Hay Festival Cartagena 2025

In the last decade, Latin America has shown itself to be a region that leads in terms of racial justice and the fight against racism, with a wave of collective actions. We talk about them and their territorial characteristics with Bocafloja (Mexico), an interdisciplinary artist and curator who, in his work, tackles themes such as critical race theory, the Global South, coloniality and the African diaspora in Latin America; Tanya Hernández (United States), a specialist in comparative racial relations and anti-discrimination law, and author of Inocencia racial: desenmascarando la antinegritud de los latinos y la lucha por la igualdad; and Maricruz Rivera Clemente, founder of Corporación Piñones se Integra COPI and co-founder of Corredor Afro in Piñones in northern Puerto Rico, and activist against the discrimination of the Afro-descendent population. In conversation with Agustín Laó-Montes.

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, María Dueñas (Spain) will talk to Ana María Aponte about her book Sira, which tells more of the story of the intrepid protagonist of The Time In Between.

Those attending must have read the book

The origin of racism against Afro-descendent people goes back to slavery, empire building and the capitalist development of the world. In conversation with Paula Moreno will be Susan Neiman, a US philosopher and writer, author of Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil; and Rinaldo Walcott (Barbados / Canada) is a writer, critic, researcher in the area of Black Diaspora Cultural Studies, gender and sexuality, and author of the book On Property: Policing, Prisons, and the Call for Abolition.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

Poetry and narrative; fiction and non-fiction; creation and translation; two writers who cross these borders will talk to Daniela Pabón. With María Negroni (Argentina), the author of numerous poetry books, essays and novels, translated into several languages, Doctor in Latin American Literature from Columbia University and Director of the Master’s in Creative Writing at UNTREF in Buenos Aires. Guggenheim, Rockefeller and now DAAD fellow, her recent publications include La idea natural, a homage to nature, literature and everything they bring, and Utilidad de las estrellas. Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) is a translator, essayist, fiction writer and founder of the doctorate in Creative Writing in Spanish at Houston University. MacArthur fellow and winner of the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, she won a Pulitzer Prize for Liliana’s Invincible Summer. On this occasion she presents the poetry book, Me llamo cuerpo que no está.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths (United States) is a multimedia artist, poet and novelist, and has received fellowships from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Cave Canem Foundation. Her literary and visual work has been published in major magazines and newspapers including The New Yorker and The New York Times. Author of various poetry collections, her most recent collection is Seeing the Body. Her first novel, Promise, tells the story of the Kindred sisters in the rural town of Salt Point in 1957 within the context of the civil rights movement; it is a book that celebrates resistance and love in times of adversity. In conversation with Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

This workshop with the cultural manager and educator Jesús Herrera Babilonia (Colombia) seeks to boost the community’s individual and collective identity by means of self-knowledge and critical reflection on their cultural roots. It will offer spaces where people can connect with their history and traditions, recognising their value as part of the construction of the territory.

Ages 6 and over

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, Melba Escobar (Colombia) will talk to Ana María Aponte about her book Las huérfanas, a novel that delves into the family past, origins, the creation of a female identity, and the place of the dead, who never die in the minds of the living.

Those attending must have read the book

Yuderkys Espinosa is an Afro-Caribbean thinker, writer, researcher and educator. She was born on the island of Ayiti, to give it its original name, specifically on the eastern side that bears the name of the Dominican Republic. A pioneer in decolonial feminism and a direct disciple of María Lugones. Director of the Caribbean Institute for Decolonial Thought and Research (INCAPID/GLEFAS) and founding member of the Latin American Group for Feminist Studies, Training and Action (GLEFAS). For more than 30 years she has been carrying out and promoting popular and community training processes for the strengthening of black, indigenous and marginalized communities, both locally and internationally. She will talk to Laura Romero de la Rosa on the importance of feminist and decolonial thinking for the community of Tierra Baja.

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. Given the uncertainty created by the appearance of AI and its increasing use in everyday tasks, figures from the Hay Festival Cartagena ask us to reflect on its development based on the following questions: How can we make ethical use of biomedicine and artificial intelligence? How is it possible to guarantee that artificial intelligence does not increase existing inequalities? In conversation with Sylvie Duchamp will be Marcus du Sautoy (United Kingdom), Rodrigo Quian Quiroga (Argentina) and Rafael Yuste (Spain).

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

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. With democracy being questioned and affected by growing disinformation, the participants at this round table invite us to reflect on the following questions: Are we experiencing the end of the single Western narrative? Are there models other than the democratic one? Will we give up our civil rights to have more security? How should we combat disinformation? How should governments manage immigration? With Daniel Coronell (Colombia), Anne Applebaum (United States), Nataliya Gumenyuk (Ucrania), Susan Neiman (United States) and Edward Chancellor (United Kingdom). In conversation with Jon Lee Anderson.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available