Hay Festival Segovia (20-22 September 2019) has today announced the first highlights of the programme for its 14th edition, including Inua Ellams, Jeanne Gang, Adam Michnik, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Maite Pagazaurtundúa and Fernando Savater.
The open city of Segovia, with its rich history of harmonious cohabitation, will once again host this festival of literature and the arts throughout the city. The tickets for this first set of events are already on sale at hayfestival.org/segovia and the full programme will be announced on 25 June.
Hay Festival Segovia will take over public spaces, squares, gardens, streets, orchards, convents and palaces – Segovian agoras – as meeting places to exchange ideas and concerns, tell stories and imagine the world as it could be.
Sheila Cremaschi, director of Hay Festival Segovia said: "The festival will put to the test, and facilitate, an exercise in democracy, which is so necessary in the times of uncertainty in which we live; open spaces foster open minds."
Spanish philosopher and author Fernando Savater delves into the threat to democratic liberties throughout Europe with Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and Maite Pagazaurtundúa, former president of the Foundation for Victims of Terrorism and currently MEP. They share their very personal perspective on the life of a citizen who has basic rights denied because of extreme political tension and extorsion. Against a backdrop of resurgence of violent nationalist extremes, they champion the value of civic and democratic debate throughout Europe as an unavoidable basis to defend peace.
Spanish author and essayist Antonio Muñoz Molina, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters 2013, returns to the realm of fiction with his latest novel, Tus pasos en la escalera (Your Footsteps on the Staircase). This psychological thriller centres on the impact 9/11 had on those living in New York and how the emotional imprint lingers even when the characters move on. He talks with Ana Gavín, director of the Fundación José Manuel Lara.
The graphic designer, playwright and poet Inua Ellams is one of the rising creative talents in Britain. He is the creator of Midnight Runs, which explores a city from dusk to dawn. He will talk to the founder and director of Hay Festival, Peter Florence, about the many sides to his artistic career.
U.S. architect and urban planner Jennie Gang, the only architect present in the 2019 list of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people, defines herself as a relationship builder because she focuses her work on fostering the interaction between dwellers and dwellings, citizens and cities. She will speak about architecture as a catalyst for change with Martha Thorne, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design and Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
The full Hay Festival Segovia programme will be announced 25 June 2019. Visit hayfestival.org/segovia to find out more.