Hay Festival Querétaro 2024

Nena Mounstro and Javier Peña in conversation with Isabel Posadas

Publishing talent: literary podcasts

Friday 5 September 2025, 7pm –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

They guide, influence, rouse passions… literary podcasts have become a media phenomenon for readers, and a vital shop window for the publishing world. Chismecitos literarios and Grandes infelices are two of the most successful in Mexico and Spain. Their respective creators, Magali Torres (Nena Mounstro) and Javier Peña will talk to Isabel Posadas.

Co-organized with Librerías Cálamo, AECID, and with the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E

Neneh Cherry and Andrea Oliver in conversation with Miquita Oliver

Friday 5 September 2025, 9pm –  Teatro de la Ciudad

The Swedish singer Neneh Cherry became famous in 1989 with the hit Buffalo Stance, and from the beginning showed that she was going to do things her own way: from performing while pregnant to leaving her music career at the very top in order to raise her children, and then making a comeback 18 years later. All this and more appear in her recent biography: A Thousand Threads. The British chef and presenter, Andrea Oliver, has made a name for herself with a focus on Caribbean cuisine and by appearing in programmes such as Great British Menu. They will talk to the British television presenter Miquita Oliver.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

With the support of British Council

Register to watch online

Visual and sound performance with Ricardo Giraldo, Leonardo Heiblum and Valeria Luiselli

Echos from the borderlands

Friday 5 September 2025, 9pm – 10.30pm –  Cineteca Rosalío Solano

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.

Ecos de las tierras fronterizas has been created in partnership with the Dia Art Foundation.

Reed Brody, Selma Dabbagh and Pankaj Mishra in conversation with Jaled Abdelrahim Aranda

South to North Conversations: Gaza and the silenced conflicts

Friday 5 September 2025, 9pm –  Museo de la Ciudad (espacio escénico)

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

Witth the support of Open Society Foundations

José Luís Peixoto in conversation with Felipe Rosete

Family in the twilight of life

Friday 5 September 2025, 9pm –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

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.

With the support of the Portuguese Embassy in Mexico

Workshop with Ana Grimaldo

We make our own aqueduct

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10am – 11.40am –  La Alameda

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.

Braulio Guerra Mendoza

Starry tales: explorers of the universe

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10am –  Zorro Rojo

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.

Workshop with Tere Alcántara

Radio without borders

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10am –  Albergue del CAMMI

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.

Workshop with Andrés Cota Hiriart

The axolotl, an emblematic creature

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10am –  Biblioteca Justo Serra, Pinal de Amoles

There is a real-life monster that lives underwater, able to regenerate its limbs and which is always young. This is the amphibian known as the axolotl, and it is… Mexican! In this fascinating conversation with the Mexican biologist and writer Andrés Cota Hiriart will tell us anecdotes, curiosities and surprising information about this small and mysterious animal that always seems to be smiling.

Diego Luna in conversation with Javier Lafuente

Hay Festival Constellations: activism

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10.30am –  Teatro de la Ciudad

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and activism. Commitment to social and political causes has been something that has characterized the lives of Diego Luna and an emergent talent selected by him, who will talk to Javier Lafuente about how to raise awareness and promote change.

Register to watch online

Linda Kamau in conversation with Bárbara Arredondo

Women who transform technology

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10.30am –  Cineteca Rosalío Solano

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.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

In collaboration with Nairobi Litfest. With the support of the British Council’s UK/Kenya Season 2025

Alma Delia Murillo in conversation with Dalia Larisa Juárez Otero

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10.30am –  Jardín Guerrero

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.

Sonia Faleiro and V. V. Ganeshananthan in conversation with Mario Arriagada

South Asia Speaks

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10.30am –  Museo de la Ciudad (espacio escénico)

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

Marina Azahua, Mardonio Carballo and Jemima Peláez in conversation with Héctor Guerrero

Eccles Institute event: language custodians

Saturday 6 September 2025, 10.30am –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

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

With the support of Eccles Institute for American Studies at The British Library

Community workshop by La Otra Bandita

Ideas in Movement

Saturday 6 September 2025, 11am –  La Solana

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.

Community workshop by La Otra Bandita

Ideas in Movement

Saturday 6 September 2025, 11am –  Mercado El Tepetate

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.

Reading club with Brenda Navarro and Ateri Wiyawatl

Saturday 6 September 2025, 11am –  Casa Hay Festival - SURA

Ateri Miyawatl's reading club comes to Hay Festival Queretaro with Brenda Navarro (Mexico) and his novel Ceniza en la boca.

Workshop with Sens

The Cat and the Cucumber

Saturday 6 September 2025, 11.30am –  Zorro Rojo

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.

Workshop with Gina Jaramillo

Emotional letter box

Saturday 6 September 2025, 12pm –  En el Semáforo se Aprende

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 will help readers to express their emotions through emotional education.

Edgar David Aguilera and Alfredo Rodríguez Karmix

Kalimán

Saturday 6 September 2025, 12pm –  La Otra Bandita

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.