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. Consulta el programa en PDF.
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
With the support of Fontur
Event HFJ13
Cristina Rivera Garza in conversation with David Lara
Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Biblioteca)
Read moreCristina Rivera Garza (Mexico), translator, essayist and fiction writer, is the founder of the Creative Writing in Spanish doctorate at the University of Houston. MacArthur Fellow, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz prizewinner and recent recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Liliana’s Invincible Summer, Rivera Garza presents a collection of her poetry, Me llamo cuerpo que no está, in conversation with David Lara.
Event free for the university community
Event HFJ15
Lecture and poetry performance with María Buelvas and Luisa Ochoa, together with Katherine Osorio
Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar (sede Manga) - Explanada Auditorio Jorge Tahua
Read moreMaría Alejandra Buelvas and Luisa Ochoa, from Cartagena, offer an immersive experience that celebrates the word and sound as complementary elements, which experiments with the poetry in music and the melody of verse. Buelvas writes and researches; she studied Anthropology and she is interested in taking writing to other media, including visual and audio formats; Y ahora qué hago yo con esta cuchara is her first book, for which she won the Tomás Vargas Osorio National Poetry Prize. Luisa Ochoa is a lawyer, but music has been part of her life since her earliest years, given that she was raised in a family of musicians. They will talk to Katherine Osorio from Muévela Poesía, followed by a poetry performance with noisy props and word in movement.
Event free for the university community
Event HFC20
Mary Grueso in conversation with María Buelvas
Colegio Politécnico El Pozón
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 her most recent book. Since 1995 she has been attending the National Women Poets’ Event. She believes strongly in literature and creation as tools for countering racism. In conversation with María Buelvas.
Free event
Co-organised with and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge and with the support of the Ford Foundation-Malunga: Network for Global Justice
Event HFC24
Jorge Eljaik
My neighborhood comets workshop
Biblioteca Popular de Playa Blanca
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 HFJ21
Raúl Quinto in conversation with Lázaro Valdelamar Sarabia
Universidad de Cartagena, Claustro de San Agustín (Biblioteca)
Read moreThe educator and political activist, Raúl Quinto, has a degree in History of Art from the University of Granada. In 2004 he received the Andalusia Prize for Young Poets, run by the Instituto Andaluz de la Juventud, for his poetry book La piel del vigilante. He has written criticism for magazines including Quimera and El Diagonal. In his writing, he alternates between poetry, published by La Bella Varsovia, with works of a hybrid genre, including elements of essay, fiction and poetic prose, such as the autobiographic book Hijo, and La canción de NOF4. His historical novel Martinete del rey sombra won the Cálamo Prize in the Otra Mirada category, as well as the Critics’ Prize for Spanish Fiction. In conversation with Lázaro Valdelamar Sarabia.
Event free for the university community
With the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E
Event 64
Poetry Gala
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española (patio)
Read morePoets who appear on the programme of the 2025 Hay Festival Cartagena enchant us with their verses. With Piedad Bonnett (Colombia), María Buelvas (Colombia), Jorge Eljaik (Colombia), Mary Grueso (Colombia), María Negroni (Argentina), Yuliana Ortiz Ruano (Ecuador), Daniela Pabón (Colombia), Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico) and Mayra Santos-Febres. Moderated by Guido Tamayo (Colombia).
Price: $40,000.00 (COP)
With the support of the Ford Foundation-Malunga: Network for Global Justice
Event 87
José Ricardo Bautista Pamplona in conversation with Daniel Samper Pizano
From the plains
Teatro Adolfo Mejía
Read moreThis conversation is a tribute to Jorge Velosa (Colombia) is a poet, minstrel, researcher, actor and popular artist, whose songs have become a unique musical genre, rooted in the stories of the farmers of Boyacá. The master José Ricardo Bautista Pamplona, winner of the Festival Mono Núñez Prize for best Musical Duet. In conversation with Daniel Samper Pizano, the event will include a short concert.
All Sunday 2 February events will be free for people from the department of Bolívar. Complimentary tickets can be requested at the box office of the Hay Festival (Centro de Convenciones) showing your ID, between 27 Janaury and 2 February.
Price: $70,000.00 (COP)
Sponsored by Fundación BAT
PULEP CODE: NCB741
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