Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

The Spanish thinker, writer and politician, Irene Lozano, will talk to the writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez about the phenomenon of disinformation and how it affects citizens, the press and even governments, from the Brexit referendum to US elections and the nationalist movements and wars that characterise our present moment. Lozano is the author of a dozen books, winner of the Espasa Essay Prize and current Director of the Casa Árabe in Madrid. She has also been Secretary of State for Global Spain (2018-2020), Chair of the Higher Sports Council (2020-2021), Member of the Madrid Regional Assembly and a Member of the Spanish Parliament.

On June 27th, a Russian missile struck the Ria pizzeria in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, leading to the death of the war crimes researcher and writer Victoria Amelina (Ukraine). Her tragic demise coincided with the release of the Spanish version of her book Dom's Dream Kingdom ('Un hogar para Dom'), published by Avizor with a prologue by Hector Abad Faciolince —sadly, a moment she never got to witness. This novel, depicting the lives of three generations of a family led by an old Soviet pilot and war veteran settled in Lviv, a city that was once one of Europe's major cultural centers, had established Amelina as one of the finest Ukrainian writers of the new generation. Héctor Abad Faciolince, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Avizor's editor José Manuel Cajigas, and journalist Catalina Gómez Ángel, a friend of the author, will discuss this book.

Volodymyr Yermolenko will participate in this event digitally.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish will be provided

The space available for writing should always be a safe place for the artist, but are there external limitations on the imaginations of writers? Jon Lee Anderson will talk to the Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane, author of Mathématiques Congolaises, and the Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, author of Minor Detail, about their experiences as creators, their perspective with regard to freedom of expression, and how this has affected their work.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

This event will be part of the South to South series, in which the Hay Festival offers a forum for some of the most innovative voices of the global South, in order to share different ways of seeing the world, as well as non-Western solutions to the problems that beset us. The four guests at this event will talk about post-colonialism and ways of seeing the world that challenge the dominant models. With Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), writer and filmmaker; In Koli Jean Bofane (Congo), writer and author of Mathematiques Congolaises; Pankaj Mishra (India), essayist and novelist; and Erna von der Walde (Colombia), writer and academic. In conversation with Juan Esteban Lewin Pinzón.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

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

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.

How can civil society be restored after a country has suffered violence or armed conflict? What tools do the State and NGOs have to establish processes of transitional justice and reparation? Juanita León talks to Humberto de la Calle (Colombia), lawyer, writer and Head Negotiator for the Juan Manuel Santos government during the peace process with the FARC; Volodymyr Yermolenko, president of PEN Ukraine; and Patrick Radden Keefe (United States), journalist and writer, the author of Say Nothing, an essential book about the history of the IRA and the Northern Ireland peace negotiations.

Volodymyr Yermolenko will participate in this event digitally.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

The human, political, economic, environmental and social consequences of the war in the Ukraine are devastating. What solutions and what future await the European country? Catalina Gómez Ángel (Colombia), Juanita León (Colombia) and Volodymyr Yermolenko and Serhii Plokhy from Ukraine will be in conversation with Sergio Jaramillo.

Volodymyr Yermolenko will participate in this event digitally.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

All Sunday events will be free for people who has an ID expeded in the Bolívar Department. You must request their courtesy tickets at the box office of the Hay Festival (CCCI) showing your ID, between 22 and 28 of January.