The international architecture and design festival Concéntrico, held annually in Logroño, is participating for the first time in Hay Festival with a dual proposal that activates the public space of Segovia's Plaza Mayor. Dancing Bench, an installation by London-based studio Soft Baroque, is presented alongside the book Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory, edited by Nick Axel and Javier Peña Ibáñez and published by Park Books.

Dancing Bench is part of a series of mobile furniture pieces that transform everyday objects through a mechanism of parallel moving planes. Upon sitting, the visitor is invited to spin them, generating an experience somewhere between an optical illusion and an unusual ergonomic sensation. These benches "dance" with you or for you, creating moments of visual distortion but also of shared calm, like a rocking chair or an urban hammock. With support from the British Council, Dancing Bench was presented for the first time at the last edition of Concéntrico (June 2025).

The book Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory chronicles a decade of the festival in Logroño, documenting 150 interventions that have transformed the city into a laboratory for urban innovation. Through 86 projects by artists, architects, and designers from 20 countries, the publication explores how architecture and design can activate public space, strengthen communities, and open up new forms of relationship between citizens and their surrounding

Event in Spanish

Everybody seems to like the ancient world, and everybody seems to know things better than archaeologists, philologists, and historians. Ever since the early 1970s, there’s been an avalanche of insufficiently professional publications, and the rise of the internet has enabled the reintroduction of already refuted ideas. Measured by its ability to inform the general public of new insights, the study of the ancient world is a disappointment. Fortunately, there are lessons to be learned about proactive forms of science communication.

Jona Lendering (1964) studied history in Leiden and has been writing about archaeology, history, and ancient languages ever since. He published several books and built Livius.org, which was, in the days before the Wikipedia, the largest website on Rome, Greece, Persia, and other civilizations from the distant past. Today, he maintains a daily blog on ancient history, MainzerBeobachter.com.

Jan W. Bok (1970) is a faculty member of the Global College, IE University, Madrid. Before that, he taught Political Philosophy at the Erasmus University, the Netherlands, and World Language and Literature at the Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy. He is a proud graduate from different academic institutions, including the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (History and Arts, Philosophy) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Political Science) in Paris, France.

Presented by Roel Nieuwenkamp, Ambassador of the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands.

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish

Momtaza Mehri is an award-winning writer and researcher working in the fields of poetry, criticism, education and radio. Since 2014 her work has been published in literary journals and magazines such as Granta, Poetry International, The Poetry Review, Artforum, Vogue and The Guardian.

Described by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a truly transnational 21st century poet whose words resonate in the wider world’, Momtaza Mehri was named Young People's Laureate of London and is currently poet-in-residence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. Her first collection of poems, Bad Diaspora Poems, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and won the Forward 2023 Award for Best First Collection, as well as the Eric Gregory Award and the Somerset Maugham Award. The collection asks the question of what it means to write diasporic poetry, blending the experience of his own family with the stories of many others in Somalia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Together with Violeta Gil, a theatre-maker and writer and prestigious Spanish poet of her generation, Mehri will talk about her writing and the role poetry can play in challenging a world governed by race, class and gender. The talk will be moderated by Cristina Ward, director of the Arts Department of the British Council in Spain.

At the end of the event, the authors will sign copies of their books

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish

Critical reflection on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on written culture, copyright, and access to culture. The session will discuss the role of writers, translators, journalists, and publishers; the current confusion between creation and compilation of works; and the risks of cultural homogenization. The panel will be introduced and moderated by Jorge Corrales, general director of CEDRO, and will also feature Carmen Páez, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture; Miguel Ángel Serrano, author of the essay Androiceno. Escribir en la era de la inteligencia artificial; and the philosopher and writer Nerea Blanco Marañón.

There will be a book signing at the end of the event

Event in Spanish

At a time of dramatic transformation, Europe faces key challenges: democratic renewal, its position on the global geopolitical stage, and the exponential impact of artificial intelligence. This discussion brings together two key figures to consider the future of Europe and its role in the world. Enrico Letta, Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs and former Prime Minister of Italy, who has just published the book Europe: Last Chance —a call to action to work towards a stronger and more competitive European Union that can hold its own. He will be joined by Nick Clegg, also a strong advocate of EU integration, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and, until recently, President of Global Affairs at Meta. He offers a unique perspective from the intersection of politics, technology and society, after years at the forefront of institutional and regulatory relations at one of the world's tech giants.

The discussion will be moderated by journalist Helena de Bertodano, an international correspondent and regular contributor to media outlets such as The Times and The Sunday Times, known for her sharp insight into the major players on the global stage. This conversation will seek to understand how Europe's values and structures are being redefined in a time marked by technological disruption and new power balances.

Presented by Sir Alex Ellis, British Ambassador to Spain, the event will be introduced by students of the IE European Union Club, Oleksandr Mysyk and Catherine del Rio.

Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish

As the world faces growing polarisation, democratic fragility and technological disruption, how can we rethink the institutions that bind our societies together? What kind of new social contract is needed in Europe for this era of uncertainty, what learnings for our institutions and what role should universities play in shaping it? Enrico Letta, Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs and former Prime Minister of Italy, who has just published the book Europe: Last Chance ( Europa, Ultima Oportunidad) has a forward-looking vision of the role Europe and our universities have to play in strengthening democracy, civic trust, global cooperation and competitiveness. He will engage in a deep conversation with Anne McElvoy, Executive Editor at POLITICO in Europe and host of Politics at Sam and Anne's podcast, to explore how Universities can help rebuild social cohesion and foster a renewed civic ethic in a time of global change.

