Hay Festival Cartagena 2025

The poet, storyteller, writer, activist and teacher Mary Grueso is the first Afro-descendent woman to be a member of the Colombian Academy of the Language. This pioneer in Afro-Colombian children’s literature, who has black children as the protagonists of her stories, is the author of entertaining books such as Agüela, se fue la nuna, about a child who wants to understand what has happened to the moon, and the modern classic La muñeca negra, a narrative poem that is now an illustrated book.

Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France (France) is a fearless speaker, ready to say exactly what she thinks. This jurist, lecturer in literature and anti-racist and anti-colonial activist is one of the most important voices in emancipatory theory and struggle: “Emancipation is not magical thinking, it demands assuming rupture”. She chairs the Frantz Fanon Foundation, continuing in the footsteps of her father, an essential author in terms of post-colonial theory: “All colonised peoples have the right to defend themselves.” Sheila talks to Sani Ladan.

Simultaneous interpretation from French to Spanish available

Community work and the links built up among communities are spaces of resistance in a context of global capitalism, a way of making the world a more liveable place. This also applies to cultural spaces and the visual arts. Three leaders, from the United States, Colombia, and Brazil, tell us how they work, from the field of cultural management (Dejanira Álvarez and Catalina Villa) and from multimedia art (Frekwéncia).

Consecutive interpretation from Portuguese to Spanish available

A question that may seem to be an innocent one conceals a history of exoticisation and resistance. For many people of African heritage, hair is much more than a part of the body, it is identity, memory and pride. The long essay ¿Te puedo tocar el pelo? De la negación al exotismo: Experiencias en torno al pelo afro explores the relationship between hair, self-esteem and history, looking at the historical value of hair in African and Afro-descendent societies. A conversation with Pablo Muñoz, Laura Romero and Edna Liliana Valencia. Because hair is also an anti-colonial political struggle.

¿Cómo se encienden las ideas creativas e investigativas en la academia? Estudiantes y docentes de la Maestría en Literatura y Escrituras Creativas de la Universidad del Norte se reúnen para explorar qué ocurre cuando teoría y práctica se encuentran y qué tensiones y hallazgos surgen en ese cruce. Una mirada a la universidad como un laboratorio vivo que acompaña escrituras con ambición estética y pensamiento crítico. Los cursantes de la maestría Omar Lubo, Lusdary Martínez y Piero Pradilla conversan con Óscar Daniel Campo y Mar Ortega.

Edna Liliana Valencia and Mábel Lara were pioneers in showing their Afro hair in a natural manner on Colombian television. Valencia did so first on Noticias RCN, becoming the symbol of an entire community. In 2016, after almost 15 years on the screen, Lara decided to appear for the first time with a more natural hairstyle, breaking with the dominant canons of beauty. These gestures challenged the stereotypes and lit up a minor revolution. Ten years later, Lara published Pelo libre, alma libre, about a decision that underlined the value of hair in Afro identity. Valencia, in turn, has looked at the roots and racial dynamics of the continent in La diáspora perdida. Both journalists, role models for a change that many colleagues have followed, will talk to Camila Osorio about a natural decision that is also a political one.

All events on Saturday, January 31st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.

The Colombian Academy of the Language —the continent’s oldest— has taken over a century and a half to open its doors to racialized women. This systematic invisiblisation has started to be remedied this year with the recognition as members of the institution of the Afro-Colombian poet Mary Grueso and the Misak linguist Bárbara Muelas. Muelas is working on the first Namtrik-Spanish dictionary and Grueso has been showing for years that her poetry, in the Afro oral tradition, is also literature. The two will talk to Mar Ortega about the historical repercussions of these appointments.

All events on Saturday, January 31st will be free for people with ID from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested —up to capacity— at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your identification on the same day the event is taking place.