A large number of outstanding writers from Latin America, almost 60 of them, They will be in Guatemala next May as part of the Central America festival, which will provide Guatemalan families with the opportunity to meet them and talk with them.
Participants will meet to talk about Literature, creation, cinema, music and key themes for the region, such as freedom of expression, human rights, migration, the environment and the various forms of inequality that persist in our countries.
Among the outstanding characters is Joan Manuel Serrat, Spanish singer -songwriter born on December 27, 1943, who has recorded more than 500 songs, 40 albums and has musicalized verses of some of the most recognized poets.
Sergio Ramírez, director and creator of the Festival will also participate, whose programming will take place from Monday 19 to Saturday, May 24. This activity will take place in Comalapa, Totonicapán and Guatemala City.
How Central America is born counts
In an interview with Free press, Sergio Ramírez, Outstanding Nicaraguan writer and creator of the festival, he shares that he was founded ten years ago in his native country with the purpose of opening a window so that Central American writers are projected to the world and, through it, publicize the literature of the region. We start modestly, with a few writers, and then, due to circumstances outside the festival, we migrate. We became itinerant, being held in different cities in Central America and the Caribbean. The first experience was in Costa Rica. Pandemia forced us to become a digital platform with an intense program. Every year we increase the number of guests; It is increasingly diverse, he says.
In addition, they will be Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Richard Ford (USA), Sergio Ramírez (Nicaragua), Lina Meruane (Chili), Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), Nona Fernández (Chili), Raúl Zurita (Chili), Carmen Aristegui (Mexico), Fernando León de Aranoa (Spain), Rosa Beltrán (Mexico), Luis García Montero (Spain), Jon Lee Anderson (USA), Rodrigo Rey Rosa (Guatemala), María Ospina Pizano (Colombia), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), Jorge Volpi (Mexico), Pepa Good (Spain), Luis Guillermo Solís (Costa Rica), Ariel Florencia Richards (Chili), Felipe Restrepo, (Colombia), Martin Baron (USA), Alma Guillermoprieto (Mexico/United States) and Steven Levitsky (United States), who will participate virtually.
The participation of José Rubén Zamora (Guatemala), founder and president of El Periódico, a medium that stopped operating in 2023. However, the circumstances derived from their political persecution will prevent their presence.
For the closure of the festival, on May 24, President Bernardo Arévalo will talk to Pepa Bueno, director of the Spanish newspaper The country.
To know the rest of the Visit the page of Central Americancounta.com.
The Central America Festival has invites children and adolescents
Philippe Hunziker, general manager of Sopos Guatemala and member of the Central America Consultative Council (CAC), comments that a literary festival that brings together large names of authors may seem limited to the adult public, but it is not so. Central America has open to the public And, although there is collaboration with the Ministry of Education to take schools to schools, this does not mean that spaces are not available for young readers, for those who wish to become readers or for those who come out of curiosity. It is for all ages, he says.
For its part, Claudia Neira Bermúdez, director of CAC, shares that part of the approach with the new generations includes a reading club promoted by the Cultural Center of Spain in Guatemala, which has selected some of the writers who will visit the country, with the purpose of promoting a first contact with them. There are also agreements with universities to bring this experience to academic spaces.
It is important to take into account that the CAC is not a festival that is repeated annually in the same country. This year is significant because it will be held in Guatemala. They will be free activities, with high -level participants and conversations to which we can all approach, adds Diana López, from the editors’ union.
Tribute will be paid to Asturias
In Spain there is an institution called Cervantes Institute, whose mission is to promote the teaching of Spanish and the official languages of that country. One of its most emblematic activities is the box of the letters of the Cervantes Institute, which protects legacies from essential protagonists of Spanish and Latin American culture, from all areas of creation.
The legacy of Miguel Ángel Asturias will be deposited in this recognized box, and will be received by its director, Luis García Montero. This legacy will be transferred to Madrid, headquarters of the Institute, and will be protected along with other literary treasures of prominent Central American authors such as Rubén Darío, Ernesto Cardenal, Sergio Ramírez, Gioconda Belli, Horacio Castellanos Moya and Rodrigo Rey Rosa.
This edition of CAC arrives in Guatemala thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism (Inguat) and the Guatemalan Editores Guatemalan Association (AGEG), with the support of its global partners: the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), the European Union in Central America, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). It also has the support of various private entities and international cooperation, such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Sopos, Rockefeller Brothers Fund., Open Society Foundation (OSF), International Oxfam, the Cervantes Institute, Copa Airlines, Penguin Random House and AC/E Culture.
The Municipality of Guatemala, the Colombian Embassy in Guatemala, the Chilean Embassy in Guatemala, the Cultural Center of Spain in Guatemala, the Landívar, Banrural University, Liquors of Guatemala and Tunter By Edisur and international media such as international media such as El País, BBC MundoSpanish -American Notebooks, and local media Free Press, Ocote Agency and Public Square.