Hay Festival Medellín 2026

Andrés Cota Hiriart is a Mexican biologist, zoologist and writer who has written books including Faunologías, El ajolote. Biología del anfibio más sobresaliente del mundo, Fieras familiares and Fieras interiores, and has come close to all kinds of animals in their natural habitats, travelling to some amazing places around the world, like the Galapagos, Borneo, Sulawesi and the island of Guadalupe. At this event, at which he will share images and excerpts from his books, Cota will focus on a wonderful creature from his native Mexico: the axolotl, a little amphibian with an impressive capacity for regenerating its limbs and organs. Moderated by Nelson Pérez.

With El rugido de nuestro tiempo, the Colombian essayist Carlos Granés continues his work of understanding and analysing the present that he began in Salvajes de una nueva época. We live at a time of ideological and geopolitical disorder, in which we live surrounded by decolonial debates as well as pan-Hispanic nostalgias; this is a time of incendiary speeches and artists who sacrifice transgression in favour of the latest moral requirements. To understand all this roaring, there is nothing better than turning to Granés, moderated by Óscar Agudelo.

Gustavo Rodríguez (Peru), winner of the 2023 Alfaguara Novel Prize, pays homage to his mother and grandparents in Mamita, about family ties that reach back to the Amazon region in the 20^th century, and about the cultural and social tensions of that time. This is a “postponed family duty” that has become one of the writer’s most personal and reflective novels. Moderated by Daniela Agudelo.

With Morir en la arena Leonardo Padura returns with another masterful description of his native Cuba. He is the chronicler of a lost generation, one that has endured half a century of difficulties, and in his book Havana becomes another character, a witness to the passage of time and wasted promises. Rodolfo, marked by the patricide committed by his brother and reminders of the war in Angola, has recently retired, and intimacy with his sister-in-law, an old love, begins. With his brother, terminally ill, leaving prison and returning home, echoes of the past, long buried, haunt the present. He will talk to Pilar Gutiérrez.

Justicia is Janne Teller’s first novel in eleven years. She is known around the world for works such as Nothing, and the Danish writer has needed two decades to complete this book, whose origins lie in a time when she worked as a UN diplomat. In this tale, Teodor Merlín, who has always believed in words and the power of the law when it comes to resolving conflicts, sees his life fall to pieces after the unresolved killing of his daughter Joanna in the Middle East. She will talk to Yesica Prado about the heart of the book: the human condition in the face of loss, and justice.

Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish available

El hijo del hombre, by Juan Esteban Constaín, is a literary and historical essay in which the author examines early Christianity and its profound impact. This writer, whose very personal style is full of anecdotes, will talk to Juan Luis Mejía about this book on classical antiquity and how Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Medellín has become the capital of the creative industry and the place where the big names in the business carry out their projects. Three creatives will talk about the positives and the benefits of the city when it comes to turning their ideas into reality:Laura Mora, the director of the Netflix adaptation of Cien Años de Soledad;Federico Ángel, co-founder of Forward Music, a record label and artists’ agency; and Franki Franco, co-founder of the Breakfast Club, the company that has created the La Solar, Ritvales and La Verbena festivals, among other events. In conversation with Rafael Tamayo, the new director of the MAMM.

Los tres mundos. La conquista de las Galias por Julio César is the highly awaited continuation of the series dedicated to Julius Caesar by Santiago Posteguillo (Spain). After the great success of the last two books in the saga, Roma soy yo and Maldita Roma, which told the story of his origins and rise, we now read about the conquest of a territory that is hostile to Roman interests. This historical novel also visits Egypt, and covers the exile of the Pharaoh Ptolemy XII, the father of Cleopatra. Rome, Gaul and Egypt, three worlds in which Posteguillo brings an end to his Julius Caesar cycle. He will talk toSantiago Silva, Medellin’s Secretary of Citizen Culture.

With El rugido de nuestro tiempo, the Colombian essayist Carlos Granés continues his work of understanding and analysing the present; a time of politicians with incendiary messages and artists who sacrifice transgression in favour of the latest moral requirements. To understand all this roaring, there is nothing better than turning to Granés, who dedicates his life to analysing how culture shapes the Latin American narrative. He will talk to the economist and rector of the EIA University,José Manuel Restrepo Abondano.