The fourth Hay Festival Forum Sevilla will take place on 16 and 17 February 2026 at various venues across the Andalusian capital. The programme will feature 14 events exploring the role of culture as a driver of change and social transformation.
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Álvaro Romero, Sofía Barroso and Eloy Martínez de la Pera
Palaces of the House of Alba: heritage and memory
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Fundación Valentín de Madariaga
The conservation and dissemination of cultural heritage in Spain today cannot be explained without highlighting the extraordinary work of the Casa de Alba Foundation. His palaces in Liria, Las Dueñas and Monterrey bring together a vast cultural and historical legacy that explains the transformative power of art.
The Hay Festival Forum in Seville has brought together three experts who share a passion for promoting art. Álvaro Romero Sánchez-Arjona, who, as cultural director of the Casa de Alba Foundation, will talk about the foundation's palace art collection. Sofía Barroso, a key figure in the promotion of art in Spain. And Eloy Martínez de la Pera, curator of successful exhibitions and a key figure in Spanish fashion.
The event will be presented by Valentín de Madariaga, president of the Valentín de Madariaga y Oya Foundation, which is dedicated to sharing his legacy in the field of business, cultural and social entrepreneurship by generating new ideas and innovative projects.
Free admission for students
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
Co-organised with the Casa de Alba Foundation and in collaboration with the Valentín de Madariaga Foundation
Tomás Graves in conversation with Irene Hernández Velasco
Spanish and British perspectives
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Fundación Valentín de Madariaga
Being the son of a true icon of international literature such as Robert Graves can be a burden or open up a world of almost infinite possibilities. The latter is the case for Tomás Graves, who would have felt right at home in the Renaissance: a printer, translator, photographer, ethnographer, writer, musician and co-organiser of the first Hay Festival in Spain. His childhood and youth were marked by the family home in Mallorca, where his father welcomed personalities from the world of culture, with whom he interacted on a first-name basis, without formalities.
Tomás Graves' latest work, Afinando al alba ('Tuning up at dawn'), deals precisely with that period of his life, always in relation to music, and explores a life that will never return —with his father now gone, most of his famous friends gone, and Mallorca transformed by sometimes voracious tourism. Graves feels Mallorcan, where he was born, but also unquestionably British. In both cases, he is marked by insularity and a determined effort to provide keys to a better understanding between British and Spanish culture.
He will discuss his life and work with journalist Irene Hernández Velasco, who worked at 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. The event will be presented by Sheila Cremaschi, director of the Hay Festival Forum Seville and chosen by Forbes as one of the “75 Latin American women to follow in 2024”.
Free admission for students
Event in Spanish
This event has taken place
In collaboration with the Valentín de Madariaga Foundation and El Confidencial
There are phenomena related to literature that are truly surprising, such as the power of social media to create reading communities and how they have become a tool for promoting reading among young people. Bookfluencer and writer Patricia Ibárcena will discuss this and the rise of reading among young people, especially teenage girls, as well as the literary genres that most appeal to young people.
Presented by Pablo Marillo, director of Fundación José Manuel Lara.
Event in Spanish
Free admission for students
This event has taken place
Co-organised with the José Manuel Lara Foundation and in collaboration with the Valentín de Madariaga Foundation
