Hay Festival Querétaro 2025

Andrés Cota Hiriart and Mariana Matija in conversation with Connie Garrido Sicilia

Literature and nature

Sunday 7 September 2025, 12.30pm CST –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

The power of literature also reaches into the natural world. In nature writing, our natural surroundings become another character, the foundation of the narrative experience. Books such as Fieras familiares by Andrés Cota Hiriart (Mexico) and Niñapájaroglaciar Mariana Matija (Colombia) reimagine our relationship with nature. Our guests will talk about habitable futures, writing, and harmony with the world around us together with Connie Garrido Sicilia.

Sponsored by CAF

Brenda Navarro in conversation with Ateri Miyawatl

Sunday 7 September 2025, 12.30pm CST –  Jardín Guerrero

Brenda Navarro's (México) first two novels, Casas vacías and Ceniza en la boca, have captivated audiences and critics alike. With writing that addresses themes such as non-normative motherhood and migration in a sensitive way, she has received various literary awards. Furthermore, Casas vacías has been taken to the stage, and Diego Luna will direct the film adaptation of Ceniza en la boca. In conversation with Ateri Miyawatl.

With the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E

Diego Luna and Diego del Río in conversation with Javier Lafuente

Hay Festival Constellations: film

Sunday 7 September 2025, 2pm CST –  Teatro de la Ciudad

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. Commitment to social and political causes has been something that has characterized the careers of Diego Luna and Diego del Río, who will talk to Javier Lafuente about how to raise awareness and promote change.

Workshop with Ileana Alvarez and Gina Jaramillo

Emotional Letter Box

Sunday 7 September 2025, 2pm CST –  Alameda Hidalgo

With the Emotional Letter Box, Gina Jaramillo (Mexico) proposes ways for children to talk about their feelings and name and understand what they are experiencing. At this event the broadcaster and writer and Ileana Alvarez, will help readers to express their emotions through emotional education.

Letra Capital presents Cajas de Agua

Sunday 7 September 2025, 4pm CST –  Alameda Hidalgo

The publishing house Letra Capital presents its collection of beautiful children's books—proudly made in Querétaro and to be shared with the audience during the event. With the participation of Raúl Ángeles Flores, Emiliano Arredondo, Isabel Gamma, Nicolás García, Braulio Guerra Mendoza, Catalina Guillén, Pat Muñoz, Daniela Nieto, Sofía Romo Saavedra and Yolanda Rubioceja. Introduced by Margarita Ladrón de Guevara.

Deborah Levy in conversation with Brenda Navarro

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Teatro de la Ciudad

Deborah Levy (United Kingdom) is back with a novel in which she delves into her own life experience. August Blue is a stunning and melancholic portrait of a transformation; that of a virtuous pianist that abandons the stage at the peak of her career and embarks on a journey to the island of Poros, where she revisits her personal history and renovates her identity. After her autobiografic trilogy, Levy draws an intimate, personal and introspective text. In conversation with Brenda Navarro.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

With the support of British Council

Tatiana Bilbao and Inés Vachez in conversation with Ayelén Oliva

Hay Festival Constellations: architecture

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Cineteca Rosalío Solano

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. Tatiana Bilbao and Inés Vachez believe in the importance of human requirements, and in an architecture that is integrated into its setting. A dialogue on how to inhabit a city and a country, moderated by Ayelén Oliva.

Alberto Villarreal in conversation with Olivia Zerón

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Jardín Guerrero

Alberto Villarreal confronts the open scars of broken hearts in Nada nunca termina, pero hay que decir adios with advice, anecdotes, recommended reading and reflections. This is not a tool for forgetting, but rather a guide to heal through accepting that, sometimes, we have to learn to let go.

Joe Boyd in conversation with Mariana H

Musical connections

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Museo de la Ciudad (espacio escénico)

Legendary American record producer and author Joe Boyd (United Kingdom) is renowned for his work with artists such as Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, R.E.M., Cubanismo and Toots and the Maytals, among many others over the course of a sixty-year career. Following his acclaimed 2005 memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, he has published And the Roots of Rhythm Remain, a thrilling history of the personalities, places, politics, and connections that have contributed to the way our world sounds. This event, which will take listeners on a global journey from Cuba to India, Brazil to Jamaica, Eastern Europe to Africa, will show how the modern musical world was shaped by colonial slavery, migration, and the 78 rpm record—and how unstoppable music is, and how alien to oceans and borders. In conversation with Mariana H.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

With the support of British Council

Ilse Salas in conversation with Bárbara Arredondo

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

With a career in film, television and the theatre, Ilse Salas has brought her unique talent to films and series such as Las niñas bien, Güeros and 100 días para enamorarnos. Recognised with one Ariel awards, her work has been acclaimed by both critics and the public. Away from the screen, she has also added her voice to movements such as El Grito Más Fuerte, in which figures from Mexican culture have taken action against the country’s social injustices. In conversation with Bárbara Arredondo.

