At Hay Festival Cartagena, a talk with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image: Hay, Daniel Mordzinski
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Hay Festival Wales: Select Events’ Bookings Open
Among events the Hay Festival Wales opened to donors for early-bird ticket sales today (December 9), a talk from Hilary Mantel about the final novel in her Wolf Hall series is a high-visibility attraction. The tickets will be available to the public on Thursday (December 12).
Mantel’s event at the 33rd edition of the fair is one of eight sessions for which ticketing has opened. Those sessions are:
- Aldous Harding, a performance of work from her studio albums, Friday May 22, 9:45 p.m.
- Gloria Steinem talks with Larah Bates, Saturday May 23, 1 p.m.
- Afua Hirsch gives the Christopher Hitchens Lecture, Saturday May 23, 5:30 p.m.
- Jung Chang talks with Unbound’s John Mitchinson, Sunday May 24, 4 p.m.
- Amadou & Mariam with the Blind Boys of Alabama, Sunday May 24, 9:30 p.m.
- Ali Smith gives a lecture on art and politics, Monday May 25 at 2:30 p.m., with the final book in her Seasonal Quartet scheduled for a July release.
- Mantel will be in conversation with Hay director Peter Florence on Sunday May 30 at 1 p.m.
- Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour will be in a rotating repertory of three plays and multiple performances
In a prepared statement, Hay director Florence is quoted, saying, “This is a taste of where we’re adventuring in May. It’s a delight to offer our Haymakers a promise of joy in the springtime—and we’ll make sure the tickets get to you for Christmas.”
Information on the events with early-bird availability and ticketing for them is here.
Hay Festival Cartagena: Programming Points
At Hay Festival Cartagena. Image: Hay, Daniel Mordzinski
In its 15th year, Hay Festival Cartagena is to feature some 140 speakers in 160 events in four (busy) days.
Running January 30 to February 2, the show has two sidecar events, Hay Festival Medellín (January 29 to February 1) and Hay Festival Jericó (January 25 and 26).
Cristina Fuentes La Roche, who directs Hay’s international festivals program, calls the coming festival in Colombia, “one of our most ambitious and genre-crossing programs yet.
“We welcome some of the world’s finest writers, thinkers, and influencers, from Margaret Atwood to Joseph Stiglitz, J Balvin to Gloria Esquivel, to showcase their art and tackle the biggest issues of our times, to entertain and inform.”
Among international writers signed for the event are:
- Canada’s Atwood, Alberto Manguel, and poet Laureate Dionne Brand
- French author Muriel Barbery, film director Philippe Claudel, and writer Alice Zeniter
- Mexican star Valeria Luiselli
- Spanish writer Javier Cercas and authors Marina Perezagua and Marta Orriols
- US bestseller Nicole Krauss
- Bolivian writer Rodrigo Hasbún
- Italian novelists Paolo Giordano and Edoardo Albinati
- Peruvian Karina Pacheco
- Ireland’s Marina Carr and Mary Costellol
- Argentina’s Guillermo Martínez and Dolores Reyes
- Cuba’s Leonardo Padura
- Uruguayan writer Ida Vitale
- Portuguese poet Ana Luisa Amaral
- Britain’s Inua Ellams
Margaret Atwood. Image: Hay festival
From Colombia, writers featured are Juan Esteban Constaín, Evelio Rosero, Margarita García Robayo, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Gloria Esquivel, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Juan Cárdenas, Melba Escobar, Ángela Becerra, Maribel Abello and William Ospina.
Among journalists and historians on the roster are Joseph Zárate talking about Internet privacy with Marta Peirano, and the director of El País América, Javier Moreno, debating news media today with colleagues Guillermo Altares, Inés Martín Rodrigo, and Sergio Vilasanjuan. There also are conversations scheduled with Alberto Vergara, Leopoldo Martín Nucete, Bettany Hughes, Andrea Wulf, and Marie Arana.
The global economy is to be analyzed in a conversation between Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Moisés Naim about how the capitalist model can be rethought to avoid abuses of the system. Cambridge professor and development economics expert Ha-Joon Chang is to appraise inclusive economies.
And among other events, filmmakers are expected to discuss their craft in talks with La casa de papel script coordinator Javier Gómez; Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba; and documentary writer Diego Rabasa.
Full details and information on the program’s ticket sales is here. And you can follow news of the Cartagena festival at @hayfestival_esp, @hayfestival, and hashtag #HayCartagena20 .
At Hay Festival Cartagena. Image: Hay, Daniel Mordzinski
2020: Hay Festival Events Ahead
Dates of the key Hay Festival Wales and international festival programs in the coming year are:
- Hay Festival Medellín, Colombia (January 29 to 31)
- Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (January 30 to February 2)
- Hay Festival Scribblers Tour, Wales (February)
- Hay Festival Abu Dhabi, UAE (February 24 to 27)
- Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye, Wales (May 21 to 31)
- Hay Festival Europa28, Croatia (June 3 to 5)
- Hay Festival Querétaro, Mexico (September)
- Hay Forum Dallas, USA (September)
- Hay Festival Segovia, Spain (September)
- Hay Festival Arequipa, Peru (November)
- Hay Festival Hay-on-Wye Winter Weekend, Wales (November 27 to 29)
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Hay Festival is here. And more of our Industry Notes series is here.