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Event 26
Martín Caparrós in conversation with Jacobo García
Buenos Aires is well worth a tango (or a novel)
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Biblioteca Pública de Segovia
Buenos Aires is one of those cities straight out of a novel. It hides stories set to the rhythm of the tango on every corner, where any resident will tell you a tale worthy of Borges and where people pray to gods who dribble a football. A city of heroes and villains, where all manner of passions fill the air in streets scented with mate. It is therefore no surprise that the Argentine chronicler, journalist and writer Martín Caparrós has set his most recent works of fiction in the capital of Buenos Aires. BUE is an ode to the diversity of the city and those who have shaped it. Through dozens of characters, situations and settings, he weaves the history of the last century of this beautiful metropolis, inviting us to explore it with delight. He has also begun a series of six crime novels set in 1930s Buenos Aires, starring Pibe Rivarola, a hustler and accidental journalist who attempts to unravel mysteries and murders. The first three volumes have already been published: Todo por la patria, Horror de Buenos Aires and Los suicidios de Gardel.
Caparrós will discuss his work and the city of his life with the journalist Jacobo García.
At the end of the event, the author will be signing copies of his books
Event in Spanish
Free admission subject to availability
In collaboration with CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean)
Corisande Albert, Mercedes de Miguel and Belén Llamas Ferrier in conversation
Collecting: a return to essential values
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IE University. Refectorio
The trend in our society is increasingly towards a search for the human in everyday life: the beauty of imperfection, of sensitivity and of authentic feelings. Overwhelmed, on the one hand, by consumerism and industrial goods, and on the other, by virtual and dematerialised relationships, people are seeking to reclaim a natural and deeply human dimension in their daily lives. For many young people in the 21st century, a beautiful life also implies a different relationship with nature: a life in which the environment does not constantly suffer the consequences of mass production; where beauty is also synonymous with cleanliness and sustainability. Reusing, restoring, and breathing new life into places and objects. Three leading art experts are well versed in all this: Mercedes de Miguel, director of the prestigious Segre auction house; Corisande Albert, a ceramist; and Belén Llamas Ferrier, president of the Contemporary Arts and Crafts Association, who will engage in a dialogue on the need for tradition and classicism to provide steadfast values in turbulent times.
Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
In collaboration with the Contemporary Arts and Crafts Association
Concert by the Symphony Orchestra, Big Band and Choir of the British School of Madrid
Music without Borders
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Teatro Juan Bravo
The Symphony Orchestra, Big Band and Choir of the British School of Madrid are made up of students, Music21 programme teachers, alumni and parents from the School, who come together to share their passion for making music as an ensemble. The concert will offer a varied repertoire ranging from classical works to contemporary and popular music, including film scores, jazz and choral pieces, and will feature the renowned pianist Luis Fernando Pérez.
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Coorganized with the Colegio Británico and the collaboration of Teatro Juan Bravo
Diego del Alcázar in conversation with Carlos Franganillo
Tension in the Face of Modernity
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IE University. Aula Magna
What happens when a society obsessed with progress loses touch with its roots? Carlos Franganillo, one of the most prestigious journalists on the Spanish television news scene, and Diego del Alcázar, President of IE, will discuss this topic in relation to his latest novel, La idea de volver. Set against the backdrop of the tranquil Cantabrian mountains and the hustle and bustle of life in New York, the novel follows the story of an academic returning to the place of his childhood and an elderly man trying to come to terms with the passage of time. The work reflects on roots, identity and the limits of knowledge in the age of artificial intelligence.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his book
Event in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation into English
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organised with the IE Foundation and in collaboration with Ediciones Siruela
Martín Caparrós, Carlos Flores y Erna von der Walde in conversation with Cristina Fuentes La Roche
Other Stories from the Archivo de Indias
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Biblioteca Pública de Segovia
Other Stories from the Archivo de Indias is an anthology bringing together texts by ten renowned Latin American authors, who have crafted fictional narratives based on documents preserved in the Archivo General de Indias. This project by the Hay Festival and CAF aims to bring the archive’s vast collection of documents to the general public, bringing to light some of the many stories recorded there, through a diversity of voices. Argentine writer Martín Caparrós, the director of the General Archive of the Indies, Carlos Flores, and the anthology’s editor, Erna von der Walde, will discuss their texts and project with Cristina Fuentes La Roche.
At the end of the event, the authors will be signing copies of their books
Event in Spanish
Free admission subject to availability
In partnership with Editorial Anagrama and CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean)
Andrea Martínez, Lidia Merenciano and Sandra Miret in conversation with Debbi Christophers
Who tells the story?
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Biblioteca Municipal Casa de la Lectura
Throughout history, women’s voices have often been silenced – omitted from the narrative or hidden behind anonymity. This conversation brings together two writers and cultural experts, Andrea Martínez, Lidia Merenciano y Sandra Miret, to reflect on authorship, absence and the subtle strategies many women have used to make themselves heard. Together, they will explore how stories are constructed and who has the power to tell them. They will be moderated by Debbi Christophers, Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy in Madrid.
