Hay Festival Segovia 2022

“Translation is the only way it is humanly possible to read and write at the same time. It is an original text that is inspired by another” writes Nuria Barrios about the world and profession of translating in her work La impostora (Páginas de Espuma), which won the 13th Málaga Prize for non-fiction. She would know, having translated into Spanish landmark texts including James Joyce’s “The Dead” and the novels of John Banville and his alter ego Benjamin Black. What is more, Barrios does not only translate. Since her first novel, Amores patológicos, appeared in 1998 she has continued to enchant us both in this form (El alfabeto de los pájaros, Todo arde) and in outstanding short story collections such as Ocho centímetros, El zoo sentimentaland Balearia. She is also a poet, having published La luz de la dinamo, Nostalgia de Odiseo and El hilo del agua. She will talk about the whole of her career with the Segovia reading clubs, but particularly about the intensity of the path of translation.

Mauri Renedo, from reading clubs, will present Nuria Barrios.

Event in Spanish

Once again this year, Beltrán Gambier brings to the Hay Festival his Short Autobiographies Workshop, open to anyone considering using their own life as material for writing. As was the case with the first workshop, which was full to capacity, participants will write an autobiographical fragment. Gambier is the founder and editor of Intramuros magazine, a Spanish-language publication that is pioneering in its dedication to biography and memoir. In its 26-year run, it has published work by many major writers, including three Nobel Literature laureates: the Germans Herta Müller and Günter Grass and the Chinese writer Mo Yan. The workshop will be co-hosted by the journalist Laura Garrido.

Event in Spanish

The splendid nature, landscape and history of the Rio de Onor area has inspired writer such as Miguel de Unamuno, Miguel Torga and José Saramago, who began his Viagem a Portugal in this Portuguese district, located on the border with Spain and twin to the Zamoran district of Rihonor de Castilla on the other side. Hay Festival Segovia takes one of its Dialogues with the Earth to this unique corner of the peninsula, one of Portugal’s Seven Wonders, in the category of Protected Towns and Areas. The event is organized within the framework of Focus on Portugal, and in partnership with the Portuguese Embassy in Spain and Turismo de Portugal. Those attending this intensive event will experience some of the attractions of this place, which has just fifty inhabitants. They will meet some of those who live here, try some traditional dishes at an open-air lunch, and find out about its traditions. The master of ceremonies will be the journalist and writer Agustín Remesal, former TVE correspondent in Portugal and author of a dozen books of history and journalism including Por tierras de Portugal. Un viaje con Unamuno, published in 2014, in which he offers an in-depth look at the great writer’s travels in our neighbouring country.

Event in Spanish and Portuguese

Around a dozen inmates of the Segovia Penitentiary Centre will have the chance to participate in the Short Autobiographies Workshop that is to be given once again this year by Beltrán Gambier, founder and editor of Intramuros magazine, which specializes in this literary genre. During its 26-year run, the publication has brought us the words of some famous figures, including three winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is a great opportunity for the inmates to take part in a literary event of distinction, supported by the Hay Festival, at which they will write an autobiographical fragment. Gambier is also a lawyer and has authored several legal texts, including one dedicated to Penitentiary Administration Law.

Also contributing to the workshop will be Félix Losada, writer for Intramuros and owner of the magazine.

From Horace to Lucretius, the classics have taught us that our relationship with Nature wholly determines the meaning and destiny of humankind. Emilio del Río, the great champion of Latin, has published books such as Latin lovers, Calamares a la Romana or Locos por los Clásicos. He holds, among many other distinctions, the National Prize of the Spanish Society of Classical Studies. He is also Director General of Madrid City Council Libraries, Archives and Museums.

He will be joined in an extraordinary natural setting by the journalist Elsa González and the journalist and writer Carlos Aganzo. Elsa González is member of the Board of Directors of Telemadrid and of the board of the Federation of Women Managers and Professionals (FEDEPE) and jury member of the Prince of Asturias Awards for Communication and Humanities. She was the President of the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain from April 2010 to April 2018. Aganzo, former director of El Norte de Castilla, is deputy director of the Vocento Foundation and author of numerous books of poems. His latest publication is a homage to Las ciudades de Machado (Machado’s cities).

