Opening segments of a festival that has become a cultural beacon, the Hay Festival in Segovia embodies an English-born wonder now embraced across the Spanish-speaking world. It gathers writers from diverse traditions—Anglo-Saxon, Latin American, Spanish—and audiences from Canada, the United States, and beyond. Attendance isn’t limited to scheduled sessions; participants move through venues and conversations that feel more like ongoing dialogues than a calendar of events. The crowd includes not only authors but also politicians, artists from other disciplines, and leaders in global public life, all drawn by the magnetism of literature and ideas.
In years past, Segovia drew visitors for its museums, its historic aqueduct, and a climate celebrated for comfort and gastronomy. In recent decades, the city has largely become synonymous with Hay, the festival that earned the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in 2020. It is a British phenomenon that began with a small gathering in Wales, expanded under the leadership that Peter Florence helped establish, and today operates with Cristina Fuentes La Roche at the helm in its Spanish-speaking phase. This initiative, born to unite writers from around the world—especially those from the Anglo-Saxon tradition—now thrives in Segovia and other Latin American centers, with Sheila Cremaschi guiding its Segovian chapter from Argentina. The festival, which runs annually from this week, invites a broad conversation about literature and shared human concerns. The aim remains simple: to provoke discussion, to celebrate dissemination of ideas, and to spark debate among readers and writers alike. This model has grown from a Welsh origin into a global platform that nonetheless remains locally rooted in every host city.
The core idea was straightforward: gather people to discuss ideas in a public, participatory setting. It soon evolved into a stage for literary exchange and controversy alike. Cristina Fuentes notes that the Welsh model proved attractive to Latin American writers, creating a path for Segovia to participate as a thoughtful hub where different languages and histories meet. The festival’s reach extends beyond Segovia, with events that have occurred in Querétaro, Cartagena de Indias, and other cities, all part of a portfolio designed to reflect place and culture while maintaining an international sensibility. The collaboration has drawn figures from the Americas and Europe who contribute to a constantly evolving dialogue on literature, society, and the responsibilities of writers in contemporary life. The festival’s Latin American ties grew stronger as the program connected with the Caribbean and Andean regions, expanding the conversation about language, memory, and identity.
It isn’t a nomadic circus, moving with no accountability. Instead, Hay builds on deep local roots, ensuring that each headquarters remains a locally grounded enterprise rather than a detached outpost. The intent is to honor the literature and intellectual life of the place where it operates, allowing a place’s unique voice to shape the program. Cristina Fuentes emphasizes that each location offers a distinct model, not a single universal template. This approach reflects a cultural and literary strategy that draws on the Anglo-Saxon tradition while adapting to regional realities and histories. The result is a festival that feels both familiar and new in each setting, a synthesis of global ideas and local character.
Mexican author Carlos Fuentes is recalled as a guiding spirit who highlighted Cartagena de Indias as a fitting origin point for Hay’s Latin American expansion. He once spoke of Cartagena as a Caribbean jewel, a place where thoughtful conversations were both timely and essential. By 2006, Hay’s presence had spread into the Caribbean, signaling a broader embrace of diverse locales as centers of literary life. A festive scene near Segovia’s aqueduct testifies to the festival’s welcoming energy and celebratory mood, qualities that have marked Hay’s growth across two decades in Segovia.
A sustained trajectory followed, with Sheila Cremaschi expanding the Segovia program and reflecting on its origins. The idea of paying readers to participate in literary dialogue felt bold at first, yet it proved to be a universal impulse in the Anglo-Saxon world and beyond. Local political support helped move the project from concept to reality, with cross-party backing recognizing the cultural value of such gatherings. The festival’s combination of Spanish and Latin American writers, alongside European voices, created a dynamic mix that continues to attract attention and participation. The reasons for the festival’s success, as Cremaschi and Fuentes suggest, lie in the opportunity to bring together diverse voices and to offer audiences a compelling reason to listen to what is said—an invitation that many find irresistible.
The conversation about language and culture is a central thread. Colombian thinker Laura Restrepo warned that Hispanic readers often know English-speaking writers better than their Latin American counterparts. This perception has gradually shifted as Segovia’s festival fosters closer exchanges of literary traditions across languages. The festival’s influence serves as a barometer for a broader shift in how audiences engage with translated and originally written works, creating an atmosphere where readers feel connected to authors from all corners of the globe. Hay’s presence in Segovia is a reflection of this growing openness and curiosity about world literature.
Today, the festival features a wide array of notable participants, including writers such as Andrea Marcolongo, Martha Robles, Felix Valdivieso, and many more who appear in conversations with journalists, editors, and other writers. The list reads like a who’s who of contemporary letters, with dialogues that span genres, borders, and generations. The Segovia edition remains a living, breathing platform for discovery and debate, a place where new ideas take root and enduring relationships between writers and readers are formed. The appeal endures because Hay offers a space where serious conversation happens in a lively, human setting, and where the value of literature is measured not by accolades alone but by the conversations it inspires. In short, the festival’s enduring strength lies in its ability to translate global literary currents into locally meaningful exchanges, a trick performed with warmth, rigor, and an inviting sense of wonder about the power of words.