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Event 51
Javier Cercas in conversation with Montserrat Domínguez
Literature of Engagement
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IE University. Aula Magna
In 2023, Spanish writer Javier Cercas received an unusual invitation: to accompany Pope Francis on a trip to Mongolia, with complete freedom to speak with him without restrictions. The unusual part? Cercas openly identifies as an atheist and anticlerical. Upon returning, he claimed he came back "even more atheist and more anticlerical" and went on to write El loco de Dios en el fin del mundo ('God’s Madman at the End of the World'). Just one of those Catholic Church oddities, he says..>
But Cercas is much more than his latest book. A staunch Europeanist, he has built a solid body of narrative and essayistic work, translated into more than 30 languages. His major works include El vientre de la ballena ('The Belly of the Whale'); Soldados de Salamina ('Soldiers of Salamis'); Anatomía de un instante ('Anatomy of a Moment'); El impostor ('The Impostor'); El monarca de las sombras ('The Monarch of the Shadows') and Terra Alta. At the heart of Cercas’s work lies a belief in the need for culture to move beyond ideological trenches and assert itself in the face of institutional power.
He will discuss his life and work with Montserrat Domínguez, journalist and current Director of Content at Cadena SER. Domínguez was previously deputy editor of El País and head of El País Semanal. Between 2012 and 2018, she was editor-in-chief of the digital news outlet HuffPost España.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organised with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
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Biblioteca Municipal de Segovia Casa de la Lectura
The history of Spain is shaped by the sites where momentous events took place. Some are all but forgotten while others proudly display their marks of history. These spaces, and the people who occupied them, form part of our vision of who we are. The transatlantic empire that was Spain, its history, its characters and its intrigues permeate the narrative works of two authors read by thousands.
After a long professional career in various multinational companies, Jorge Molist decided to return to his vocation as a writer and in 2000 published the novel Los muros de Jericó, followed by Presagio and El anillo ('The Ring'), which was published in more than 20 languages. He has just brought out his latest book El Español. The writer Luis Zueco achieved international success with his fascinating Medieval Trilogy: El castillo, La ciudad and El monasterio, three suspense novels set in the most emblematic architectural settings of the era. Following this historical vein, he published last year El mapa de un mundo nuevo ('The Map of a New World').
There will be a book signing at the end of the event
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Organised together with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
Destiny of people isn’t always marked by human relationships. Geography heavily conditions lives that would have developed differently in other circumstances. Specially, if it is the exile forced by poverty, Above all, when exile is driven by poverty, it forces people to reinvent themselves and carve out a new path. María Dueñas writes with agility about lives transformed by necessity. From her debut novel The Seamstress ('El tiempo entre costuras'), followed by Sira, to her latest work, Por si un día volvemos, her stories span cities like Tétouan, New York, Oran, and Jerez —places and geographies that play a vital role in her fiction. Since 2009, she has enjoyed a remarkable literary journey, with over three million books sold in 15 languages. She is also a professor of English literature and a researcher. She will speak with Ana Gavín, director of Editorial Relations at Grupo Planeta.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her books
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organised with Grupo Planeta, Diputación de Segovia and Teatro Juan Bravo
For decades, the relationship between Europe and the United States, founded on common principles and shared strategic objectives, has been an essential pillar of Western stability. In recent times, the rise of clashing identity politics, cultural misunderstandings and shifts in the balance of global power have challenged this historic partnership. Do Europe and the United States still share the same ideological language, or has a silent separation already occurred? David Rieff, one of the most lucid global analysts of our time, will talk with Santiago Herrero and Pablo Gil about how the evolving relationship between Europe and the United States can help liberal democracies, in the face of polarization and populism, to reconcile security, prosperity and social inclusion of their citizens.
Reiff is a political analyst, journalist and cultural critic. Member of The New York Institute for the Humanities, his articles have been published in important media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs or El Pais. He is the founder of the American University's ‘War Crimes’ project, which aims to report truthfully on war crimes. He is the author of several essays on international conflicts. His latest book is Desire and Fate (Debate, 2025).
