Hay Festival Querétaro 2023

Gaza has been under Israeli fire for almost two years. While its inhabitants are killed by military attacks, the West is silent, looking the other way, just as is happening in conflicts in places such as the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Syria and the Yemen. At this event, the conversation will be about these silenced conflicts, with the participation of Reed Brody (United States), Pankaj Mishra (India) and Selma Dabbagh (Palestine/United Kingdom). In conversation with Jaled Abdelrahim Aranda.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

About to turn 90, Rui Nabeiro looks back at his childhood and working and family life. In Almoço de domingo, José Luís Peixoto (Portugal) uses the family ritual of the Sunday lunch to offer an elegy on time, legacy and beauty. When life reaches its end, what is most important is the beauty of the journey.

CaminaLee is an initiative that organizes routes, so that people’s feet can connect with their brains, letting us listen to stories, characters, tales, legends and adventures, allowing us to see the past differently. With CaminaLee, we will visit some of the landmarks of Carrillo Puerto district, seeing the most important sites and hearing some of the city’s legends. Each will be explained, and with rests on the way, we will talk about historical figures and even draw them.

The children who participate in the Aqueduct workshop will learn with Ana Grimaldo about the historical importance of the Queretaro acueducto, an icon of the city, and about how water reaches our homes. They will complete a city map, build their own aqueduct together, and see how it can transport water.

Become a cosmic explorer with Braulio Guerra Mendoza in this astronomical adventure. We discover far-off galaxies, brightly-coloured nebulae and clouds of stars that shine like jewels in the sky. Weather permitting, we will look at the sun, safely, using a phone screen and a telescope that everyone will be able to use. To finish, we will send the universe a symbolic message with our very own cosmic ray. An experience for looking at the sky, but also leaving something there.

Tere Alcántara invites the children to become broadcasters for a day and discover a love of the radio. This workshop will be about the secrets of the medium, discovering the power of their voices —working on breathing, diction and intention—, as well as teamwork, as they design and record their own radio programme. From the creation of content to presenting it, they will become the creators of their first programme.

Linda Kamau (Kenya) is a pioneer in the field of the inclusion of women in technology. As a co-founder of AkiraChix, she has trained hundreds of young people in programming, offering them tools to transform their lives and communities. She has been recognized by initiatives such as the Obama Foundation’s Leaders Africa programme, and is a member of the Segal Family Foundation. Her leadership has encouraged a generation of women who are transforming technology. In conversation with Andrea Rizzi.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

Alma Delia Murillo tackles one of Mexico’s most painful realities: the tireless struggle of mothers searching for their children. Raíz que no desaparece is a work of fiction that deals with what is a part of so many women’s lives: mothers who are searching, who, faced with an absent State, seek the truth on their own, mothers who do not give up and will never give up.

The South Asia Speaks mentorship initiative, founded by Sonia Faleiro (India), seeks to amplify the emerging literary voices in the region. One result of this project, published late last year, was the book How I Write: Writers on Their Craft, a compilation of conversations with writers from South Asia. One contributor was V. V. Ganeshananthan (Sri Lanka/USA), author of Brotherless Night, who talks about his literary experience. Faleiro is also the editor of the anthology Gaza: The Story of a Genocide which will be published soon. Both writers will talk to Mario Arriagada (Mexico).

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Two language custodians will talk about how their work allows them to care for, celebrate and preserve their language. Mardonio Carballo in poetry, journalism and activism in his indigenous language; and Jemima Peláez through her role as an out-of-the-ordinary librarian.

Ideas en Movimiento is a series of itinerant and community artistic workshops for children and teenagers from the peripheral areas of Queretaro. Games, cooperative dynamics and the Little Mobile School are the tools used to demonstrate how creativity can transform communities. The route will end at the Foro Cultural de Ideas, where participants will share their proposals, reminding us that ideas, once sown in community, flourish.

Ideas en Movimiento is a series of itinerant and community artistic workshops for children and teenagers from the peripheral areas of Queretaro. Games, cooperative dynamics and the Little Mobile School are the tools used to demonstrate how creativity can transform communities. The route will end at the Foro Cultural de Ideas, where participants will share their proposals, reminding us that ideas, once sown in community, flourish.

The Internet is full of viral videos of cats that jump when they see a cucumber. This strange fact is the starting point for The Cat and the Cucumber, the children’s book by Marisa Ebsworth, illustrated by the Queretaro artist, Sens. A story about the friendship between Pepe, a black cat, and Carlos, a cucumber, who become inseparable and have adventures together. At this workshop we will meet Pepe and Carlos, create our own imaginary characters, and put them onto paper with the help of Sens.

With the Emotional Letter Box, Gina Jaramillo (Mexico) proposes ways for children to talk about their feelings and name and understand what they are experiencing. At this event the broadcaster and writer with Ileana Alvarez, will help readers to express their emotions through emotional education.

There is a superhero whose powers reside in the mind, the body and in an unbreakable spirit. With his white tunic, turban and an emerald with a K on his forhead, Kalimán was, and continues to be, an icon of Mexican and Latin American pop culture. Together with his associate Solín, he has been fighting evil since the 1960s, on radio and in bestselling comics. He also conquered cinemas in the 70s. Considered to be the first Mexican superhero, he showed us that there is no weapon more powerful than the mind, and that «whoever controls the mind, controls everything». Conversation with Edgar David Aguilera y Alfredo Rodríguez Karmix, co-screenwriters of Kalimán: El despertar.

It is not enough to feel antiracist or feminist. Racism and sexism must be fought actively in our communities, in our homes, on the Internet. However, it is only right that we wonder when and how to do it. These are questions that are tackled by the feminist and antiracist activist Jumko Ogata (Mexico), who will explain to us how to take steps against these structural evils in our society. She is the author of the practical guide ¡Quiero ser antirracista! and she has contributed to the anthologies Tsunami 2 and Hermanas del ñame.

Ideas en Movimiento is a series of itinerant and community artistic workshops for children and teenagers from the peripheral areas of Queretaro. Games, cooperative dynamics and the Little Mobile School are the tools used to demonstrate how creativity can transform communities. The route will end at the Foro Cultural de Ideas, where participants will share their proposals, reminding us that ideas, once sown in community, flourish.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez is one of the most celebrated and outstanding authors in contemporary Colombian literature. At this event he will talk about his most recent book, Los nombres de Feliza, a recreation of the life of the sculptor Feliza Bursztyn, who was a freethinking artist who went beyond the limits set by the times for women like her. This rigorous novel weaves together art, history and memoir.