Event in Spanish

The name of Georges Simenon is linked to the astronomical figures racked up by the sales of almost two hundred titles (191 to be exact): 550 million copies sold to many millions of readers around the world. A big part of this stellar success is Inspector Maigret, who features in almost a hundred of his novels. Now the name of this prolific and bestselling writer, born in Belgium and who lived in Paris for much of his life, is becoming literary news again thanks to new editions of some of his novels, published together by Anagrama and Acantilado, as well as to the recent release of the film Maigret by Patrice Leconte, starring Gerard Depardieu. Two people who know his work well will talk about Simenon’s life and work at the Hay Festival Segovia: his son John Simenon, who manages his father’s bequest and has been involved in the production of some of the films based on his work; and Caroline Michel, an outstanding British cultural figure and Chair of the global Hay Festivals.

Simenon and Caroline Michel will talk to the writer and journalist Miquel Molina, Assistant Editor of La Vanguardia.

The event will be presented by María Sheila Cremaschi, director of Hay Festival Segovia, Florence VanHolsbeeck, economic and commercial counsellor and representative of Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI) and Pablo Gonzalo, Global Head of Culture and Knowledge of Fundación Telefónica.

With simultaneous translation from Spanish to English and vice versa

How do new generations experience their relationship to identity, history, love or the concept of revolution? Yara Rodrigues Fowler is one of the most emblematic up-and-coming British writers on the current literary scene. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award for her debut, Stubborn Archivist. The Financial Times named her as one of "the 30 most exciting young people on the planet" as one of the designers of a bot that encouraged Tinder users to register to vote in the 2017 UK general election. Fowler's new novel, There are more things, revolves around the political awakening of Melissa and Catarina, two London flatmates with roots in Brazil.

Hanan Issa is a writer, poet, and artist from Wales. Her debut pamphlet My Body Can House Two Hearts was published by Burning Eye Books in 2019. Her work has been performed and published in a variety of places including BBC Wales, ITV Wales, Huffington Post, StAnza festival and Poetry Wales. Her winning monologue was performed at the Bush Theatre in 2018. She is the co-founder of the Where I’m Coming From open mic collective. She is currently working on short film commissions with BBC New Creatives and Ffilm Cymru Wales. Hanan Issa has been named Wales fifth national poet, making her the first Muslim to hold the title. Hanan has recently been awarded the 2022/23 Cymrodoriaeth Rhyngwladol Hay Festival / Hay Festival International Fellowship.

For her part, Xita Rubert has won over readers and critics with a fascinating debut, My Days with the Kopps, in which she wonders whether growing up is to enter a fiction of no-return. Rubert graduated in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Warwick, after studying at universities such as the Sorbonne. She currently holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, on a scholarship from Princeton University, where she teaches on the relationship between philosophy, literature and medicine.

They will be in conversation with Ludovic Assémat, Head of Arts at the British Council in Spain.

Once the event has finished, the authors will sign books in the booth outside IE University.

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish

Can literature counteract the negative consequences for society of fake news? Nativel Preciado and Antonio Lucas, two writers who are both journalists and authors, will try to answer this question from the point of view of literary figures, and also talk about how those who work in the media can fight the impact of fake news and move towards quality journalism. Nativel Preciado has had a long career as a journalist, going back to her coverage of the Transition to Democracy. This columnist and public speaker has published around twenty books. Her latest novel, El santuario de los elefantes, won the Azorín Prize. Antonio Lucas is a well-known cultural journalist, Editor of the El Mundo supplement, La Esfera de Papel. He is also a distinguished poet, having been recognized with the Loewe Prize for his book Los desengaños.

They will talk to Daniel Fernández, editor and CEO of Cedro.

Event in Spanish

After the event, the writers will be signing books at the stand on Calle Real

The European Union Prize for Literature is a European level initiative that recognises the best emerging fiction writers from countries participating in the Creative Europe programme. In the latest edition, the Spanish candidate, who received a special mention from the jury for his epistolary novel, Los días perfectos, was Jacobo Bergareche. He will take part in the Hay Festival, accompanied by three other authors who have attracted the attention of critics and readers with their debuts: Bibiana Candia, author of Azucre; Silvia Hidalgo, who made her debut with Yo, mentira and Aurora Freijo Corbeira, author of La ternera. All of them will share their experiences and opinions of the narrative art. Chaired by Ainhoa Sanchez, manager of literature and publishing at AC/E (Accion Cultural Española).

Event in Spanish

Authors will sign their works after the event at the stand on Calle Real.