Career diplomat Santiago Herrero, director of Cultural and Scientific Relations at AECID, is a true cultural agitator who has explored with notable success the influence of culture in the diplomatic sphere. And he has done so in different diplomatic representations of Spain in Oslo, Islamabad, Tokyo and New York. He was director of programming at Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and a vocal advisor in the cabinet of the Secretary of State for International Cooperation for Ibero-America.
Both will talk with Pablo Gil, head of Culture of the newspaper El Mundo. Collaborator of Radio 3 with the program Multipista and Radio 5 with the program Debut, he is the author of three books on music: 10 horas con Kiko Veneno (2024), El pop después del fin del pop and Guía de música independiente en España (1998).
The event will be introduced by Filip Matic and Gabriela Ioana Tarmure, Vice President and Head of Segovia Chapter of the IE Public Speaking Club.
At the end of the event, the authors will sign copies of their books
Event with simultaneous interpretation from English into Spanish and vice versa
This event has taken place
Co-organised with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial and AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation)
Álvaro Colomer in conversation with Sara Barquinero
Writer's Routines
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IE University. Sala Capitular
Does a writer need routines for creation? It seems that no two formulae are the same. There are those who stray into the realm of the extravagant, others who rely on strict schedules, and even those who write their ideas on the back of laundrette tickets. Álvaro Colomer brings together his articles on how writers tackle the blank page - or screen - in Aprende a escribir. One of his main conclusions is that ‘writers of the past are in danger of extinction’.
He will discuss writers and their quirks with Sara Barquinero, who was named by Woman magazine’s breakthrough author in Spanish literature in 2021. She published Los Escorpiones, the 'Best Novel in Spanish in 2024' according to El Mundo and named 'Best Fiction Book of the Year' by the Madrid Booksellers Association.
There will be a book signing after the event.
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Organised together with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial and Acción Cultural Española, AC/E
Joaquín Araújo and Miguel Delibes de Castro in conversation with Marta del Riego
Nature That Thinks
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Biblioteca Municipal de Segovia Casa de la Lectura
Contemporary men and women are the "representatives of the future," in the words of naturalist Joaquín Araújo, who has fought for over 50 years in defense of nature and a sustainable environment. Like Miguel Delibes de Castro—who is a close friend of Araujo— the two criticize the overemphasis on technology and the uncontrolled consumption of raw materials. This is a transcendental debate that both will share their views on.
The event will be moderated by Marta del Riego, journalist and writer.
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
With the collaboration of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla and Acción Cultural Española, AC/E
Isabel Fuentes, Andrés Pérez Perruca, Gervasio Posadas and Daniel Restrepo with Juan Carlos Monroy
Cultural Managers versus Writers
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Biblioteca Municipal de Segovia Casa de la Lectura
The universe of cultural management is as exciting as it is complex and exhausting, where days need to have more than 24 hours and countless pieces have to be put together to push projects ahead. Is there life beyond culture? For some of these cultural managers, there is - but it’s a life still tied to culture, given that they have written and published novels.
From the beginning of her professional career Isabel Fuentes, she has been involved in scientific communication and cultural management. She is currently the director of CaixaForum Madrid. In 2015, she published her first novel, Un gen fuera de la ley, which was nominated for the RAE 2016 literary creation award, and in 2025, her second novel, Hemoglobina. Gervasio Posadas is a writer, trainer and cultural manager who has been the director of Ámbito Cultural at El Corte Inglés since 2018. He is the author of several novels, including El mentalista de Hitler ('The Clairvoyant: The Man Who Predicted Hitler’s Rise to Power') and El fracaso de mi éxito.
Daniel Restrepois the Social Action Director at Mapfre Foundation and is the author of numerous articles and several books on Ibero-American archives and history. Andrés Pérez Perruca is a cultural manager, musician and writer. He is in charge of Contents and Publications at Espacio Fundación Telefónica. In 2024 he published Vida de un pollo blanquecino de piel fina.
