Hay Festival Arequipa 2023

How can we educate people so they can better face the challenges of the future in a context of historical social inequality, discrimination and precarity? In Desde el corazón de la educación rural, the communicator Daniela Rotalde (Peru) deals with one of the key matters for the country’s development in a work based on hundreds of interviews carried out in educational communities in four districts of Huari, Áncash. De ilusiones, conquistas y olvidos, written by the anthropologist Francesca Uccelli Labarthe together with Carmen Montero, analyses the real capacity of the Peruvian State to offer a high-quality universal education to the rural population. Daniela Rotalde and Francesca Uccelli, in conversation with José Martín Vegas Torres, will talk about the failings of current social programmes and will offer proposals for dealing with one of the major challenges facing the national education system.

The Peruvian writer Gustavo Rodríguez presents Cien cuyes, winner of the prestigious Alfaguara Novel Prize in 2023. This is a story in which Rodríguez brilliantly combines comedy and tragedy to examine one of our society’s most sensitive issues: aging and the physical and mental deterioration it brings. This he does through the eyes of Eufrasia, a protagonist who goes from one end of the city of Lima to the other in order to look after elderly people who depend on her care, and to whom they entrust certain tasks that only she is willing to carry out. In conversation with Giovanni Barletti.

Emma Graham-Harrison (United Kingdom) is an award-winning reporter who works as an international correspondent for The Observer and The Guardian newspapers. She has covered conflicts in Zimbabwe, Iraq, Syria and, currently, Ukraine. On this occasion, she will talk to Luis del Carpio about her work as a reporter in the different regions of the world that she has travelled to, as well as the difficulties of working in this profession and some ideas about what the future will bring. In conversation with Walter Mello.

How big is the task of restructuring education in Peru? How important is it to have personnel who are committed to their public task? Is it possible to redirect the critical situation of the education sector? The former Minister of Education, Jaime Saavedra (Peru), Human Development Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, responds to these and other vital questions in Estamos tarde: Una memoria para recobrar la educación in Perú. At this event with Francesca Uccelli Labarthe, the author will talk about the magnitude of the challenge of restructuring education in Peru, highlighting the participation of good public workers and exploring the options for reforming a system that is key to developing the country.

Two journalists at one of the world’s most important and prestigious media organisations will give this workshop for university students. Alejandro Millán and Juan Carlos Pérez, members of the BBC Mundo team, will explain the working model of the Spanish-language operations of this British news service which has been running for over a hundred years and is renowned for its news rigor and quality, talking about how it broadcasts its news and content in this digital era.

The Peruvian writer Gustavo Rodríguez presents Cien cuyes, winner of the prestigious Alfaguara Novel Prize in 2023. This is a story in which Gustavo Rodríguez brilliantly combines comedy and tragedy to examine one of our society’s most sensitive issues: aging and the physical and mental deterioration it brings. This he does through the eyes of Eufrasia, a protagonist who goes from one end of the city of Lima to the other in order to look after elderly people who depend on her care, and to whom they entrust certain tasks that only she is willing to carry out. In conversation with Patricia del Río.

Martín Ibarrola (Spain) will talk about his travel book, La selva herida, which was written after a journey on which he accompanied the Basque explorer Miguel Gutiérrez on an expedition through Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. During the journey, Ibarrola documented the many people who make up daily life in the Amazon region, from a biochemist who measures the pollution levels of rivers, to indigenous communities who fight against the lobbies, and even a group of miners whose dream is to form a band one day. The author will share with the audience these stories and will talk about the dangers facing the Madre de Dios rainforest. In conversation with Daniel Mitma.

The acclaimed author of the Trilogía de la casa de los conejos presents her latest novel, a moving story based on real events. For A través del bosque, Laura Alcoba (Argentina-France) investigated the infanticide committed in 1984 by an Argentinean woman exiled in France, taking us into the minds of the survivors of that tragedy more than 30 years afterwards. At this event, Alcoba will talk about the process of creating the novel and the ways in which literature can give meaning and closure to the incomprehensible. In conversation with Teresina Muñoz-Nájar.

Journalist, essayist and translator. Sabrina Duque won the Michael Jacobs Travel Writing Scholarship in 2018 and has been a finalist for the Gabriel García Márquez Prize for Journalism. In 2017 she published Lama (Turbina), a chronicle about the lives of the survivors of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatú de Baixo, towns in the interior of Brazil buried by toxic mud that overflowed from a mining waste dam. In 2019, she published VolcáNica (Debate), which covers both the volcanic nature of Nicaragua and its shocks, explosions and political flare-ups, regarding the protests of April 2018, which gave way to intense repression in the country. Her latest book, Necesito saber hoy de tu vida, a collection of profiles written in Portugal and Brazil, was published in 2023 by Anagrama. Excerpts from it have been translated into Portuguese, Italian and English. She has published in Etiqueta Negra, Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), O Estado de S. Paulo (Brazil), Internazionale (Italy), The New York Times (USA), GK (Ecuador), El Malpensante (Colombia), Gatopardo (Mexico) and Brecha (Uruguay). She has lived in Portugal, Brazil, and Nicaragua, but currently resides in the United States.. In conversation with Jorge Jaime Valdez.

Lindsey Hilsum (United Kingdom) has reported on conflicts and refugee movements in the Ukraine, Syria, Mali, Iraq, Palestine, Libya and Kosovo and has recently covered the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan. She was the only foreign English-speaking correspondent in Rwanda when the genocide began. A press and television journalist, a regular contributor to outlets such as The Guardian, The Observer and Granta, in 2019 she published In Extremis, a biography of the war correspondent Marie Colvin. Winner of numerous awards, she will talk about her work, career and experiences with Christiane Félip Vidal, author of Mujeres en conflictos.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Katharina Volckmer, in conversation with Valerie Miles, invites us into the world of The Appointment, a provocative and hilarious novel in which we follow the life of a young German woman living in London, and what happens when she consults the Jewish Dr Seligman.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

La plata, la espada y la piedra is a book that invites us to discover and understand the intricate layers of Latin American history, weaving together the biographies of three contemporary Latin Americans with a thousand years of vibrant history. At this event, the writer Marie Arana (Peru/United States) offers us a look at the lives of Leonor Gonzáles, Carlos Buergos and Xavier Albó in order to talk about the exploitation of the land, cycles of violence and the complex legacy of the Catholic Church. A conversation that will deal with the region’s many and profound wounds, and also reflect on its resilience and its potential to forge a fairer and more equitable future. In conversation with Natalia Sobrevilla.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available