At the end of the event, the authors will be signing copies of their books
Event in Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organised with the British Embassy in Spain and in partnership with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
Jaime de los Santos in conversation with Sonia Mulero
The truth revealed by the shadow
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Torreón de Lozoya (entrada por la calle Grabador Espinoza)
Caravaggio’s work, permeated by the tension between light and darkness, violence and transcendence, yet always of a dazzling beauty never seen before, serves as a starting point for addressing contemporary issues such as personal contradiction, love, fragility and the search for meaning. Drawing on the figure of Caravaggio, Jaime de los Santos, who has just published The Gospel According to Caravaggio, will be in conversation with Sonia Mulero, director of the Banco Sabadell Foundation. Together, they will explore a dialogue between art, thought and personal experience that invites us to reconsider the role of beauty as a space for human understanding and transformation.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Can a book change a writer’s life? Having sold 200,000 copies and with editions due to be published in 18 countries, Comerás flores has marked a turning point in the life of Lucía Solla Sobral. It has been an enriching process, despite the fact that the story told is devastating—a deep dive into psychological abuse, a form of violence that leaves no visible scars but erodes the protagonist’s identity. She will discuss her literary journey and her work with Pablo Gil, journalist and culture editor at the newspaper El Mundo.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her book
Event in Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organised with Acción Cultural Española, AC/E and in collaboration with Libros del Asteroide
Adam Lowe in conversation with Sol Costales and Alex Ellis
Beauty: A Cultural Prejudice
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IE University. Aula Magna
Beauty is often considered a universal value, an objective quality that transcends time and space. However, the criteria by which we judge whether something is beautiful are determined by cultural conventions, historical circumstances, and systems of power. What one culture reveres as beautiful, another may overlook. Adam Lowe—internationally recognized for his pioneering work in the field of heritage conservation and the development of rematerialization techniques—explores beauty as a cultural condition that determines how we see, value, preserve, and transmit material culture. He will talk about this theme to Alex Ellis, UK Ambassador in Spain, and to Sol Costales, Projects Director of Factum Arte.
Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organized with the British Embassy in Spain and Around Art
Thomas Schlesser in conversation with Elena Garrigues
The unexpected power of poetry
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IE University. Refectorio
What can poetry do for us? Can it change our relationship with words, with pain, with beauty, with nature, with love and with life? Thomas Schlesser, art historian and author of the publishing phenomenon Mona’s Eyes, and of the philosophical novel The Gardener’s Cat, discusses poetry as one of the oldest and most powerful ways of putting the world into words. Schlesser will discuss all of this with Elena Garrigues, a passionate expert in art and culture who works as a professor of Ethics at lE University. The event will be presented by Zélie Perpignaa, an expert in cultural mediation and attaché for Books, the Exchange of Ideas, and Media Libraries at the Institut Français in Spain.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Event in French with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organized with the French Embassy in Spain and the Institut Français, in collaboration with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
Ketty Garat, Manuel Jabois and David Mejía in conversation with Teodoro León Gross
The naked beauty of facts
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Torreón de Lozoya (entrada por la calle Grabador Espinoza)
Facts stripped of artifice, reduced to the very power of reality, exude a formidable power of seduction. In the naked truth there beats a singular beauty and an inexhaustible sense of wonder. Although it is practised across various disciplines and genres, it is in journalism that it has found its finest expression. Is this now a dying concept? The reporting of facts, rooted in simplicity and clarity, has become an essential demand of our times, seduced by post-truth and narcissistic narratives. Three high-flying journalists offering three distinct or alternative perspectives, yet always complementary and enriching: Manuel Jabois, Ketty Garat and David Mejía. Leading the discussion is the writer and journalist Teodoro León Gross.
At the end of the event, the authors will be signing copies of their books
Event in Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
In collaboration with the Torreón de Lozoya Foundation of the Caja Segovia Foundation
Palestinian writer Adania Shibli speaks to us about fiction writing against the backdrop of disorienting experiences as an effect of decades-long Israeli colonial violence in Palestine. Shibli does so primarily through her literature, but also through events like this one. Following Minor Detail, the story of a young woman’s rape in the aftermath of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba and the creation of the Israeli state, which was nominated for the 2021 International Booker Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature, comes Delusion, a novel in which two young characters try to move throughlife when hardly anything is possible for Palestinians as they are stripped not only of their lands but also dignity and dreams.
After the event, the author will be signing copies of her books
Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organised with Open Society Foundations and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
Readers’ Clubs in Segovia and Seville with Víctor del Árbol
The Intentions of Víctor del Árbol
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Biblioteca Municipal Casa de la Lectura
Reading is once again breaking down walls and building bridges. Thanks to the Hay Festival and an initiative by the José Manuel Lara Foundation, the Reading Club of the Entreamigos Association in Polígono Sur, Seville (better known as the Tres Mil Viviendas neighbourhood) will be twinned with rural reading clubs in Segovia. As a result of this twinning, both clubs will read the work by writer Víctor del Árbol, Las buenas intenciones, together and will meet the author at the Hay Festival in Segovia.
