Hay Festival Querétaro 2023 – Equality

Jumko Ogata Aguilar (Mexico) is a writer and an Afro-Mexican anti-racism activist. Originally from Veracruz, she studied Latin American Studies at the UNAM. She writes fiction, essays and film criticism. Her writings have been published in the Revista de la Universidad de México and by the British Council in Mexico, and she writes a column for Coolhuntermx. She contributed to the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, published by Sexto Piso in 2020, and recently released her first book for children, Mi pelo chino (2023), which is in both Spanish and Mixteco. In conversation with Carolina Sánchez.

The main character of Mi pelo chino says that she used to find her curly hair annoying because it was unlike the hair of other girls her age. However, one day her grandfather teaches her the special care that her Chinese hair needs, and all the hairstyle possibilities it offers, because this shows how she can be beautiful in different ways. This is a story about the construction of an identity in peoples who have traditionally been ignored in national cultural production. Jumko Ogata Aguilar (Xalapa, 1996) is a writer and an Afro-Mexican anti-racism activist. Originally from Veracruz, she studied Latin American Studies at the UNAM. She writes fiction, essays and film criticism. Her writings have been published in the Revista de la Universidad de México and by the British Council in Mexico, and she writes a column for Coolhuntermx. She contributed to the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, published by Sexto Piso in 2020. In conversation with Elisa Guerra.

The main character of Mi pelo chino says that she used to find her curly hair annoying because it was unlike the hair of other girls her age. However, one day her grandfather teaches her the special care that her Chinese hair needs, and all the hairstyle possibilities it offers, because this shows how she can be beautiful in different ways. This is a story about the construction of an identity in peoples who have traditionally been ignored in national cultural production. Jumko Ogata Aguilar (Mexico) is a writer and an Afro-Mexican anti-racism activist. Originally from Veracruz, she studied Latin American Studies at the UNAM. She writes fiction, essays and film criticism. Her writings have been published in the Revista de la Universidad de México and by the British Council in Mexico, and she writes a column for Coolhuntermx. She contributed to the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, published by Sexto Piso in 2020. She will talk to Tere Alcántara.

The British Council and Hay Festival present the series of events entitled Imagine Equity, the goal of which is to promote the contribution to cultural life of groups that are traditionally underrepresented. The intention is to create a conversation between writers of different continents so they can debate, through fiction and non-fiction, matters such as gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, neuronal and physical diversity, etc. With the participation of Aura García-Junco, named one of the best Spanish-language writers by Granta magazine in 2021; Sarah Ladipo Manyika (Nigeria/United Kingdom), Director of the Board of the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, California, and jury of a range of literary awards; and Maria Medem (Spain), cartoonist and illustrator, author of Por culpa de una flor (2023). They will talk to Gabriela Warkentin.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The author of the essay Feminismo sin cuarto propio, included in the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, and of the outstanding short story collection Perras de reserva (2022), Dahlia de la Cerda (Mexico) returns with Desde los zulos (2023), a book that combines autofiction, journalism and essay to reflect on marginal feminisms, the danger of excluding practices within the social movements and proposes a more plural and diverse view of feminism. Dahlia de la Cerda has a degree in Philosophy, was a fellow of the 2015 Aguascalientes Programme for the Stimulation of Artistic Creation and Development and was also a beneficiary of the FONCA Young Artists’ Programme in 2016 and 2018. She is a co-founder and co-director of the Morras Help Morras feminist collective. She talks to Jumko Ogata Aguilar.

Valeria Gallo studied design at the National Institute of Fine Art’s Design School. She is an animator and creator of visual narratives, illustrator of over 40 books and the author of En sus zapatos, Nunca es demasiado circo and ¿Feminismo? ¡Eso qué! This last book is a graphic novel that tells the story of Camila, a teenager who couldn’t care less about feminism, until she begins to find out about women such as Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Malala Yousafzai and many more. Coming into contact with these figures, the heroines of the history of women’s rights, makes Camila question many things in her life, and finds in feminism a tool to turn these questions into action for change, actions to create a fairer, more equal world.

The author of the essay Feminismo sin cuarto propio, included in the anthology of feminist texts Tsunami 2, and of the outstanding short story collection Perras de reserva (2022), Dahlia de la Cerda (Mexico) returns with Desde los zulos (2023), a book that combines autofiction, journalism and essay to reflect on marginal feminisms, the danger of excluding practices within the social movements and proposes a more plural and diverse view of feminism. Dahlia de la Cerda has a degree in Philosophy, was a fellow of the 2015 Aguascalientes Programme for the Stimulation of Artistic Creation and Development and was also a beneficiary of the FONCA Young Artists’ Programme in 2016 and 2018. She is a co-founder and co-director of the Morras Help Morras feminist collective. In conversation with Claudia Ivonne Hernández.