Hay Festival Cartagena 2025
The twentieth edition of Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias will be held from 30 January to 2 February. In this page you can find the events in the general programme as well as Hay Festival Joven activities for university audiences, Hay Festival Comunitario sessions which took place in different areas of Cartagena, Reading Clubs and Talento Editorial.
For any inquirie, please contact tickets@hayfestival.org and contacto@hayfestival.org
Event HFC1
Catalina Gómez Ángel
Workshop for community reporters
El Pozón
Read moreTo open the Hay Festival Comunitario programme, the journalist Catalina Gómez Ángel offers her traditional workshop for reporters. For over ten years, the Hay Festival Cartagena has been running this community journalism project in which, guided by a professional, participants learn to find new ways of putting their surroundings into words.
Free event
Event HFC2
Pabla Flores and Elizabeth Martínez in conversation
Inaugural Hay Festival Comunitario event
Institución Educativa 14 de Febrero - El Pozón
Read moreThe film La Suprema premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023. It has since participated in more than 25 festivals and has been selected as a candidate for nomination to both the Academy Awards and the Goya Awards. In a town erased from maps, where there is no electricity, a teenager dreams of becoming a boxer. When she learns that her uncle will compete in the world championship and the event will be broadcast live on television, she and her community face the impossible to watch the fight while striving against oblivion. In this session, we will speak with Elizabeth Martínez and Pabla Flores, the actresses starring in the film, about the process behind its production. Followed by a musical performance by Pabla Flores with the accompaniment of drummer Gregorio Pedroza.
Evento gratuito para la comunidad de El Pozón
Event HFC3
Carolina Garzón Blanco and Mary Grueso
La Canoa Literaria
Read moreMary Grueso is a poet, oral storyteller, writer, activist, teacher and one of the most prominent voices of the Colombian Pacific. Agüela, se fue la nuna is a book about a child who wants to understand what has happened to the moon; his wise agüela offers to help, and together they go on an adventure in which they discover not only the secrets of our moon, but also about Tumaco, its games, everyday life, and knowledge. She will share this story with Carolina Garzón Blanco, the book’s illustrator.
Free event
Event HFC4
Screening of the film La Suprema
Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
Read moreIn a town that appears on no maps, where there is no electricity, a teenager dreams of being a boxer. When she learns that her uncle will box for the world title, and the event will be shown live on television, she and the community are ready to overcome any obstacle to see the fight, while they struggle against being forgotten. Directed by Felipe Holguín.
Duration: 83 min.
Free event
Co-organized with the Magdalena Foundation and the Colombian Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge
Event HFC5
Elizabeth Martínez, Tere Gaviria y Felipe Holguín in conversation with Katleen Marun
The making of La Suprema
Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
Read moreAt this event we will talk about the film with its director, Felipe; its producer, Tere; and the actor who plays the leading role, Elizabeth. How did the idea come about? How was the process of making the film? What were the main challenges faced? In conversation with Katleen Marun, Elizabeth Martínez, Tere Gaviria and Felipe Holguín tell us about the experience of making La Suprema, behind the cameras.
Evento gratuito para la comunidad de El Pozón
Event HFC6
Performance-based reading from the Semilla collection
Nelson Mandela
Read moreSince 2014, the university press of the Technological University of Bolivar (UTB) has been creating a book collection called Semilla, whose goal is to cultivate a love of reading and literature among young people and adults in the UTB community. For the collection, the press has carefully selected major works from different genres and authors of world literature. At this event, Graciela Franco and Federico Ochoa, lecturers in Humanities, and Julián Navarro, Deacon of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, will present a performance involving a reading of The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain, with musical accompaniment.
Free event
Event HFC7
Carlos Agudelo Montoya
Puerto Rey
Read moreCarlos Agudelo Montoya (Colombia) teaches, runs literature workshops and also writes. He has won a range of awards and has published many books for children, including Colombia es una fiesta and El piano de la selva. In his book Tras la sonrisa del lobo we read the stories of classic characters including Tom Thumb, Bluebeard, Cinderella, the evil witches, and Red Riding Hood’s wolf who, when he is not working as the villain of the story, is really a friend of Grandma and the hunter. He also talks about books and literature on his YouTube channel, Más que literatura.
Free event
Event HFC8
Performance-based reading from the Semilla collection
Turbana
Read moreSince 2014, the university press of the Technological University of Bolivar (UTB) has been creating a book collection called Semilla, whose goal is to cultivate a love of reading and literature among young people and adults in the UTB community. For the collection, the press has carefully selected major works from different genres and authors of world literature. At this event, Graciela Franco and Federico Ochoa, lecturers in Humanities, and Julián Navarro, Deacon of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, will present a performance involving a reading of The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain, with musical accompaniment.
Free event
Event HFC9
Javier Cajiao
The secrets of the birds
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Biblioteca)
Read moreAfter travelling and working in the Amazon region, the Colombian biologist Javier Cajiao dedicated his life to teaching, researching and writing books. With his Guía secreta de aves, the author invites us to discover more about the world of these mysterious animals, creatures that fascinate us with their song and their colours, which surround us both in the countryside and the city, and which can teach us so much about the world.
Free event
Event HFC10
Mary Grueso
Corporación Ruleli
Read moreMary Grueso is a poet, oral storyteller, writer, activist, teacher and one of the most prominent voices of the Colombian Pacific. Agüela, se fue la nuna is a book about a child who wants to understand what has happened to the moon; his wise agüela offers to help, and together they go on an adventure in which they discover not only the secrets of our moon, but also about Tumaco, its games, everyday life, and knowledge.
