Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

Yayo Herrero will share some ways to create a more aware and healthy relationship with nature and the environment, in conversation with María del Rosario Osorio, Deacon of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Cartagena. Herrero is a major figure in ecofeminism, an expert in environmental education and sustainable development and the co-author of around a dozen books on the ecological challenges we face. In her work as an activist, she was the State Coordinator of Ecologistas en Acción and General Manager of the ecosocial organization FUHEM.

The arduous shift towards caring for our environment, creating a dignified quality of life and reconstructing the communities that make this possible is always linked to the territory. What we need to know is about experiences of work in the territory, models of community practice connected with the land that can serve as examples for other places. For this purpose, we bring together the Spanish ecofeminist Yayo Herrero, the Cartagena activist Nilda Meléndez and the Ukrainian writer and activist Victoria Amelina, who will talk to Marta Ruiz.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

“To put what is necessary to sustain life at the centre.” This is how Yayo Herrero (Spain) defines the goal of ecofeminism, a current of thought and activism that involves a critical analysis of the beliefs that underpin the ecocidal, patriarchal, capitalist and colonial model, and proposes alternative views for extinguishing the fires of this war against life. At this event, Herrero will talk about the past, present and future of ecofeminism, and will talk about her latest book, Los cinco elementos: Una cartilla de alfabetización ecológica. This work of non-fiction analyses the current ecosocial crisis through five elements, with the aim of recovering the memory of what we are and where we come from, and developing an awareness so that we can take responsibility for the world as a viable project. An invitation to activism and, at the same time, a passionate hymn to living well on our planet. In conversation with Juan Cárdenas.

The academic, philosopher and gardener, Santiago Beruete (Spain), uses his most recent book, Un trozo de tierra, to reflect on the urgency and need to conserve the environment, offering us an intimate view of nature, which is both our surroundings and our means of life. This work continues Beruete’s cycle of texts, examples of which include Jardinosofía, Verdolatría and Aprendívoros. In conversation with the Cartagena University philosopher and educator, Raúl Puello.

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.

Stories are interpretations, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between reality and fantasy... Was it real? Did we dream it? Did we invent it? It is not important, what really matters is to be able to catch them so we don't forget them. In this occasion, the writer Ángela Peláez (Colombia) will talk about how to build a story. How to start it out of a word or an image. Forming two groups, one of them starting out of a word, the other out of an image, the children will build up their own story. Then Ángela will offer a workshop to create dreamcatchers.

The oceanographer Cristina Romera (Spain) works in the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona. With a degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Sea Sciences, she is currently studying the impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems and on the climate, as well as bacteria that are capable of breaking them down. She has received a number of awards for her work, including the L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science (2019); the 2020 Raymond L. Lindeman Award, given by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography; and a L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talents award in 2020. She presents her book AntropOcéano. In conversation with the Cartagena University educator and researcher, Jesús Olivero-Verbel.

The oceanographer Cristina Romera (Spain) works in the Institut de Ciències del Mar in Barcelona. With a degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Sea Sciences, she is currently studying the impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems and on the climate, as well as bacteria that are capable of breaking them down. She has received a number of awards for her work, including the L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science (2019); the 2020 Raymond L. Lindeman Award, given by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography; and a L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talents award in 2020. She presents her book AntropOcéano. En conversation with Óscar Álvarez.