Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

The Chilean Benjamín Labatut resumes his interest in science with his new book, The MANIAC, a disturbing tripic that traces the path that goes from the fundamentals of mathmatics to the delusions of artificial intelligence. The book begins with the story of an Austrian physicist, Paul Ehrenfest, who killed his son who had Down syndrome before commiting suicide; it continues with the enigmatic figure of John von Neumann -a math prodigy considered by many as the most intelligent human being of the 20th century-; and ends with the confrontarion between an AI and the South Korean Go champion. The MANIAC is a novel about the limits of human comprehention, a work that invites us to question the origin and reach of human knowledge and the dark consequences of the progress of civilization. In conversation with Jorge Comensal.

The Ukrainian historian Serhii Plohky lectures in East European History at the University of Harvard and is the author of several books, including the successful Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe (2018) – which covers the famous nuclear accident of 1986, an incident that the author himself survived. His most recent book, The Russo-Ukrainian War, analyses the events around the biggest European conflict since the Second World War. For outsiders, the 22nd of February 2022 –the day Russia invaded Ukraine– marked the beginning of this war, but there are deeper roots: a failed invasion attempt in 2014 that created a climate of geopolitical tension that has taken the world back to the Cold War period. The author also returns to the times of the Iron Curtain and explores the legacy of the Soviet approach, one that continues to be in operation today. In conversation with Juan Carlos Flórez.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The Hay Festival and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) present the anthology Verdades compartidas, a project that reimagines Colombia after the peace process, written by ten Latin American authors. The project presents an inclusive and holistic vision of the peace process, and portrays not only the diversity of the country, but also sets the nation within the Latin American context. Ana Paula Maia (Brazil), Fernanda Trías (Uruguay) and Carlos Manuel Álvarez (Cuba) will talk to Margarita Valencia about the anthology.

Consecutive translation from Portuguese to Spanish available

A country with the biodiversity of Colombia, which has within its borders ecosystems that are important to the survival of us all, including the Amazon, the Andean range and the Sierra Nevada, faces serious challenges with regard to the climate emergency and the increase in global temperatures. The University of the Andes lecturer, politician and environmentalist, Manuel Rodríguez Becerra (Colombia), is the author of numerous books, including Colombia y sus bosques, and the recent El futuro ambiental de Colombia; Becerra will talk to Ricardo Corredor Cure about the significant steps regarding environmental care taken over the course of the last decade, including the strengthening of institutions that care for biodiversity and the construction of political will.

Rebecca Solnit (United States) has received, in the US, a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Book Critics’ Circle Award. This author of over 20 books covers matters such as feminism, the indigenous peoples of the United States, insurrection movements, natural disasters and people power. Her most recent title, Whose Story Is This?, seeks to question hegemonic Western narratives, analysing the pressure of those who concentrate privileges by keeping racialized people and women on the fringes; the rise of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements; and cases such as that of Harvey Weinstein. This is an essential text, one that documents some of the attempts to build a more democratic world, with the failures and triumphs that this involves. In conversation with Ángela María Pérez.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

David Olusoga (Nigeria/UK) is a historian, TV presenter, filmmaker, University of Manchester professor and the author of numerous books. In his book Black and Britishcthe writer studies the historical past of the Atlantic isles and their relationship with Africa and the Caribbean, in the light of movements such as Black Lives Matter. The essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra (India) is the author of ten books about postcolonial India and the transformation of south and central Asia in the context of globalization. His most recent publication, Run and Hide, tells the story of Arun, a man who always wanted to escape from the small Indian town where he was born. The Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, PhD in Media and Cultural Studies, is the author of Minor Detail; twice awarded the Young Writer's Award – Palestine awarded by AM Qattan Foundation, for her novels, she has also written for media such as Al-Karmel, Al-Adaab, Iowa Review, Sight & Sound Esprit, La Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF), Le Monde Diplomatique. The authors will talk to Leonard Benardo.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Selected to the Forbes "30 Under 30 in Arts & Culture" list in 2021, Katy Hessel (UK) is a pivotal figure in understanding the art world today. Her Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists has been celebrating the work of women artists on a daily basis since 2015, and on her podcast The Great Women Artists she interviews visual artists and writers. Hessel is an art historian, curator, lecturer and writer. Her first book, The Story of Art Without Men (2023), offers an alternative view from the Renaissance to the present day that includes women who are invisible but who made fundamental contributions. We will learn about these fascinating stories from around the world in five hundred years of history that shaped the path to where we are today. She will talk to Georgina Godwin.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The Hay Festival and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) present the anthology Verdades compartidas, a project that reimagines Colombia after the peace process, written by ten Latin American authors. The project presents an inclusive and holistic vision of the peace process, and portrays not only the diversity of the country, but also sets the nation within the Latin American context. Natalia García Freire (Ecuador) and Nona Fernández (Chile) will talk to Ricardo Corredor Cure.

