Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

Welcome to the Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias 2023 programme, to be held from 26 to 29 January. In this page you can find the events in the general programme as well as Hay Joven activities tor university audiences, Hay Comunitario sessions which will take place in different areas of Cartagena, Reading Clubs and Talento Editorial.

The tickets of the general programme and reading clubs are on sale for in person events. If you wish to register to see the live streaming of events, please select the option "Register to watch online" when this option is available. Hay Joven, Hay Comunitario and Talento Editorial are 100% in person and free of charge.

If you have any issues regarding the payment of your tickets, please contact us at tickets@hayfestival.org or at +57 317 516 55 13.

If you are a students a wish to request free tickets, you can write to us at estudiantes@hayfestival.com.

If you have any general questions, you can find us at contacto@hayfestival.org.

Event 38

María Negroni in conversation with Mario Jursich

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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María Negroni (Argentina) is an Argentine writer and poet, with a doctorate in Latin American Literature from Columbia University in New York. His work covers various genres, including poetry, essay and fiction, and she has received important fellowships, including the Guggenheim and the Rockefeller. Her publications include the poetry book Islandia, which won an award from the PEN American Center, and the novels El sueño de Úrsula and La Anunciación. Her latest books are La idea natural (2024) and Utilidad de las estrellas (2024), which presents a fusion of austere and minimalist language with intense, expressionist images. She will talk about this book with Mario Jursich.

This event has taken place
María Negroni in conversation with Mario Jursich

Event 39

Carlos Vives and Ricardo Silva Romero in conversation

The art of writing songs

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (patio)
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A singer who composes and a music-loving writer talk about the art of creating songs. The tune gives life to the words, and the words give meaning to the music. The participants at this event explore the magic of these complementary forms. With Carlos Vives (Colombia), one of our greatest musicians, and Ricardo Silva Romero (Colombia), a prize-winning fiction writer and journalist.
This event has taken place
Carlos Vives and Ricardo Silva Romero in conversation

Event 40

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha in conversation with Odette Yidi David

Poetry and activism

 Palacio de la Proclamación (Auditorio Juan José Nieto)
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Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (United States / Palestine) poet, essayist, and translator. She is author of the poetry book Something About Living, winner of the 2024 National Book Award, as well as Kaan and her Sisters. She was the translator and curator of the 2022 series “Poems from Palestine” at the Baffler magazine. In 2024 she curated a year-long subscription of Palestinian poetry books with Open Books, Seattle’s poetry-only bookstore. Lena spent ten years working with journalists and editors as a volunteer for Seattle's Arab American community organizations. She helped to tell the stories of people living between two homelands, people who speak in translation and navigate the realities of long wars. Odette Yidi David is a Palestinian-Colombian researcher and adjunct professor at Universidad del Norte. In conversation with Odette Yidi David, (Colombia / Palestine).

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

This event has taken place
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha in conversation with Odette Yidi David

Event 41

Ana María Belique and Ochy Curiel in conversation with Yuderkys Espinosa

Racism in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón Mutis)
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There are 134 million Afro-descendent people living in Latin America, but most of this population lives in a state of inequality. How can we change this scenario? Ana María Belique (Dominican Republic) is the co-founder and leader of Reconoci.do, a movement for empowering Afro-descendent Dominicans in their struggle for equality and nationality rights, and to be free of racial discrimination; she is also the author of the children’s book La muñeca de Dieula. Ochy Curiel (Dominican Republic), activist and Latin American and Caribbean feminist theorist, social anthropologist and singer-songwriter. She is a spokesperson for autonomous, lesbian, antiracists and decolonial feminism. In conversation with Yuderkys Espinosa (Dominican Republic), Afro-Caribbean philosopher and writer and decolonial feminist.

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Ana María Belique and Ochy Curiel in conversation with Yuderkys Espinosa

Event 42

Screening of the Hay Festival 20 Years documentary

 Plaza de la Proclamación
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This year we celebrate 20 years in Colombia: two decades of conversations, debates, questions, music, film, photography and books. Through the voices of some of the festival’s most iconic guests, as well as those who make this great festival of ideas possible, we mark the date and wish a long life to the Hay Festival in Colombia through this special documentary.