Free event
Event HFC11
Jorge Eljaik
My neighborhood comets workshop
Bayunca
Read moreJorge Eljaik studied Philosophy at the University of the North, writes poetry and is a reading promotor. In 2017 he published the book A todas las cometas de mi barrio. He will do a workshop that includes the reading and writing of poems, as well as the making of kites.
Free event for the community
Event HFC12
Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Rosmery Armenteros
Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
Read moreMaricruz Rivera Clemente (Puerto Rico) is an environmental and anti-racist activist, with a doctorate in Social Work from the University of Puerto Rico. Founder and director of Corporación Piñones se Integra COPI, a project that promotes culture, sustainable development and the creation of educational opportunities for Afro-descendent communities in Loaiza (Puerto Rico). She is also the co-founder of Corredor Afro, a project that promotes black aesthetics from Piñones-Loíza to the world. This specialist in matters linked to inequality, resistance, racism and poverty will talk to Rosmery Armenteros.
Free event
Co-organized with the Magdalena Foundation and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge, and with the support of the Ford Foundation-Malunga: Network for Global Justice
Event HFC13
Brillith Sossa Wilches
Workshop on being: our local identity
La Canoa Literaria
Read moreHow much do you know about your territory? This workshop seeks to create individual awareness about the role that the person has within their community. It will involve an exercise in introspection, asking participants to reflect on their identities, personal histories and their place in the community. It will also involve activities linked to self-esteem and personal recognition, in order to reinforce the feeling of belonging, through creative writing exercises. With the participation of the reading mediator Brillith Sossa Wilches (Colombia).
Free event
Event HFC14
Yomi Adegoke and Johny Pitts in conversation with Mónica Moreno Figueroa
Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
Read moreYomi Adegoke is a British writer and journalist, author of The List, winner of the Groucho Maverick and Marie Claire Future Shapers awards, and included on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Johny Pitts (United Kingdom) is a television presenter, writer and photographer, as well as an editor at the electronic magazine Afropean.com, an essential guide for the Afro-European diaspora, and now a book: Afropean. Notes from Black Europe. In conversation with Mónica Moreno Figueroa.
Consecutive interpretation from English to Spanish available
Free event
Co-organized with the Magdalena Foundation and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge and with the support of the Ford Foundation-Malunga: Network for Global Justice and British Council
Event HFC15
María Hesse
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (biblioteca)
Read moreWhen María Hesse finished her studies in Special Education, she took up her pens to work as a professional illustrator. She has worked on text books for the Edelvives publishing company, and her latest publication is El Miedo. In this book, she faces up to her own fears, those that have accompanied her throughout her life and the same ones that she shares with so many other women. Through a highly visual and allegorical language, her pages bring to life anxiety, manipulation, precariousness, change, loneliness, madness, maternity, aging and death.
Free event
With the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E
Event HFC16
Javier Cajiao
Pontezuela
Read moreAfter travelling and working in the Amazon region, the Colombian biologist Javier Cajiao dedicated his life to teaching, researching and writing books. With his Guía secreta de aves, the author invites us to discover more about the world of these mysterious animals, creatures that fascinate us with their song and their colours, which surround us both in the countryside and the city, and which can teach us so much about the world.
Free event
Event HFC17
Workshop with Carolina Garzón Blanco
Musical biographies
El Pozón
Read moreThe Cartagena-raised Carolina Garzón Blanco is a graphic designer, author and illustrator of a number of books, including La herencia de nuestros mayores, a collection of stories about the Colombian Pacific; Bonito que canta, about the childhood of the great singer-songwriter, Petrona Martínez; and Agüela, se fue la nuna, a children’s book written by the poet Mary Grueso. In this workshop, participants will listen to three musical tracks and, based on them, select characters narrated in the songs to create their own literary characters.
Free event
Event HFC18
Elisa Guerra
Las voces de los árboles
Ballestas
Read moreA storytelling session where trees take center stage, lending their voices to explore themes such as solidarity, emotions, and learning. Elisa Guerra, named "Best Educator in Latin America" by the Inter-American Development Bank and author of educational and children's books, presents this interactive session where boys and girls delve into the secret life of trees and the lessons they can teach us.
Evento gratuito para la comunidad de Ballestas
Event HFC19
Elisa Guerra
Tribe of giants
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (Biblioteca)
Read moreStarting with one of the stories from her book, Las voces de los árboles, her book for kids as well as growups, the educator Elisa Guerra will talk about matters such as climate change, migration and resilience in this storytelling session. Elisa Guerra is the author of more than 25 educational books for children. She received the ALAS-BID Award for “Best Educator of Latin America” by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Free event
Event HFC21
Maricruz Rivera Clemente in conversation with Cielo Puello
Corporación Ruleli
Read moreMaricruz Rivera Clemente (Puerto Rico) is an environmental and anti-racist activist, with a doctorate in Social Work from the University of Puerto Rico. Founder and director of Corporación Piñones se Integra COPI, a project that promotes culture, sustainable development and the creation of educational opportunities for Afro-descendent communities in Loaiza (Puerto Rico). She is also the co-founder of Corredor Afro, a project that promotes black aesthetics from Piñones-Loíza to the world. This specialist in matters linked to inequality, resistance, racism and poverty will talk to Cielo Puello.
Free event
With the support of the Ford Foundation-Malunga: Network for Global Justice
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