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 FiltersYou are viewing events filtered bySaturday 28 January 2023View All

Event 36

Deborah Levy in conversation with Rosie Boycott

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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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

This event has taken place

Event 37

Ricardo Silva Romero in conversation with Juan Diego Quesada

 Centro de Convenciones (Salón Barahona Escenario Gales / Llwyfan Cymru)
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Ricardo Silva Romero, one of the Colombian writers most loved by the reading public, author of poetry books, novels, short stories and press columns, presents Cómo vivir en vano, a novel that continues the history of the Pizarro family, the protagonists of his novel Cómo perderlo todo, telling the story of a family drama that is enmeshed in our times, those of Trump’s America, the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, and the Colombia of social clashes and the pandemic. In conversation with Juan Diego Quesada.
This event has taken place

Event 38

Óscar Martínez, Bruno Paes Manso and Ronna Rísquez in conversation with Jon Lee Anderson

Journalism to solve the crime

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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Contemporary stories of violence; journalists who are both brave and good writers, who offer a critical view and can contextualize some of the most important democratic and human crises of the region. Jon Lee Anderson will talk to Óscar Martínez (El Salvador), author of Los muertos y el periodista; Bruno Paes Manso (Brazil), author of República de Paramilitares; and Ronna Rísquez (Venezuela), author of El Tren de Aragua.
This event has taken place

Event 39

Mercedes Cebrián in conversation with Margarita Valencia

Writing for the senses

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón del Rey)
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The Spanish writer, literary critic and journalist, Mercedes Cebrián, has recently published Cocido y violonchelo, a book that brings together her two passions, gastronomy and music, tackling them from her point of view as a writer. Other titles of hers include Muchacha de Castilla, Burp. Apuntes gastronómicos, Malgastar, La nueva taxidermia and Mercado común. She has also published poems, essays and short stories in outlets such as Revista de Occidente, Letras Libres, The Indian Quarterly, Poetry London, Gatopardo, Diario de Poesía, Quimera and Circumference, and she was guest editor at the Caballo de Troya imprint in 2018. She will talk to Margarita Valencia.
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Event 40

Andrea Díaz Cardona, Jitomakury and Ñek+na Zafiango in conversation with Daniel Pardo

El holocausto del caucho

 Hotel Sofitel, Salón Santa Clara
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Screening of the BBC Mundo documentary Los sobrevivientes del “holocausto del caucho” en Colombia, which portrays a moment of our recent history that is often ignored. This is the history of how slavery and extermination reduced the population of La Chorrera (Colombia) from a hundred thousand people to just 64. In this conversation, the documentary maker, Andrea Díaz, the Uitoto filmmaker Jitomakury, and the Uitoto elder Ñek+na Zafiango, sabedora Uitoto, will talk about the investigation that went into the documentary, in conversation with Daniel Pardo.
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Event HC10

Music workshop with Hugo Candelario González

 Institución Educativa San Francisco de Asís, Membrillal
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At this event, the master Hugo Candelario González offers a masterclass that bring sounds from the Colombian Pacific coast to the Caribbean, sharing the marimba, bunde and currulao, among other styles and rhythms. A very special workshop for learning about the country’s two coasts, exploring genres that go back a long way and learning new ways of playing them.
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Music workshop with Hugo Candelario González

Event HC12

Ángela Peláez

 Casa Hay (Claustro de las Ánimas, Centro de Convenciones)
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Ángela Peláez (Colombia) is a social communicator, publicist and the author and illustrator of books such as Sofía y el león and El nido de Mia, through which she aims to teach girls to express themselves and speak out. After living for 24 years in the Netherlands, and publishing many books there, she returned to her native Colombia with her family to continue writing, illustrating and telling new stories. On this occasion, Ángela will be reading from here book El gato Milo. Gato de granja, a story that takes place between dreams and reality during a visit to a farm. Then, she will offer a workshop to make dreamcatchers.


Ages 4 to 7
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Ángela Peláez

Event HC13

Indhira Serrano

 Casa Comunitaria Tierra Baja
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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.

Family event
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Indhira Serrano

Event HJ12

Olga Montero Rose in conversation with Álex Pérez

 Universidad de Cartagena, Sala de Lectura Biblioteca Fernández de Madrid (Claustro de San Agustín)
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We talk about sexual diversity with Olga Montero Rose (Peru) based on her novel Cortejo and her book La rebelión del género: Guía para madres, padres y cuidadores. Montero Rose is a psychoanalyst, member of the Peruvian Psychoanalysis Society and the International Psychoanalytical Association. Her literary debut, Cortejo (2022), 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. La rebelión del género, which is our guide at this event, aims to offer information about the changes happening in categories of sex, gender and sexual orientation; things once thought to be natural and irrefutable but which are now being reformulated from top to bottom. In conversation with the teacher Álex Pérez.
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Event 41

