who were the Incas really? How did this great empire develop historically and culturally? Is its legacy still present in our contemporary culture? This illustrated book, created based on the exhibition Los incas. Más allá de un imperio, organised by the Lima Art Museum (MALI), aims to tackle these questions in a way never before done, based on the most recent and detailed scientific research. An event to give young people the chance to have a very current and close look at our ancestors, together with the archaeologist, visual artist and MALI curator, Patricia Villanueva.

With Marina Zileri and Fernando Arce The children will explore the possibilities of the world of clay, ceramic and small-scale puppetry, experiencing different creative processes, with the final result of making finger puppets. We will start with possibilities of faces, and then bodies, to end up with details that define our clay puppets.

This event will be part of the South to South series, in which the Hay Festival offers a forum for some of the most innovative voices of the global South, in order to share different ways of seeing the world, as well as non-Western solutions to the problems that beset us. Talking to Emma Graham-Harrison will be the Mexican filmmaker Natalia Beristain, director of films such as Los adioses and Ruido; Carlos Moreno, the French-Colombian scientist and urban planning expert, famous for creating the idea of the 15-minute city; and Djamila Ribeiro, the Brazilian philosopher and activist, known for publications such as Lugar de fala and Quem tem medo do feminismo negro?

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

We talk about the Amazon, one of the richest and most biodiverse regions on the planet, with hundreds of cultures and languages, yet it is a territory threatened by negligent human actions. With the participation of Martín Ibarrola (Spain), author of the travel book La selva herida, which is the story of an expedition through Peru, Bolivia and Brazil; Vabi Miguel Toribio, Yanesha leader, translator and interpreter recognised by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, she is also a social and environmental activist; and Roberto Zariquiey, a Doctor of Linguistics from La Trobe University (Melbourne), lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and head of many research and social projects linked to Amazon languages. They will talk to Pedro Favaron, who has recently published Non Onan Shinan: Los mundos medicinales y la sabiduría de una familia Shipibo-Konibo.

Participating at this event are four outstanding experts in the field of cultural management, each one with her or his own unique perspective: Edward de Ybarra (Peru), Arequipan filmmaker, graphic artist and cultural manager; Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria), writer and activist, founder of the Book Buzz Foundation, an initiative that promotes cultural reading spaces, such as the Aké Arts & Book Festival and the Kaduna Book & Arts Festival; Víctor Vich, a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009, lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, where he coordinates the Master’s in Cultural Studies, and Head Researcher at the Institute of Peruvian Studies; and Cristina Fuentes La Roche (Spain), International Director of the Hay Festival. They will explore, among other matters, the challenges and achievements of their respective fields, and will discuss the importance of culture as an engine of social transformation and a bridge for promoting understanding among different communities.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The siblings Andrea, Claudia and Cristóbal Paz will tell their iconic stories Chimoc en Machu Picchu, with a screening of their illustrations; they will also sing the songs associated with the story. After the storytelling, our friend Chimoc, the cheerful Peruvian Hairless dog, will appear to greet readers and dance with them to some of Los Hermanos Paz’s best-known songs.

Based on stories about the Peruvian dog, or viringo, come with us to explore different and curious aspects of these animals. With Carla Galdos and Raúl Romero we will read different texts that feature the dog, and together we will talk about and exchange ideas and anecdotes about these faithful companions.

For the Spanish writer Luis García Montero, one of the most interesting poets on the literary scene today, poetry has become a way of channelling his feelings and dealing with the pain of loss in Un año y tres meses, a poetry book whose theme is the passing away of his wife, the Spanish writer Almudena Grandes. The result is a luminous book and a moving lesson in mourning. Luis García Montero has also been the Director of the Instituto Cervantes since 2018. He will talk about poetry and about this book in particular with the Peruvian poet Alonso Ruiz Rosas.

Jugo de Caigua (or simply Jugo) is an independent platform made up of committed writers and educators, and it has put together a special event at which the members will recreate one of their editorial meetings in order to cover some of the big issues that we face today, from a critical and informed perspective. Participating are three outstanding contributors who bring a unique viewpoint to some of the most important current affairs. The writer and communicator Gustavo Rodríguez, who recently won the Alfaguara Novel Prize, will offer his view on the region’s day-to-day life, just as he does in his weekly column. Natalia Sobrevilla, Professor of Latin American History at the University of Kent, will cover the historical background of the present social and political context. Dante Trujillo, journalist, editor and cultural manager, will add to the mix some of the latest happenings of the present cultural moment.

The British illustrator Karrie Fransman has worked with media outlets including The Guardian, The Times, Time Out, The Telegraph, BBC, The New Statesman and the Arts Council. Together with her partner, Jonathan Plackett, Fransman has created the acclaimed Gender Swapped Fairy Tales (2021) and Gender Swapped Greek Myths (2022), which re-write some of the great classics of children’s fiction and Greek mythology, changing the gender of the characters. These authors will introduce us to the story of a king who pricks his finger while sewing; of Icara and her mother, who fly too close to the sun; of a heroine who, while roaming the high seas trying to get home, is seduced by male sirens, and much more. Fransman will talk to the BBC journalist Alejandro Millán.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The Arequipa artist and illustrator Rosita Charaja, better known as Unicornio Azul (“Blue Unicorn”), presents her first book, El mar de las almas, created together with the Chilean Nathalia CR. The book is created through dreams that reveal encounters in past lives, as a relationship of love is built up. The story explores the relationship between a distant past and the present, the development of rights over the course of history, and forms of love outside the heteronormative. In conversation with Omar Zevallos.