Two historians talk to Ricardo Chica Gelis about events closely related to the history of Cartagena de Indias. With Carolina Aguado Serrano (Spain), an art historian and part of the technical coordination team for exhibitions and publications of the Dirección de Colecciones Reales de Patrimonio Nacional (Spain); she is co-author (alongside Mariela Beltrán García-Echániz) of La última batalla de Blas de Lezo, a comprehensive historical revision of the mariner's story. Jesús Sanjurjo (Spain) will talk about his book Con la sangre de nuestros hermanos. Historia del abolicionismo y del fin del comercio de esclavos en el Imperio español, 1800-1870, in which he sets out the complex history of abolitionist and anti-abolitionist discourses in Spain and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean during the 19th century. The study covers the ideological, political and diplomatic battle that occurred up and down the Atlantic in order to ban the slave trade in the last years of the Spanish Empire.

Gerardo studied Literature at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and has written over 20 books. He has received a range of national and international prizes, recently being ‘highly recommended’ by Fundalectura and put on the IBBY List of Honour, Greece (2018). His most recent book, El último viaje de Bashir, tells the story of Isaac, a thirteen-year-old boy who wants to be like Bashir the magician, who comes to his town with the circus once a year. Yet to be a magician, Isaac will have to leave his town and his family, and try new and unexpected things in order to enter into the world of magic… A story about the transition from childhood to adolescence.

What lies behind the scenes of an assassination, coup d’état or a swindle? In his latest book Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks, the acclaimed writer Patrick Radden Keefe (United States) takes us around the planet to discover some of the most startling crimes committed by rogues of all kinds, whose crimes or eccentric behaviours are portrayed in the book. Radden Keefe writes for the New Yorker and is the author of critically-acclaimed works such as Say Nothing and Empire of Pain. In conversation with the journalist Ana María Roura.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

In 2022, the Hay Festival and the British Museum teamed up to create the anthology Volver a contar: escritores de América Latina en los archivos del Museo Británico, in which a group of ten writers delved into narratives on the past using a collection of Latin American objects in the museum, a collection never seen by the public. In 2023 we present the anthology Exploradores, soñadores y ladrones, in which six fiction writers visit the museum’s collection to come up with a new compilation of texts that question and reimagine the predominant narratives, with Selva Almada (Argentina), Philippe Sands (France/UK), Josefa Sánchez Contreras (Mexico), Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia) and Gabriela Wiener (Peru) in conversation with Felipe Restrepo Pombo (Colombia), editor of the anthologies.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The comedian, actor, writer and activist Ruby Wax is an outstanding media personality in the United Kingdom. The author of various bestsellers, the latest is I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, in which she deals honestly and with humour about her mental health, shedding light on a matter that is not always easy to tackle, and inviting the reader to an exercise in empathy. She will talk to Silvana Paternostro about her work as an activist, raising awareness about mental health and its importance in our lives.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

It has been a century since the publication of one of the landmarks of Colombian and Latin American literature: La vorágine. The novel, written in 1924 by José Eustasio Rivera, tells the story of the two protagonists, Alicia and Arturo, who flee into the Amazon rainforest on a legendary journey that is scarred by the violence of history and the violence of nature. Despite the years that have passed, the condemnation of the problems of the frontier and the exploitation of rubber workers made by Rivera continues to be relevant, making this work a timeless classic that shines as brightly as ever. With Juan Cárdenas, Juan Carlos Flórez, Javier Ortiz Cassiani and Erna von der Walde in conversation with Daniella Sánchez Russo. Presented by Juan David Correa, the Minister of Culture.