Duration: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Direction: Gustavo Gordillo

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Event HFC19

Elisa Guerra

Tribe of giants

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Biblioteca)
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Starting with one of the stories from her book, Las voces de los árboles, her book for kids as well as growups, the educator Elisa Guerra will talk about matters such as climate change, migration and resilience in this storytelling session. Elisa Guerra is the author of more than 25 educational books for children. She received the ALAS-BID Award for “Best Educator of Latin America” by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Ages 10 to 12
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Elisa Guerra

Event HFC20

Mary Grueso in conversation with María Buelvas

 Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
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Mary Grueso is a poet, oral storyteller, writer, activist, teacher and one of the most prominent voices of the Colombian Pacific. Agüela, se fue la nuna is her most recent book. Since 1995 she has been attending the National Women Poets’ Event. She believes strongly in literature and creation as tools for countering racism. In conversation with María Buelvas.
Students grades 10 and 11
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Mary Grueso in conversation with María Buelvas

Event HFC21

Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Cielo Puello

 Corporación Ruleli
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Maricruz Rivera Clemente (Puerto Rico) is an environmental and anti-racist activist, with a doctorate in Social Work from the University of Puerto Rico. Founder and director of Corporación Piñones se Integra COPI, a project that promotes culture, sustainable development and the creation of educational opportunities for Afro-descendent communities in Loaiza (Puerto Rico). She is also the co-founder of Corredor Afro, a project that promotes black aesthetics from Piñones-Loíza to the world. This specialist in matters linked to inequality, resistance, racism and poverty will talk to Cielo Puello.
Event for parents
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Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Cielo Puello

Event 43

Ava DuVernay in conversation with Mábel Lara

 Centro de Convenciones (Salón Barahona)
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Film director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay (United States) was the first black woman to be nominated for the Oscar for best director, with her acclaimed film Selma, and the first African-American director to participate in the competitive section of the Venice Film Festival, with Origin, her most recent film. She will talk with Mábel Lara about her successful film career, what it is like to work with large production platforms and about the process that led her to choose the story of the writer Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, to trace the history of an intellectual search about the origins of racism.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

This event has taken place
Ava DuVernay in conversation with Mábel Lara

Event 44

Alejandro Gaviria and Bruce Mac Master in conversation with Claudia Gurisatti

Contemporary realities

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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In conversation with Claudia Gurisatti, two experts will talk about the multiplicity of contemporary realities. The civil engineer and economist, Alejandro Gaviria (Colombia), was Deacon of the Economics Faculty at the University of the Andes and Assistant Director of the National Planning Department. An outstanding researcher and author of novels and essays, his latest book, El desdén de los dioses, meditates on genetic modification, artificial intelligence, ideological extremes and climate change. Bruce Mac Master (Colombia) is an Economics graduate from the University of the Andes, co-founder in 2004 of the Granitos de Paz Foundation and boardmember of ISA, ISAGEN, Colombia Telecomunicaciones and Bancóldex; he is also the author of El continente de los países resignados.

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Alejandro Gaviria and Bruce Mac Master in conversation with Claudia Gurisatti

Event 45

Piedad Bonnett, Charlotte Higgins, Nicola Lagioia and Cristina Rivera Garza in conversation with Pilar Reyes

20 questions: culture and literature

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. We reflect on the importance of culture and literature, based on the questions: What value does fiction have for society? How can we render visible and learn from non-hegemonic narratives? What role does art play in the construction of a more peaceful, empathetic society that is aware of its challenges? With Piedad Bonnett (Colombia), Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom), Nicola Lagioia (Italy) and Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) in conversation with Pilar Reyes.

Interpretation from English to Spanish available

This event has taken place
Piedad Bonnett, Charlotte Higgins, Nicola Lagioia and Cristina Rivera Garza in conversation with Pilar Reyes

Event 46

Laura Ortiz Gómez and Raúl Quinto in conversation with Guido Tamayo

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (patio)
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Two participants who find inspiration in the past will talk to Guido Tamayo. Laura Ortiz Gómez (Colombia) studied Literature at the Universidad Javeriana and did a Master’s in Creative Writing at the Tres de Febrero University in Argentina. In her new work, Indócil, the author explores the history of the “broom strike”, a popular movement that broke out in Argentina in 1907, when women, inhabitants of the conventillos of Buenos Aires, decided to stop paying their rent, and took to the streets. The educator and political activist, Raúl Quinto, has a degree in History of Art from the University of Granada. In 2004 he received the Andalusia Prize for Young Poets, run by the Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud, for his poetry book La piel del vigilante. His historical novel Martinete del rey sombra, won the Cálamo Prize in the Otra Mirada category, as well as the Critics’ Prize for Spanish Fiction.