The event will be moderated by Juan Carlos Monroy, Councillor for Culture at Segovia City Council andan expert in cultural management.
There will be a book signing at the end of the event
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
With the collaboration of the Ayuntamiento de Segovia
David Uclés in conversation with Montserrat Domínguez
A New Magical Realism
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IE University. Aula Magna
Epic tales of the everyday, told from a deeply personal universe that transcends reality. Human relationships pushed to the very edge of language. A sense of time that both anchors and disorients. In his writing, David Uclés deconstructs truth and perception, drawing from the roots of magical realism while forging a powerful voice of his own. His literary path treads in the footsteps of Gabriel García Márquez, Günter Grass, and Jaroslav Hašek, offering new perspectives on the Spanish Civil War —beyond simplistic notions of heroes and villains— and exploring the emotional and existential bond between two men.
Uclés will discuss his work with Montserrat Domínguez, a highly respected journalist who has served as Head of Content at Cadena SER, Deputy Editor of El País, Editor-in-Chief of El País Semanal, and Director of the Spanish edition of HuffPost.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organized with Editorial Siruela and with the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E
Andrea Marcolongo in conversation with Irene Hernández Velasco
The Europe that remains
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IE University. Sala Capitular
The Paris-based Italian writer Andrea Marcolongo is one of the leading figures in European thought today. A profound connoisseur of ancient Greece and Rome, her works have been characterised by the recovery of classical teachings and knowledge that, even today, can illuminate our present. As a staunch advocate of drawing threads between that period and the present day, there is no one better than her to reflect on Europe today and how it is not only intimately related to these two classical civilisations, but also how it should not forget to return to them to find the answers to its present. Because, as Marcolongo herself states, "everything that is happening now in Europe has already happened".
She will be in conversation with journalist Irene Hernández Velasco. She worked for El Mundo as a correspondent in New York, Rome, London and Paris until 2023, when she joined El Confidencial, where she is head of Culture.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her books
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organised with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial and in collaboration with El Confidencial
Film screening: 'Ainda estou aqui' / 'I’m Still Here'
Followed by a talk between Patrick de Oliveira, Marcelo Rubens Paiva and Sophia Sampaio
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Cinemateca Antigua Cárcel de Segovia
Rubens Paiva, a Brazilian congressman and staunch opponent of the dictatorship in his country, was arrested and disappeared in 1971. Only 40 years later, thanks to the efforts of his wife, Eunice, was it confirmed that he had been tortured and killed by the military.
Forty-four years after those tragic events, Paiva's son, writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva, wrote Ainda estou aqui ('I'm Still Here'), a memoir of his childhood during those years. The book was made into a film by director Walter Salles, and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2025. Marcelo Rubens Paiva recounts the life of his father and the turbulent and dramatic 1970s in Brazil as a way of trying to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.
Film screening: Ainda estou aqui / I'm Still Here 16:30 -18:45 Running time: 123 minutes. Directed by Walter Salles
Afterwards the screening, Marcelo Rubens Paiva will talk about his direct experience in the process of creating his book and its adaptation to the big screen with Sophia Sampaio, Director of the Humanities degree at IE University, and Brazilian historian Patrick de Oliveira, PhD from Princeton.
Leonardo Padura in conversation with Santiago Herrero
Closing Ceremony of Hay Festival Segovia 2025: A Very Human Failure
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IE University. Aula Magna
The literature of Leonardo Padura is populated by characters who draw the reader in through their raw humanity, yet whose lives are shaped by forces beyond their control. Such is the case of Mario Conde, the detective hero of his crime novels; of Ramón Mercader, the man trained to kill a leader of the Russian Revolution; and now, of the protagonist in his latest work, Dying in the Sand ('Morir en la arena'). Much of Padura’s writing revolves around Cuba’s recent history — a failure without consolation, from which only individuals manage to survive.
He will be joined in conversation by Santiago Herrero, Director of Cultural and Scientific Relations at AECID. A career diplomat and committed cultural advocate.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organised with Grupo Planeta, AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), Diputación de Segovia and Teatro Juan Bravo