Event presented by Spartaco Caldararo, Consul General of the Embassy of Italy in Spain.

Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish

Diplomacy is the backbone of international relations from which each nation weaves its multilateral strategies. But there are many paths, and soft policy and soft power seek to influence the chessboard of international politics through cultural and ideological means that sometimes serve to argue better and to generate détente. Inmaculada Ballesteros, Paul García de Oteyza and Jimena Durán will discuss how to approach these alternative spaces in this event. The event will be moderated by Javier Gila, president of the NGO AIDA, which focuses on the fight against poverty in developing countries.

Event in Spanish

Mexican architect Fernanda Canales has dedicated her career to reflecting on space not only as an aesthetic or functional question, but also as a political and social act. Considered one of the most lucid voices in contemporary architecture, her work is situated at the intersection between creation, research and activism. Her book The Open Classroom and her urban projects question the ways in which we inhabit and the structures that condition our cities.

In this conversation with David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design, they will explore the role of architecture as a tool for transforming social dynamics, rethinking public space and giving citizens back the right to imagine their environment. From the everyday to the monumental, the dialogue will focus on how to design not just buildings, but possibilities.

Event in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish

Radka Denemarková is one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in contemporary Czech literature — a novelist, playwright, and translator whose fiction delves into unresolved social issues such as xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny. For Denemarková, these challenges are deeply connected to the rise of nationalism and the struggle for fundamental human rights in a still deeply patriarchal Eastern Europe. Her latest published work is Sangre de chocolate.

She will speak with Monika Zgustová, a Spanish-Czech writer and translator whose work explores exile — both internal and external — and the everyday impact of authoritarian regimes on personal freedom.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of her books

Event in Czech with consecutive translation into Spanish

Secundino Hernández’s work hangs in some of the most prestigious private collections in the world, and he regularly exhibits with leading international galleries. Since Don and Mera Rubell acquired several of his paintings in 2013, his career has experienced steady and remarkable growth. Without a doubt, he is one of the most prominent Spanish painters working today. His artistic expression often emerges from intuition rather than a deliberate search, which leads him to take the risks that come with working without a safety net. Yet he is comfortable with uncertainty, open to exploration and the unexpected. Demanding and self-critical, he refuses to settle and continues to evolve. He believes that painting must reflect “our time” in the most personal way possible.

Hernández will discuss his life and work with Sema D’Acosta an independent curator, art critic, educator and researcher, considered one of the leading specialists in visual arts in Spain.

Event in Spanish

Two poets. Two writers. Two cultural journalists. Two faithful to the word, to its ultimate consequences. Angélica Tanarro and Carlos Aganzo talk about their experiences in the world of journalism and culture, but also about their own poetic work, in that other way of looking at the world that poetry always has, and about their relationship with readers. Two very different voices, but the same literary devotion.

Presented by Carmen Delibes Senna-Cheribbo, director of Biblioteca Pública de Segovia.

Event in Spanish

Europe is currently facing unprecedented challenges, with a devastating war on its border, internal tensions, the rise of the far right, the migration crisis, an uncertain economic context and the shift of its historical ally, the United States. Miriam González Durántez, Founder of España Mejor, and Sergio Vila-San Juan, a prestigious writer and journalist who coordinates the cultural supplement cultura/s of La Vanguardia, will debate what Europe must do to emerge strengthened from this crisis.

The event will be introduced by Kseniia Trifonova and Sam Ferdinand, President and former President of the IE International Relations Society.

Event in Spanish

Hubertus von Hohenlohe, known as a ‘sportsman, globetrotter and bon vivant’, he is a multidisciplinary artist whose creative career spans photography, design, performance and media. Born into the European aristocracy and educated in philosophy and economics, he has forged a career defined by curiosity and irreverence. A Leica ambassador and permanent traveller, his photographs often blur the line between self and scene, celebrity and anonymity, turning moments into reflections of the viewer's own gaze. His work has been exhibited in prestigious venues such as the Belvedere Museum (Vienna), the Hungarian National Museum, the Fundación Cajasol (Seville), Fundación Unicaja (Málaga) and the Chiostro del Bramante (Rome), among others.

Hubertus will discuss his work with Sema D’Acosta, independent curator, art critic, teacher and researcher, one of Spain's foremost specialists in photography.

Event in Spanish

Gothic horror, or ‘weird fiction’ with a twist, some punk thrown in, and laced with episodes from the history of her native Argentina, give us the works of renowned writer and journalist Mariana Enriquez, know as the Princess of Terror. Her novels also offer social commentary on issues such as the role of women, violence, and the never-fully-told story of her country’s dictatorship. In 2019, she won Anagrama’s Herralde Prize with her novel Nuestra parte de noche (Our Share of Night). In 2022, she was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the horror category for The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, going on to receive the 2024 José Donoso Ibero-American Literature Prize.

Enríquez will discuss her work and her many influences with Miquel Molina, writer and Deputy Editor of La Vanguardia.

There will be a book signing after the event

Event in Spanish

Acclaimed British philosopher Anthony C. Grayling will discuss his latest book, Discriminations: Making Peace in the Culture Wars. In this timely and provocative work, British philosopher Grayling, author of more than 30 books and founder of the New College of the Humanities, explores the history and consequences of cancel culture, drawing connections between ancient ostracism and modern political and social polarisation. He argues that many so-called cultural conflicts do not arise from conflicting rights, but from the clash between vested interests and fundamental freedoms.

Following his presentation, AC Grayling will converse with Martin Ivens, journalist, editor of The Times Literary Supplement and former editor of The Sunday Times.

At the end of the event, the author will sign copies of his books

Event in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish