Hay Festival Querétaro 2023 – General Programme

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. At this event the astronomers Julieta Fierro and Leticia Carigi will talk to Paula Rosas about the pleasures of looking at the cosmos with curiosity and without fear: this is an event where a love of science is shared by guests of different generations.

The digital era has transformed us, to the extent that it is now possible to think about ourselves as digital beings. We no longer turn the page, but scroll on our mobile devices. What is the role of reading in this new era? Juan Villoro (Mexico) responds to these and other questions in his book No soy un robot, an essay that avoids academicism and combines autobiography with reflection and speculation. In conversation with Francesco Manetto.

Ramón Gener (Spain) has found a true vocation in education on the subject of music, bringing his love of opera and art to new audiences. More than just a conversation with Sopitas, he will offer a journey of (re)discovery, allowing music to excite us, and talking about Historia de un piano, a captivating novel about the life of an instrument that becomes a metaphor for the redemptive power of love, friendship, beauty and, of course, music.

20 years of the Hay Festival in Colombia condensed into a one-hour documentary. With the voices of some of the most iconic festival guests, the audience will be able to see the secrets of the Hay Festival in Colombia.

Duration: 70 minutes

Director: Gustavo Gordillo

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. At this event Juan Villoro and Aura García-Junco offer their thoughts as a mirror on their respective times: through essay, fiction, short stories, journalism and more, to reflect on what each one’s pen, or keyboard, can express. In conversation with Jesús Alejo.

The writers Reed Brody (USA) and Andrea Rizzi (Italy) will talk to Olivia Zerón about urgent matters such as the relationship between power and impunity, as well as the political uncertainty that this creates. Brody, known as the Dictator Hunter, tells the story in To Catch a Dictator of the campaign to bring the Chadian dictator Hissène Habré to trial. In La era de la revancha Rizzi analyses the new global order, characterized by the rise of authoritarian regimes who scorn multilateral initiatives.

Valeria Luiselli (Mexico) has spent years passing borders in her work. The tangible and the intangible ones: borders of geography, family, the body, memory and language. In Desierto sonoro she wrote about migration and infancy; now, with Ecos de las tierras fronterizas she presents an audio project —together with Ricardo Giraldo and Leo Heiblum— about the violence on the US/Mexico border.

Emilia Pesqueira’s reading club comes to Hay Festival Queretaro with Arnoldo Gálvez (Guatemala) and his novel La era glacial. The truth can hurt, but the novel’s two main characters find in their improbable friendship a link that can keep them together now they are on the brink of death.

Kevin Johansen and Liniers present Es nuestra forma de comunicarnos, which is based on the album Desde que te Madrid, recorded in the Spanish capital. This is an event that brings together two different languages ‒music and illustration‒ to make something new, with elements of humour, affinity and friendship. In conversation with Mariana H.

The Global South has its own commentators, and when they write, the West rarely comes out well. The essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra (India) is one of the most incisive and lucid of these voices. In Age of Anger he traces the links between contemporary violence and the rise of individualism and capitalism; while in The World After Gaza, he extends his criticism to the global racial order imposed by the West. In conversation with Mario Arriagada.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

As part of the Literary Pairs series run by the Hay Festival and the British Council, and an event that will be repeated at the Hay-on-Wye Festival in 2026, the British-Palestine writer Selma Dabbagh and Elisa Díaz Castelo, one of the most powerful voices in contemporary Mexican literature, will take part in a conversation together with Gaby Wood. At the event they will talk about their fiction and about works such as Out of It and Malacría respectively.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The Leo con Once reading club comes to Queretaro with the Chilean author Paulina Flores and her novel La próxima vez que te vea, te mato, which dissects, with considerable irony, the emotional insecurities of a young Chilean woman trapped in a polyamorous relationship in Barcelona. She will talk to the cultural journalist and Canal Once presenter, Miguel de la Cruz.

Ecos de las tierras fronterizas is a sonic journey that follows the US/Mexico border from west to east, tracing a route that explores histories of violence and resistance. Its creators (Ricardo Giraldo, Leonardo Heiblum y Valeria Luiselli) will take part in a conversation after the presentation.

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.

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.