Javier Peña and Julián Herbert in conversation with Yael Weiss

Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos conversations

Sunday 7 September 2025, 5pm CST –  Patio de la Delegación del Centro Histórico

The magazine Cuadernos hispanoamericanos promotes understanding and exchange between writers of different generations and nationalities, united by a single language and a literary tradition enriched by authors of different origins. At this event Javier Peña (Spain) and Julián Herbert (Mexico) will talk to Yael Weiss.

With the support of AECID and Acción Cultural Española, AC/E

Guillermo Arriaga in conversation with Sonia Corona

The man of many voices

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Teatro de la Ciudad

In both the screenplays and novels of Guillermo Arriaga there appear many different voices. From 21 Grams, to El salvaje and Babel, his fiction is created through intertwined stories, all facets of the human identity. This can be seen once again in El Hombre, his most recent novel: six characters, speaking from different times, all related to Henry Lloyd. Human brutality, that other very Arriaga ingredient, is also present in its pages.

Cha!, Simon Reynolds and Sopitas in conversation with Eduardo Rabasa

Book that rock

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Museo de la Ciudad (espacio escénico)

At this event, notes become words and turning pages we go from one song to another. Javier Ramírez, Cha!, has participated in the rock section of the anthology Sonidos de México, a panoramic view on Mexican music from pre-Hispanic times to the present. The legendary Simon Reynolds (United Kingdom) returns with Futuromania, in which he sends us a hopeful message: that there is a future for music. While Francisco Alanís, Sopitas, has published La música que nos define, about how songs, albums and musicians mark our lives.

Simultaneous translation from English to Spanish available

With the support of British Council

Jis, Trino and Dos Diablos in conversation with Laura García

Hay Festival Constellations: illustration

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Jardín Guerrero

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. At this event, Jis and Trino —major figures in the world of the Mexican comic— talk to Dos Diablos about how to maintain creative connections, drawing smiles while also sharpening their pencils for social and political criticism.

Joselo Rangel and Lázaro Cristóbal Comala in conversation with Elvira Liceaga

Hay Festival Constellations: music

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Cineteca Rosalío Solano

Hay Festival Constellations creates a space for intergenerational dialogue within the Mexican cultural scene, in fields such as literature, film, music, science and architecture. At this event, Joselo Rangel and Lázaro Cristóbal Comala will examine the matter, as a musician and an author, of how their fields are connected. A constellation of ideas to finish this series, created to pay homage to careers and to help it all start over again.

Poetry reading

With Bibiana Collado, Elisa Díaz Castelo, Julián Herbert, Ángeles Romero, Alejandra Sasil Sánchez Chan and Rafael Volta, presented by Emilia Pesqueira

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Patio de la Delegación del Centro Histórico

Poets from the 2025 Hay Festival Queretaro programme will offer public readings of some of their verses. With Bibiana Collado, Elisa Díaz Castelo, Julián Herbert, Ángeles Romero, Alejandra Sasil Sánchez Chan y Rafael Volta. Presented by Emilia Pesqueira.

With the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E

Arnoldo Gálvez in conversation with Isabel Posadas

Sunday 7 September 2025, 7pm CST –  Museo de la Ciudad (sala 2)

Sometimes the truth can hurt. The two main characters of La era glacial, by Arnoldo Gálvez (Guatemala), find in their improbable friendship a link that can keep them together now they are on the brink of death. In conversation with Isabel Posadas.

Playa Limbo in concert

Sunday 7 September 2025, 9pm – 10.30pm CST –  Jardín Guerrero

The tenth anniversary of the Hay Festival Queretaro well deserves a closing concert. The Guadalajara band Playa Limbo will be the ones to take charge of this ceremony with a mix of pop-rock, jazz and bolero. After two decades of music-making, and hits including El eco de tu voz, they have six studio albums, as well as a new one on the way. A night to sing, dance and celebrate.