Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

The figure of Santiago Beruete (Spain) is one who combines the philosopher, the educator and the gardener. Since 2006 he has been studying the subtle connections between theories of utopia and gardening styles, analysing how these spaces have, since antiquity, constituted a visible metaphor for the good life, a sensitive representation of happiness and a valuable document of the dreams of social perfection that arise in each period. At this event, the author presents his series of essays Jardinosofía: Una historia filosófica de los jardines; Verdolatría: La naturaleza nos enseña a ser humanos; Aprendívoros: El cultivo de la curiosidad; and Un trozo de tierra. These writings invite us to conserve the environment, offering an intimate look at what sustains us: nature and all those bits of earth that make us what we are. In conversation with Laura Quintana Porras.

The British novelist, dramatist and poet, Deborah Levy, author of autobiographical books such as Real Estate ―where literary experience and a feminist point of view are intertwined with her experiences― presents this book and also the novel The Man Who Saw Everything, nominated for the Booker Prize in 2019, a story that mixes temporalities (East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, London in the 1980s and today) to talk about love, our relationship with history and the tendency of human beings to repeat themselves. In conversation with Rosie Boycott.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

Based on her experience of racism and inequality, Indhira Serrano will talk about the mindsets that hinder the realization of racialized individuals, launching a message of self-acceptance, respect for differences and pride in the Afro-Colombian heritage. Serrano began her career as a model, which gave her a very clear view of the media’s influence on people’s perceptions of themselves. Since 2015 she has been running a series of talks and workshops called Reconstruyendo Imaginarios (“Rebuilding Mindsets”), which reflects on the relationships we have with money, education, our partners and power. She has just published her first book, Rosa la crespa.

Unknown to many until he won the Nobel Literature Prize in 2021, Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania/United Kingdom) uses fiction as a way of denouncing the effects of colonialism, telling the story of those who seek refuge between cultures and continents. This is the case of Paradise, his most acclaimed novel so far, which portrays the harshness and beauty of pre-colonial Africa through the eyes of a boy who is sold by his father to pay off a debt with a trader, which leads to a journey throughout Tanzania. His most recent book, Afterlife, tells the story of Ilyas, kidnapped by colonial German troops during his childhood, on his return to his hometown. Set during the beginning of the 20th century, when the African continent has been distributed among the colonial powers of Germany, the United Kingdom and France, these are getting involved in another great conflict that will devastate everything. A powerful novel that reflects on the deprivation and destruction that result from colonialism and war. Abdulrazak will talk about these books and much more in conversation with Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

After the success of The Book of Fate, the Iranian writer Parinoush Saniee presents her latest novel, Those Who Go and Those Who Stay, a text that reflects the emotional separation involved in being a member of a family divided by migration. Those who go become strangers to their land and to their identity, while those who stay envy the wealth and comforts enjoyed by their relatives abroad. With this as a backdrop, the author will talk to Catalina Gómez Ángel about migration and the social and psychological conflicts that it creates, about the role of women in holding the social fabric together in contexts of violence and, in short, her love and compassion for her country.

Simultaneous interpreting from Farsi to Spanish available

An intimate, brave and moving book about a journalist who becomes a symbol of the fight for human rights. The author Lydia Cacho (Mexico) submerges herself in 46 years’ worth of diaries, photographs, letters and other mementos that she kept, as if she knew she would become a pioneering feminist journalist. In Cartas de amor y rebeldía, Cacho traces a life committed to existential search, romance, passion, poetry and the indignation of living in an unjust world. This is her most intimate and revelatory book. In conversation with Mábel Lara.

Carmen Alvarado works in the world of culture, libraries and books. She has also written books featuring characters such as Tío Tigre (Uncle Tiger) and Tío Conejo (Uncle Rabbit) that come from oral tradition, and using them has tacked issues we find in daily life, such as friendship, love and death.