Feminism has come to change the way we look at the world. How is this perspective influencing the detective novel? Can we talk about a change of paradigm, with feminism altering the way violence and pleasure are narrated? These matters are put on the table at an event featuring the writers Mónica Rouanet and Ana Requena. Rouanet is a psychologist, educator and author of publishing successes such as Despiértame cuando llegue septiembre and No oigo a los niños jugar. Her latest novel, the thriller Nada importante, deals with sexist violence and femicide. Requena specializes in gender matters, and is chief writer on the subject with eldiario.es, a news outlet that she co-founded. Her blog Micromachismos has obtained several awards. She is the author of the books of essay Cómo identificar los micromachismos and Feminismo vibrante. Si no hay placer no es nuestra revolución.

They talk to Dr Laura Ventura, a professor of Literature at Carlos III University who writes for the Argentine newspaper La Nación.

Once the event is over, both authors will sign books at the Library.

Event in Spanish

Volver a Contar: Latin American Writers in the British Museum Archives is an international collaboration between the British Museum and the Hay Festival, which explores 10,000 years of human history in the Americas. The project has involved inviting a group of writers to explore narratives about the past by means of a collection of Latin American objects never seen by the public in the British Museum. Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica and Puerto Rico), author of Austral; Lina Meruane (Chile), author of Sistema nervioso and Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) author of El invencible verano de Liliana will talk to the journalist Andrea Aguilar (Spain) in order to present this anthology of short stories published by Anagrama, which mingles rigorous research and fiction in order for us to better understand our history and try to resolve the gaps in the historical narrative.

Event in Spanish

After this event, Anagrama will offer a drink to celebrate the launch of the Volver a contar anthology

The name of Georges Simenon is linked to the astronomical figures racked up by the sales of almost two hundred titles (191 to be exact): 550 million copies sold to many millions of readers around the world. A big part of this stellar success is Inspector Maigret, who features in almost a hundred of his novels. Now the name of this prolific and bestselling writer, born in Belgium and who lived in Paris for much of his life, is becoming literary news again thanks to new editions of some of his novels, published together by Anagrama and Acantilado, as well as with to recent release of the film Maigret by Patrice Leconte, starring Gerard Depardieu. Talking about Simenon and the revived interest in his life and work will be his son John Simenon, who manages his father’s bequest and has been involved in the production of some of the films based on his work.

He will talk to Jesús García Calero, Editor of ABC cultural.

The event will be presented by Florence VanHolsbeeck, economic and commercial counsellor and representative of Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI).

With simultaneous translation from English to Spanish and vice versa

John Simenon will visit the stand on Calle Real organized by Wallonia Region, Belgium, which will prepare a quiz based on the work of his father.

The writer Carmen Mola was born in spring 2017 in Madrid, to three novelist and screenwriter fathers: Jorge Díaz (Cartas a Palacio>, Hospital Central), Agustín Martínez (Monteperdido, La mala hierba) and Antonio Mercero (Hospital Central>, Hache, El final del hombre). This child was born to write, and in just a short time had released her first novel, La novia gitana, followed by La red púrpura and La nena. However, her greatest success so far, and the one that has been responsible for making her creators known to a wider public, is the novel La bestia, which won the 2021 Planeta Prize. This time the story is set in 1834 in Madrid, a city suffering from a cholera epidemic, where a terrible brute (the bestia of the title) is murdering girls who live in poverty. This is a book in which evil and violence play their parts against the backdrop of a country going through a period of political instability. This Hay Festival Segovia event will be a discussion of such gruesome fiction, as well as the adventure of collaborative writing.

Carmen Mola will talk to the journalist Jesús Vigorra, the director and presenter of Canal Sur Radio’s >La mañana de Andalucía.

Once the event has finished, the authors will sign books in the venue.

Event in Spanish.

Thirteen editions of this event have combined poetry with the beauty of the Romeral de San Marcos, the splendid garden that the landscape architect Leandro Silva left as a legacy to the city of Segovia and which every year opens for the Hay Festival to take in the best poetry of all time. On this occasion, participants will read their own poems or those of their favourite authors. With Orlando Mondragón, winner of the Fundación Loewe International Poetry Award, Japanesse ambassadors, Kenji and Patricia Hiramatsu; Carlos Hernández-La Hoz, cultural advisor; Belén Ferrier, artisan, Hanan Issa, writer, poet and artist from Wales and 2022/23 Cymrawd Rhyngwladol Hay Festival / Hay Festival International Fellow, Julia Casaravilla, owner of the Garden Romeral de San Marcos, the MP of the Congress of Deputies of Spain José Luis Aceves and Caroline Michel, president of Hay Festivals.

The writer José Felix Valdivieso will be the master of ceremonies for another year.

Readings in English, Spanish, Japanese and French.