The Seville-based reading club, made up of women, has been meeting every week for 10 years and sees reading as a means of personal growth and a way to escape situations of material and social vulnerability.
After the event, the author will be signing copies of his books
Event in Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Co-organised with Acción Cultural Española, AC/E, the José Manuel Lara Foundation and the Segovia City Council, in collaboration with the Dos Amigos Foundation and the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum
Hernán Cortés and Hubertus von Hohenlohe in conversation
Two Perspectives, Two Languages
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IE University. Aula Magna
Two artists linked by a shared discipline: portraiture. Hernán Cortés, one of the leading figures in Spanish painting, and the photographer and multidisciplinary artist Hubertus von Hohenlohe will discuss their respective approaches to people and their identities. Through painting, Cortés creates a sober, restrained portrait with a strong psychological dimension, rooted in tradition and art history. In contrast, Von Hohenlohe, through photography, presents more vibrant images, constructed from multiple visual references that emerge spontaneously in today’s city. Two distinct languages, two ways of seeking others’ identities and beauty through unhurried contemplation, which, far from being opposed, reveal complementary approaches to contemporary representation.
Michael Trabitzsch in conversation with Lorenzo de' Medici
TikTok, the End of Common Sense?
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IE University. Refectorio
In democratic societies, since ancient Greece, common sense has been based on verifiable knowledge, which gave rise to colloquia, universities, and academies, later followed by institutionalized expert committees and think tanks. Common sense was based on this recognition. And a stable democracy was based on the recognition of these entities. German producer Michael Trabitzsch will discuss with writer Lorenzo de’ Medici how this entire complex structure is being radically challenged by platforms like TikTok and social media. In short: anyone can claim whatever they want on these platforms and share it without first providing evidence, in a sort of idle chatter and denigration of other knowledge. Against the beauty of reflection stands the noise of the ephemeral.
The event will be presented by Antonietta Cornacchia, Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Italy in Madrid.
After the event, the author will be signing copies of his books
Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish
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Torreón de Lozoya (entrada por la calle Grabador Espinoza)
Manuel Vilas, a key figure in contemporary Spanish literature, writes with raw emotion in his stories, for they reflect his life, its ups and downs and, above all, his struggles. With great pain and a glimmer of hope, Vilas celebrates the beauty of ‘staying alive’, come what may. In a conversation with Ana Gavín, Director of Publishing Relations at Grupo Planeta, he will take a journey through the end of a love affair and the arrival of a warm friendship, as recalled by the writer. They will focus, with particular interest, on the life, fiction and literature that intertwine in his latest and splendid novel: Islandia.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Beauty as a necessity. Starting from this premise, Anna Gener, an economist and a figure associated with numerous cultural projects, argues that the enjoyment of beauty is one of the fundamental pillars of our civilisation, as well as an essential element for emotional well-being. In this process, we become guardians of those works that deserve to be contemplated and enjoyed by every generation. In conversation with the writer and deputy editor of La Vanguardia, Miquel Molina, Gener will explore the beauty we can find in cities and the importance of devoting time and attention to it, whilst warning against an increasingly widespread tendency: prioritising the useful over the beautiful.
At the end of the event, the author will be signing copies of her book
Arancha González Laya, Catherine de Vries and Frederick Studemann in conversation
FT Weekend Debate: How Europe Survives: Narrative, Power, Resilience in a Fragmented World
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IE University. Aula Magna
As geopolitical tensions rise, global institutions weaken and the international order becomes increasingly fragmented, Europe faces a defining question: can it remain united, prosperous and influential in a rapidly changing world?
In this timely conversation, Frederick Studemann, Literary Editor of the Financial Times, brings together two leading European voices to reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the continent today. Former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha González Laya, author of Solos en el Mundo: Estados Unidos amenaza, Rusia hace la guerra, China reconstruye un imperio... ¿Y Europa? examines how growing geopolitical rivalry and the erosion of international cooperation are reshaping the global landscape. Catherine de Vries, Vice Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs and author of the forthcoming How Europe Survives, explores the remarkable adaptability and resilience that have enabled Europe to navigate successive crises.
A thought-provoking conversation about the future of Europe, the changing global order and the ideas that will shape the decades ahead.
Event in English with translation to Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
Event in collaboration with IE Foundation and the IE Competitiveness Hub Brussels
British national David Lindo (known as The Urban Birder) is one of the world’s leading experts in ornithology, as well as a writer, television host, guide, and nature educator followed by tens of thousands of people. His great passion is connecting city dwellers with the birds that inhabit the countryside—a fascinating journey characterized by the beauty of the surroundings and a reconnection with nature. This cathartic experience will be discussed in a conversation with the British Ambassador to Spain, Sir Alex Ellis, an avid music lover who is convinced that experiencing nature is essential to human development. The event will be moderated by journalist Irene Hernández Velasco.
At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books
Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish
Price: €9.00 (EUR)
In collaboration with the British Embassy in Spain and El Confidencial
