Hay Festival Cartagena 2023

How has the role of light in understanding the universe changed, and how is it still changing? In 2012, Serge Haroche (France) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, together with David J. Wineland, for his innovative work in the field of quantum optics. Their discoveries make use of the properties of light particles to create new technologies, such as ultrafast quantum computers. With The Science of Light: From Galileo’s Telescope to Quantum Physics, this Nobel laureate offers a revealing narrative about what we now know about light, from relativity theory to quantum physics, about how we have learned it and how this knowledge has led to many inventions that have changed our lives. In conversation with Diana Calderón Fernández.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

Democracy: the least imperfect system of government developed by societies. How can it be improved? Why is it so important to defend it? Three specialists will talk about one of the key matters for the future of humanity. With the political scientist Ivan Krastev (Bulgaria), Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a permanent boardmember of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna; the Ukrainian writer and activist Victoria Amelina; and Carole Cadwalladr (United Kingdom), British investigative journalist with The Guardian, famous for uncovering the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal. In conversation with Moisés Naím.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

At this event, the Italian writer Giovanna Giordano will present a novel recently published in Spanish: Un vuelo mágico. Inspired by the true story of her grandfather, this is a beautiful fable with hints of fantasy about it, in which Giulio Giamò, a young Italian pilot, is sent to Abyssinia to give to King Haile Selassie a declaration of war signed by Mussolini. During the journey, Giamò will encounter a challenging new view of the world. This enchanting and dreamlike story is an expression of the writer’s view that “if a man picks up a book, he puts down a gun”. In conversation with Juan Esteban Constaín.

Simultaneous interpreting from Italian to Spanish available

Daniel Mordzinski (Argentina), the photographer of writers, has developed a body of work and an aesthetic closely linked to literature and its mystique: from his first images of Jorge Luis Borges, to the many writers he has seen through the lens, and over 15 years working with the Hay Festival. He will talk to the writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez about his work and most recent book, Hotel Chile, in which he remembers the great Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda through texts and photographs. In conversation with Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

Elisa Guerra (Mexico) is a teacher, writer and friend to both children and trees. In 2015 she was named Best Educator in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Inter-American Development Bank, and has been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize twice. At this event she will talk about her latest book, Las voces de los árboles, in which she takes us to a parallel world where trees of different species and from different places around the world tell us their stories and lead us to reflect on the damage we are doing to the planet.

In 2019, Bernardine Evaristo (United Kingdom) made history for being the first black woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize, with her novel Girl, Woman, Other. Her most recent work of fiction, Blonde Roots, a satirical novel that reimagines history as we know it: the great powers of Africa are in charge of the transatlantic slave trade, and those enslaved are white. With prowerful prose and a sharp sense of humour, Evaristo leads us to question the bases of society as we know it with this bold alternative tale of our past. At this event, she will talk to Aurora Vergara about her work and her life.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

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

Dan Saladino (United Kingdom) is a BBC journalist who specializes in food and for 25 years he has travelled the world documenting and reporting on edible plant varieties that are at risk of disappearing. His work related to this issue and reflecting on the importance of food diversity has given rise to the book Eating to Extinction. In conversation with Mercedes Cebrián.

Simultaneous interpreting from English to Spanish available

Cursiva, the Penguin Random House Publishing Group’s teaching platform, and the Hay Festival, winner of the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and the Humanities, are working together on the diploma in Cultural Management, a digital course for learning about all the facets of creating a festival and running one’s own cultural management projects. Cristina Fuentes La Roche (Spain), International Director of the Hay Festival; Pilar Reyes Colombia), Editorial Director of Alfaguara and Penguin Randome House España; and Lina Rodríguez (Colombia), General Manager of the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival, will talk to David Lara about this course and the reasons why cultural management is a field that is on the rise, and its importance for the arts.

A look at the work of our favourite writers through the more intimate format of the book club, together with Ana María Aponte. Olga Montero Rose (Peru) is the author of Cortejo, a novel that tells the story of Simona, a woman in her mid-40s who has just lost her mother, one of the pillars of her life, and who, around this time, meets a woman who makes her question many of the certainties she once held. The story evolves through the sessions Simona attends weekly with her analyst, which involve examining her experiences of childhood, bereavement, desire and the birth of a new love.