Abdulrazak Gurnah en conversación con Juan Gabriel Vásquez

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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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

This event has taken place

Event 42

Emma Graham-Harrison, María Elvira Samper and Fernando Travesí in conversation with Marta Ruiz

Peace, war, (in)security

 Centro de Convenciones (Salón Barahona Escenario Gales / Llwyfan Cymru)
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Living in peace: a human right for which, unfortunately, the conditions are not always in place. Wars, violent actions by illegal groups, societies in which security is an urgent and fundamental matter, above and beyond matters like education and health. What is to be done in these cases? We talk to three different voices who, based on their respective experiences, will talk about how to seek this peace which is so important for citizens’ well-being. With the British journalist Emma Graham-Harrison, the Colombian journalist María Elvira Samper and the Executive Director of the ICTJ, Fernando Travesí (Spain), in conversation with Marta Ruiz.
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Event 43

Parinoush Saniee in conversation with Catalina Gómez Ángel

Those Who Go and Those Who Stay

 Teatro Adolfo Mejía
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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

This event has taken place

Event 44

Darrel McLeod, Elisa Guerra and Yásnaya Elena Aguilar in conversation with Martín Murillo

The education that books provide

 Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Salón del Rey)
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The Cree writer, Darrel McLeod (Canada); the UNESCO recognized educator Elisa Guerra (Mexico); and the mixe thinker, writer and activist Yásnaya Elena Aguilar (Mexico), will talk to Cartagena’s most loved reading promotor, Martín Murillo (Colombia), about why books are key to educational processes and how they stimulate the imagination, offer knowledge and make it possible to develop key skills from an early age.


This event has taken place

Event 45

Lydia Cacho in conversation with Mábel Lara

Letters of love and rebellion

 Hotel Sofitel, Salón Santa Clara
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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.

This event has taken place

Event HJ13

Brenda Navarro in conversation with Carlos Díaz Acevedo

 Universidad de Cartagena, Sala de Lectura Biblioteca Fernández de Madrid (Claustro de San Agustín)
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Brenda Navarro (Mexico) studied Sociology and Feminist Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as a Master’s in Gender, Women and Citizenship at the University of Barcelona. This novelist, screenplay writer, reporter and publisher founded #EnjambreLiterario, a project that focusses on publishing the writings of women. Her first novel was Casas vacías and she now presents Ceniza en la boca, a story of migration, family, learning and reflection. In conversation with Carlos Díaz Acevedo.
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Event CL4

Book club with Leonardo Padura

 Casa Hay (Claustro de las Ánimas, Centro de Convenciones)
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A look at the work of our favourite writers through the more intimate format of the book club, together with Margarita Valencia. Considered to be a major figure in the renewal of the detective genre in the Spanish language, Leonardo Padura (Cuba) will present Personas decentes, the tenth novel featuring his popular and well-known character, the detective Mario Conde, a book that is a channel for another memorable critique of the reality of Cuban society.


This event has taken place

Event HC6

Ángela Pelaez

 CDI Camino de Luz, El Pozón
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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.


Ages 6 to 12
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Ángela Pelaez

Event HC11

Carmen Alvarado

 Institución Educativa Puerto Rey
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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.



Ages 6 to 9
This event has taken place
Carmen Alvarado

Event 45B

Lydia Cacho, Sergio Jaramillo, Andrey Kurkov, Oleksandra Matviichuk and Juan Gabriel Vásquez in conversation with Catalina Gómez Ángel

Why is Ukraine important for Latin America?

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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In this talk, we will discuss about the repercussions of the war in Ukraine in the world and, in particular, in Latin America; and about the possible bridges that could be built, both as the support that Latinamerican countries could give to a besieged country and as the lessons learned from this war. With the journalist and activist Lydia Cacho (Mexico), Sergio Jaramillo (Colombia) former Peace Comissioner in Colombia, Oleksandra Matviichuck (Ukraine) Director of the Human Rights Organization for Civil Liberties in Ukraine and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, and authors Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine) and Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia). They will talk to the Colombian journalist Catalina Gómez Ángel, war correspondent in Ukraine.

This event has taken place

Event 46

Leonardo Padura in conversation with Juan Diego Quesada

 Centro de Convenciones (Auditorio Getsemaní)
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Considered to be a major figure in the renewal of the detective genre in the Spanish language, Leonardo Padura (Cuba) will present the tenth novel featuring his well-known character, the detective Mario Conde. The murder of a former Cuban official at a critical moment in the country, the time of Barack Obama’s visit in 2016, is the starting point of an adventure with political bite, one that deals with social degradation, when decency is a virtue that few can allow themselves, when the aim is to survive. The Cuban writer will talk about his latest book, Personas decentes, a book that is another memorable critique of the reality of Cuban society. In conversation with Juan Diego Quesada.
This event has taken place
sura
RCN
Bancolombia