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Laura Ortiz Gómez and Raúl Quinto in conversation with Guido Tamayo

Event 47

Justin Torres in conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel

 Palacio de la Proclamación (Auditorio Juan José Nieto)
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Justin Torres (United States), novelist and UCLA lecturer, is a Guggenheim Foundation fellow, and won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, among others, for his book Blackouts. Through stories and memories exchanged between two characters, Blackouts brings to light a hidden history and explores the gaps left by forgetting and censorship, interlacing biography, fiction and history with a biting satire, reflecting a resistance against self-censorship in queer literature. In conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

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Justin Torres in conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel

Event HFC22

Javier Cajiao

 Biblioteca Pública de Clemencia
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After travelling and working in the Amazon region, the Colombian biologist Javier Cajiao dedicated his life to teaching, researching and writing books. With his Guía secreta de aves, the author invites us to discover more about the world of these mysterious animals, creatures that fascinate us with their song and their colours, which surround us both in the countryside and the city, and which can teach us so much about the world.
Ages 11 to 13
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Javier Cajiao

Event HFC23

Carlos Agudelo Montoya

 Membrillal, Hogar Infantil La Abejita
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Carlos Agudelo Montoya (Colombia) teaches, runs literature workshops and also writes. He has won a range of awards and has published many books for children, including Colombia es una fiesta and El piano de la selva. In his book Tras la sonrisa del lobo we read the stories of classic characters including Tom Thumb, Bluebeard, Cinderella, the evil witches, and Red Riding Hood’s wolf who, when he is not working as the villain of the story, is really a friend of Grandma and the hunter. He also talks about books and literature on Es más que literatura, his YouTube channel.
Ages 8 to 10
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Carlos Agudelo Montoya

Event HFJ17

Javier Zamora in conversation with Claudia Ayola

 Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar (sede Manga)
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The award-winning writer and poet Javier Zamora (El Salvador / United States) is the author of the poetry book Unaccompanied and the memoir Solito. In this last book, the author tells the story of his journey of over five thousand kilometres, between El Salvador and the United States, aged just nine. The civil war in El Salvador had expelled his family from the country, and the journey, which was meant to take two weeks, became a two-month odyssey, undertaken with a group of strangers and a “coyote” through Guatemala, Mexico and the Sonora Desert (the world’s most dangerous overland migratory route). Solito is the story of that time. In conversation with Claudia Ayola.
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Javier Zamora in conversation with Claudia Ayola

Event HFC24

Jorge Eljaik

My neighborhood comets workshop

 Biblioteca Popular de Playa Blanca
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Jorge Eljaik studied Philosophy at the University of the North, writes poetry and is a reading promotor. In 2017 he published the book A todas las cometas de mi barrio. He will do a workshop that includes the reading and writing of poems, as well as the making of kites.
Ages 5 and over
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Jorge Eljaik

Event HFC25

Yuliana Ortiz Ruano and Yurieth Romero in conversation with Cielo Puello

 Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
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Two writers talk about their recent work with Cielo Puello. The Ecuadorian poet and writer Yuliana Ortiz Ruano is the author of Fiebre de carnaval, a novel that pays homage to dance, Latin American culture, and African roots. She presents this book and talks about her experiences as an author and activist. Yurieth Romero (Colombia) is a Samaria writer, producer and screenwriter; she is the creative force behind Las visitantes, a transmedia project that includes a book of short stories, a television series and a film. The work looks at the world of those women who are always waiting, making its telling an act of resistance against the violences that occur on the periphery.
Students gades 10 and 11
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Yuliana Ortiz Ruano and Yurieth Romero in conversation with Cielo Puello

Event 48

Peter Frankopan, Virginia Mendoza and Gustavo Ulcué Campo in conversation with Rosie Boycott

20 questions: climate emergency

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. In a context in which the environmental crisis and climate change have become urgent matters, festival guests urge us to reconsider our relationship with the planet based on the following questions: How can we change existing narratives to tackle the climate emergency? How can we make the exploitation of raw materials compatible with their climate impact? How can extensive farming be made compatible with protecting biodiversity in Colombia? Peter Frankopan (United Kingdom), writer and historian; Virginia Mendoza (Spain), journalist, writer and anthropologist; Gustavo Ulcué Campo (Colombia), Nasa film and television producer. In conversation with Rosie Boycott.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

This event has taken place
Peter Frankopan, Virginia Mendoza and Gustavo Ulcué Campo in conversation with Rosie Boycott

Event 49

Florence Thomas in conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel

When women speak out

 Centro de Convenciones (Salón Barahona)
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The psychologist, columnist, writer and feminist activist Florence Thomas (France / Colombia) is recognised as one of the most influential voices in the women’s rights movement in Colombia. At 81 years of age she presents Fragmentos de vida, a book that weaves public and private memories, from her childhood in France to her activism in favour of the rights of Colombian women at the National University and the decriminalisation of abortion. Thomas reveals a life characterised by diversity and challenges, defying the narrative of a linear, perfect life. In conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel.
This event has taken place
Florence Thomas in conversation with Gloria Susana Esquivel

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