Hay Festival Arequipa 2021 – Politics

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

Ignacio Martínez de Pisón (Spain) is the author of over 15 books of essay, novel and short stories. He is known for novels such as Derecho natural (2017), Filek (2018) and Fin de temporada (2020), and the long essay Enterrar a los muertos (Seix Barral, 2005), which won the Rodolfo Walsh and Dulce Chacón prizes and was much praised by reviewers and critics in several European countries. In his last book, Partes de guerra (2022), an anthology of stories about the Spanish Civil War, Martínez de Pisón carries out a publishing and literary task by compiling examples of the collective memory, voices that tell of the horrors, heroes and, above all, the history of a conflict that spilled across sides and boundaries. More than 30 Spanish writers give their particular view of the war, mediated by the excellent prose of Martínez de Pisón. In conversation with the author and journalist Dante Trujillo.

The economist Andrés Velasco (Chile) was Finance Minister in Michelle Bachelet’s first government. He is the author of Contra la desigualdad (2011) and Liberalismo en tiempos de cólera (2019), which tackles a political topic of great importance, a phenomenon that has spread across the world like a plague: populism. Between the “liberal democracies” and the authoritarian regimes, governments of left and right, no model has managed to provide a formula for effectively confronting this growing trend. This book, co-written with Daniel Brieba, proposes ideas for strengthening liberty and equality and facing up to the threats of populism. In conversation with the analyst, academic and writer, Alberto Vergara, and moderated by the political analyst Gonzalo Banda.

With over 400 million people sharing a single language, one of the most biodiverse territories in the world, connections that date from a colonial past and have continued throughout political history, Latin America enjoys a glorious diversity and richness; it also faces some intimidating challenges: growing poverty and social inequality, corruption, populism and violence. Faced with this unsettling yet dynamic panorama, and in conversation with the historian Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, three key experts will discuss the future: the historian Carmen McEvoy, author of Patrias andinas, patrias citadinas; and the historian (Peru), a doctor in History from the University of London and author of Los inicios de la república peruana and Independencia; and ; the economist Andrés Velasco (Chile), former Finance Minister in the Michelle Bachelet government and the author of Contra la desigualdad and Liberalismo en tiempos del cólera.

Do cultural wars really exist? Are we at a historical moment in which ideological battles will force or demand changes to our societies, bringing modifications in terms of rights and liberties? Is it possible that the social media compartmentalize debates rather than facilitating them? We talk to the journalists and writers Marco Sifuentes (Peru), author of Peru Bizarro, in which he analyses a series of episodes from the Peruvian past and their role in the construction of the country’s identity; Esther Paniagua (Spain), an expert in technology and the author of Error 404. ¿Preparados para un mundo sin internet?; and Alex von Tunzelmann (United Kingdom), author of Fallen Idols, a book that deals with our ways of conserving and confronting our past as a society, particularly through the creation and destruction of monuments. In conversation with the BBC journalist Guillermo Olmo.

We live in countries with constitutions that, in theory, guarantee individual rights; we live in societies where meritocracy is described as the best system for making progress; we live in societies that define themselves as multicultural. So how then do economic inequalities, racism and the discourses that perpetuate hate arise? We talk about inequalities with three experts who have reflected on why our societies are not yet equal. With César Rendueles (Spain) and Patricia Nieto (Colombia) in conversation with the political commentator Carlos León Moya.

Ernesto Picco has a doctorate in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, lectures at the Santiago del Estero National University and has contributed to publications including Crisis, Anfibia, Tucumán Zeta and Subida de Línea. As an independent writer, he has written about Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Falkland Islands. Crónicas del litio: Sudamérica en disputa por el futuro de la energía global is both an investigation and a work of travel writing, in this case about a journey to parts of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, researching a matter that has become a hot topic. In conversation with the El País journalist, David Marcial Pérez Muñoz.

Sarah Churchwell lectures in American Literature and the Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London, and is the award-winning author of three books, the latest of which is The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells (2022). Employing an exceptional prose style, Churchwell analyses the American classic, Gone with the Wind, together with its film version, which was one of the most successful films of all time. However, behind the publishing phenomenon and the Hollywood glamour, we can find the darkest dimensions of US society, with violence, systemic racism, sexism and white supremacism. In conversation with the writer, filmmaker and historian Alex von Tunzelmann.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Inequality in Latin America has been a constant throughout history: gaps in income distribution; inequalities in access to goods and services because of differences of origin, or working or social condition; or growing economic divergences between strata, sectors or classes. All these have caused crises in the region and created great social discontent, as well as the rise of populism. The sociologist and journalist Farid Kahhat, author of El eterno retorno; the economist Carlos Paredes Lanatta, who has written Resilientes pero no indolentes. Reflexiones sobre la crisis peruana; and the academic Natalia Sobrevilla, author of Independencia, will talk to the political analyst Gonzalo Banda.

Twelve years ago, the magazine Foreign Policy published an article entitled “Best. Decade, Ever” indicating an optimism that sees an inevitable progress over time, with all our social, political and economic challenges gradually overcome. By contrast, with the tense international relationships involving Russia, the Ukraine, China and the United States meaning the whole world is on tenterhooks, as well as war, increases in poverty, threats to democracy and the pandemic, these predictions leave much to be desired. In the book Tiempos violentos. Rusia, Ucrania, China, Estados Unidos y el nuevo desorden mundial, Farid Kahhat, a Sociology graduate from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru and a doctor in Governability from the University of Texas, analyses three phenomena that confirm this idea of backward movement: the rise of the radical right, conflicts between the United States and China, and the pandemic. In conversation with David Marcial Pérez Muñoz, journalist with El País newspaper.