Hay Festival Cartagena 2026

To rethink the world, it is also necessary to look at the edges of the map. Pankaj Mishra (India) and Lea Ypi (Albania), two fascinating minds from the global South, talk to us about different realities —post-colonial India and post-Communist Albania—, but with a single intuition: the peripheries, the remains of empires, have much to offer in building the world in which we live. They talk to Nesrine Malik about the moral arrogance of the West and the importance of listening to other voices.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

All the indicators are telling us that journalism is in crisis. Those who run the most important media organisations face a host of challenges: politicians at war with the media, fake news and post-truth, falling readerships, the delegitimisation of the profession, workers’ conditions in the industry, the killings of journalists in Latin America… However, despite it all, the major media organisations are still our fourth estate. To celebrate 50 years of El País, Jan Martínez Ahrens, the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief will talk to Carlos Fernando Chamorro, founder and director of the Nicaraguan outlet Confidencial –currently operating from exile in Costa Rica–; and Denise Maerker, one of Mexico’s most respected voices, who currently presents N+ and writes for Milenio. The three will discuss these matters, and will talk to a colleague in the profession, the Colombian Diana Calderón (Caracol Radio).

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

One is never ready to say goodbye to one’s father. Even more so if you have a secret to tell, as was the case for Fer Rivas; or if they have been apart for years, as happened to Javier Peña. These two will talk to Alexandra Vives about how they have expressed this delicate moment in their books. Yo era un chico, by Rivas, is an autobiographical novel in the form of a letter to her father, telling him, ten years after, everything that went unsaid before. With Tinta invisible, Peña tells us that, in those final days, he realised it was literature that had built their father-and-son relationship, and talks about how “we are made of stories”.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Incas, espías y astronautas is a book about the recurrent concerns, sympathies and interests of Rafael Dumett (Peru). In this book of essays and prose, he looks to the past to visit some counterfactual historical scenarios; and, at the same time, turns his gaze to the future, imagining the obstacles faced by the first humans to migrate from Earth to new planets. He also traces a map of concerns that is both erudite and personal and reveals the scaffolding behind his literary profession. On all this, and the success of novels such as El espía del Inca and El camarada Jorge y el Dragón, he will talk to Nahum Villamil.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Journalist and former editor-in-chief of El País, Javier Moreno has published ¿Quién manda aquí? La impotencia ante la espiral de violencia en América Latina, a major analysis of the tentacles of state and criminal power in Latin America and of the reach of criminal governance that is now taking hold across the region. Taking part will Moreno, alongside Ana María Salazar, former Assistant Secretary of Defense during President Bill Clinton’s administration and now a security analyst and commentator in Mexico; Érika Rodríguez Pinzón, university professor, security expert, and Director of the Carolina Foundation in Spain; and Almudena Bernabéu, International lawyer with a long career in the fields of transitional justice, international criminal law and human rights, and Executive Director of the Guernica 37 Centre. The conversation will be moderated by Fernando Carrillo, former Minister of Justice and former Attorney General of Colombia, now Vice President of PRISA Group.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

A workshop designed to explore and discover the richness and diversity of one’s surroundings—a unique place in the world once we begin to uncover it and document its landscapes and its people. First, by venturing into the terrain and taking photographs; later, by creating stories inspired by the captured images. A space that encourages creativity, reflection, and a deeper connection with the environment and its community.

The links between two of the most terrible dictatorships of the 20th century are to be found in 38 Londres Street, by Philippe Sands (UK). The Nazi criminal Walter Rauff ended up in Punta Arenas, in Chilean Patagonia, collaborating with the Pinochet regime. Sands, who worked as a lawyer in the former dictator’s trial, reconstructs the relationship between Rauff and Pinochet, a story of justice and impunity told using documents, archives and testimonies.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

In Los nuevos, by Pedro Mairal (Argentina), and Los espantos de mamá, by Gilmer Mesa (Colombia), youth experiences vertigo whilst peering over the precipice at the adult life. In Buenos Aires and the Aranjuez neighbourhood of Medellin, the protagonists carry the burden of loss and try to put their lives on track. Mairal tells of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, balancing gravity and lightness in the narrative; Mesa, the weight of a memory that is also injured. Both write about the same impulse: they seek to offer meaning in the middle of distress.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

A conversation about the memory, identity and representation of a region absent from Colombia’s founding narratives: the Caribbean. In “Nosotros, 172 años después”, Ruby Rumié offered a digital intervention to the Comisión Corográfica (1850-1859), replacing the original figures with 100 inhabitants of the Caribbean of today, each of them crowned by their favourite food. The artist, together with the anthropologist Weildler Guerra and the chef Álex Quessep, explores how art and food reveal identities, question stigmas and create spaces for memory and collective pride. Images of the project accompany the dialogue, showing how photography, archive and words can link up to offer new views of the Caribbean.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

An exceptional event brings together Jorge Perugorría and Leonardo Padura, who will discuss their shared love of cinema, followed by a screening of Neurótica anónima, directed by Perugorría. The film tells the story of Iluminada, an older woman who works as an usher in an old movie theater that has become her emotional refuge and strongest connection to life. When the cinema is threatened with closure, she faces the loss of her only symbolic home, as the film reflects on memory, unfulfilled dreams, and a deep love for cinema.

