Tomás Graves in conversation with Irene Hernández Velasco

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