If it rains, the event will be at the same time at La Alhóndiga. Escenario Gales - Llywfan Cymru

He said in an interview that Roberto Bolaño changed his life as a reader and as a writer. Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr won the prestigious Goncourt Prize in 2021 with his novel La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men), the title referencing Bolaño's famous book Los detectives salvajes (The Savage Detectives). The work is inspired by the life of the Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem, critic of colonialism, and the great tragedies of the 20th century, and is based on the relationship between the West and the African continent. He received prizes for titles such as La Cale, Terre ceinte and Silence du choeur before winning the most prestigious prize in French literature.

He will talk with Jacinta Cremades, literary critic and author of the novel Regreso a París.

The event will be presented by Isabelle Berneron, attachée for books, ideas and media networks at the Institut Français D'Espagne.

Event in French, with simultaneous translation into Spanish

There will be a book-signing at the bookstands in front of the IE University

The journalist Inés Martín Rodrigo made her name with her second novel, Las formas del querer, winning the prestigious Nadal Prize. Since then, she been talking about dancing a great deal. She says that writing the book was therapeutic, and let her understand herself better. Her first work of fiction was Azules son las horas, about Sofía Casanova, the first Spanish war correspondent; she has also published a compilation of interviews called Una habitación compartida.

Martín Rodrigo will talk to Jesús Vigorra, director and presenter of Canal Sur Radio’s La mañana de Andalucía.

Event in Spanish

Book signing at the stand on Calle Real

An event featuring two women of different generations and with something in common: both write fiction and both reflect on the challenges of the novel in the 21st century. What are the characteristics of the new writer in a society convulsed by change, at a time of both individual and collective uncertainty? The translator, publisher and teacher of Literary Creation, Silvia Bardelás, answers this question in her doctoral thesis, entitled Una teoría de la novela. Her latest novel is entitled Destiempo. Xita Rubert’s fictional debut is Mis días con los Knopp, and its success has led to her being welcomed as a writer with a brilliant future. She is currently preparing her thesis at Princeton University on the relationships between philosophy and literature.

Presented by Encarnación Aparicio Roda, coordinator of book clubs of the Segovia Penitentiary Centre.

Authors will sign their works at the end of the event

Event in Spanish

The creative personalities of Jorge Volpi and Carlos Granés meet in the intersection of narrative and the essay. Volpi, who predominantly writes novels, has garnered awards for titles such as En busca de Klingsor, La tejedora de sombras and Una novela criminal (Alfaguara Prize 2018). He also writes short stories and essays, including El magisterio de Jorge Cuesta, which won him the Premio Plural prize, and La guerra y las palabras. Partes de guerra is his most recent novel. Carlos Granés, social anthropologist, fuses the discipline with art and literature. His titles include La revancha de la imaginación and Delirio Americano, a book where he analyses the many cultural, political and ideological currents that have contributed to the invention of modern Latin America. He is a regular contributor to the magazine Letras Libres. His work El puño invisible won the Isabel Polanco International Essay Prize. The two writers will talk about the idea of their works as communicating vessels at the Hay Festival.

Event in Spanish

There will be a book-signing at the bookstand on Calle Real.

In Falling Is Like Flying the Dutch writer Manon Uphoff recreates a childhood of terror, marked by a tyrannical and abusive father one who, at the same time, had a perverse charm. The death of her older sister was the trigger for Uphoff to begin writing, not a typical autobiographical chronicle, but creating a symbolic and poetic universe that connects the traumas of her past with Greek mythology, fairy tales and science. The work was shortlisted for the Libris Literature Prize and also won the Charlotte Köhler Award. Previously, Uphoff has published Begeerte, a collection of short stories, and the novel Gemis, also shortlisted for the Libris Prize.

She will talk to the journalist Irene Hernández Velasco, who has been a correspondent in various countries and currently works for El Mundo newspaper.

Once the event has finished, the author will sign books in the booth outside IE University.

With simultaneous translation from English into Spanish

The rights of women can also be defended in the realm of eroticism. This is a central premise for the writing of Emecé Condado, who aims to demystify sex and break down stereotypes through literature. After working on blogs and digital magazines, and on the collective work Segovia erótica (Ediciones Derviche), she has published her first book of short stories, Nunca más (libros.com). Cristian Fernández, a multi-genre writer, considers eroticism an essential ingredient for romanticism, but with a critical eye for the perfect dosage. He has just finished publishing Riperdá, El Holandés Errante (Ediciones Derviche), a historical novel set in the first half of the of the 18th century. They will talk to the journalist Aurelio Martín.

Once the event has finished, authors will sign books in the booth at calle Real.

Event in Spanish