Culture should be accessible to all and local art deserves a higher profile. This is the thinking behind the work of Colartis, the Corporación Pulso Creativo, which offers artistic education to young people who have limited access to cultural spaces. Those participating in this workshop will create a collective mural as a permanent symbol of the experience. It will be a collaborative project, integrating what has been learned in the last three workshops, and will leave a mural as the outcome of the process. Workshop lead by Rafael Bossio.

Héctor Abad Faciolince and Catalina Gómez Ángel were together in a pizzeria in Kramatorsk —in the disputed region of Donetsk— when the building was hit by a Russian air attack. Both survived unhurt, but the journalist and writer Victoria Amelina, their guide and travel companion, died a victim of the Russian missiles. Ahora y en la hora is the story by Abad Faciolince of these events, his testimony to tragedy; a narrative about life, aging, death, war, violence and guilt.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

From the moment Santa Fe lifted their arms to celebrate becoming the first national champions, to the Nacional of Armani, Henríquez and Macnelly; and without forgetting the Millonarios of the 50s, Bilardo’s Cali, Maturana’s Nacional… up to 50 teams. Los 50 mejores equipos de la historia del fútbol profesional colombiano, by Mauricio Silva Guzmán, is a must for anyone who loves the beautiful game; with the in-depth research of Felipe Valderrama, full of unknown facts and a careful selection of images. Silva will talk about these historical teams with another football fanatic, Daniel Samper Pizano, and with the moderation of journalist Andrea Guerrero.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, has been writing opinion articles for different outlets for almost 20 years and for five of those he has been a regular contributor to Spain’s El País. He now presents a selection of the best articles he has published there. Esto ha sucedido is the work of an intellectual committed to the political reality around us, but also of an observer concerned about the transformation of the world after the pandemic. A manual to guide us through the complexities of our times. In conversation with Javier Moreno.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Brigitte Baptiste invites us to think in an alternative way: from the viewpoint of queer ecology. From watching what we consume, how we inhabit the planet, and the demographic future that awaits; as well as thinking about the digital revolution and an energy transition that is becoming more and more urgent, we will be prepared for a new cycle of transformations on Earth. The Colombian biologist and ecologist brings together seven essays that act as a guide, offering readers tools to work on these changes, in Transecología. Una guía patafísica para habitar las transformaciones del mundo. In conversation with Mar Ortega.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

As part of the Literary Pairs series run by the Hay Festival and the British Council, and an event that will be repeated at the Hay-on-Wye Festival in 2026, the British writer Shon Faye and the Spanish writer Fer Rivas will take part in a conversation with Nicolás Morales about their fiction and their books The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice and Yo era un chico, respectively.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Aged just 13, Cecilia Baena became the world speed skating champion. At the competition, held in Barrancabermeja, she won four world titles and broke the world record. So began the history of success of Chechi Baena, who, a year later, was awarded the title of Colombian Sportswoman of the Year. After her early start, she continued to win at championships around the world, and at competitions in Colombia and abroad, gaining both indoor and outdoor titles and becoming a role model for girls and boys who have decided to make skating their sport of choice. In conversation with Andrea Guerrero.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

How much does peace cost in a country that has paid so much for war? After decades of pain, now is the moment to invest —economically, socially and morally— in building a sustainable and lasting peace. Francisco de Roux, former Chair of the Truth Commission, reflects on the ethical legacy of reconciliation; Julieta Lemaitre, JEP magistrate, analyses the challenges of transitional law; Bruce Mac Master, President of the ANDI, calls on the business community to join the peace process; and Marcela Meléndez analyses the social breaches that have resulted from the conflict, and which have not yet healed.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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 actor, director, cultural manager and the writer of his native land, the Cartagenan Jhon Narváez has extended his voice in various formats. In film, in the role of Moisés in Pájaros de verano or playing Joe Arroyo in Rebelión, a performance that won him the 2023 Macondo Prize, right after overcoming a stroke. He is also a promoter of local and community projects, including Conéctate Caribe, creating the superhero Capitán Cartagena and running the artistic project Pedro Romero Vive Aquí. From the Caribbean to the world, he has kept his roots and local identity. He talks to Frank Baez.

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.

Carry Somers (UK) has been one of the standard-bearers of ethical fashion since she co-founded Fashion Revolution, and asked a question that changed the industry and raised awareness among thousands of people: “Who made your clothes?”. She has recently published The Nature of Fashion, an epic sweep through the history of clothes, from learning to create garments from plants, to the changes that textiles have made to our world and the natural landscape. This writer received the honour of being invited by the Kogui people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to investigate their traditions and clothing. She talks to Rossy Lemos.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

All events on Sunday, February 1st 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.