Hay Festival Cartagena 2025

In 2025, the Hay Festival celebrates 20 years of conversations and thought in Colombia. To mark the anniversary, we have run a collaborative project in which Colombian society has helped us to put the twenty key questions for our time. This panel invites us to reflect on the vital nature of the sciences, nature and the future of research based on the questions: How can we guarantee the rights of animals and plants? Can science meet the demand for meat and fish with protein created in a laboratory? How can science tackle the problems of mental health and prolong our life expectancy? How can extensive farming by made compatible with protecting biodiversity in Colombia? With Jennifer Ackerman (United States), Weildler Guerra (Colombia), María Negroni (Argentina), Ricardo Villafañe (Colombia) and Javier Cajiao (Colombia).

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Aurora Vergara will lead a conversation on the origins of racism, from the caste system in India to the recent history of the United States. With Ava DuVernay (United States), film director and creator of the film Origin, nominated for an Academy Award, it tells of the tragedy and triumph of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Isabel Wilkerson, author of the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. In her film, DuVernay relates racism in the United States to the caste system in India and the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Suraj Yengde (India) lawyer of International Human Rights, professor at Harvard University, and author of Caste Matters, he is also one of the most important young intellectuals in India; he will share his research on the caste system in his home country with us.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

The magazine Cuadernos hispanoamericanos encourages knowledge and exchange between writers of different generations and nationalities, united by a single language and a literary tradition enriched by authors of different origins. This event features Melba Escobar (Colombia), a columnist and writer, author of books such as the non-fiction Cuando éramos felices pero no lo sabíamos, and the novel La casa de la belleza, and her recent Las huérfanas, a portrait of Myriam de Nogales, her mother. Melba Escobar talks to Gioconda Belli about this novel, which delves into her family past and deals with the questions of origins, the creation of a female identity, and the place of the dead, who never die in the minds of the living.

Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom) is the chief culture writer for The Guardian. In her book Greek Myths: A New Retelling, she explores the myths of Heracles, Theseus, and Perseus, the Trojan War—its origins and consequences—and tales from Thebes, Argos, and Athens. The book is composed of stories of extremes that deeply resonate with our times: mysterious diseases devastating cities, environmental disasters that destroy lives, and women enduring violence at the hands of men. In this new and thrilling interpretation by Charlotte Higgins, female characters take center stage, with Athena, Helen, Circe, Penelope, and others weaving stories in imagined elaborate tapestries. In conversation with Jonathan Levi.

With simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish

At its book clubs, Hay Festival Cartagena offers intimate encounters with a selection of festival guests. These are spaces to talk in greater depth about recent work by some of the festival’s participants. At this event, Juan Gómez-Jurado (Spain) will talk to Clara Elvira Ospina about his book Todo muere, the last part of his trilogy Todo arde from the narrative universe of the acclaimed Reina Roja series, and a long-awaited ending to one of the most read and loved contemporary sagas in the Spanish language.

Those attending must have read the book

Four experts on the classical world will talk to Toni Celia about the lessons we can take from that period, so far off in time, but so influential for Western culture, and whose echoes can still be heard in our legal systems, the philosophical tradition, and in the sciences and arts. Charlotte Higgins (United Kingdom), Chief Culture Writer at The Guardian, is the author of Greek Myths. A New Retelling, about the influence of ancient Greece on our times; Pablo Montoya (Colombia) is the author of Marco Aurelio y los límites del imperio which portrays the last of the five “good emperors” of Rome; and with John Sellars (United Kingdom), philosopher and the author of books such as Lessons in Stoicism, Epicurus and the Art of Happiness and now Aristotle: Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher.

John Sellars will participate in this event digitally

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Greg Clark (United Kingdom) is one of the foremost international experts on urban development and globalisation. Author of many books and over 100 reports on cities, investment, innovation and leadership, Clark has worked on the challenges facing cities, and the strategies involved in their sustainability, evolution and prosperity. Global Cities: A Short History analyses the concept of the global city since antiquity, including classic metropolis such as Athens and Rome, as well as the epicentres of our globalised world such as New York, London and Singapore, while also touching on themes such as the economy, war, migration and technology. In conversation with Sergio Díaz-Granados, President of CAF.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

We talk literature and journalism, and about the links between the two with Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti) a committed novelist, poet and intellectual, one of the most outstanding representatives of global French-language literature, as well as a journalist and lecturer in French and Creole literatures at the University of Port-au-Prince. His most recent book is Bicentenario. In conversation with Felipe Restrepo Pombo.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish