Chronicles from Overseas

The debate is directed by the Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez and has been organised as a complement to the exhibition “The Baroque (D)Ef(f)ect: Politics of the Hispanic Image”.

The bicentenary celebrations of independence have crept up on Latin America at a difficult time, with economies that are either depressed or of uncertain future, a time of rampant populism or precarious democracies, and violence that sometimes looks endemic. Neither has Spain, grappling with its own historic tensions and questions as to what its place in the world should be, escaped the global crisis. Yet what has happened in these two hundred years of shared destinies and less than fortunate encounters? How do the younger generations perceive relations between Spain and Latin America? What dregs of the colonial past remain in the relationship? What does it mean, in the 21st century, to belong to what the novelist Carlos Fuentes has dubbed the “territory of La Mancha”? The CCCB aims to reflect upon these questions with some of the most prominent intellectuals and artists of recent generations.

Monday, 22 November, at 7.30 p.m.

“Creative Fluctuations: Emigrations and Exiles”

Juan Villoro, writer, journalist and translator. Winner of the Juan Carlos I Prize for Journalism. His most recent books are De eso se trata (It’s about That – Anagrama, 2008), Los culpables (The Guilty Ones – Anagrama, 2008), and El libro salvaje (The Wild Book – Siruela, 2009).

Jordi Gracia, professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Barcelona. He has recently published A la intemperie. Exilio y cultura en España (At the Mercy of the Elements: Exile and Culture in Spain – Anagrama, 2010).

Presenter and moderator: Juan Gabriel Vásquez, writer.


Tuesday 23 November, at 7.30 p.m.

“Heirs of Revolutions”

Leila Guerriero, journalist and writer and winner of the New Latin American Journalism Award. She is author of the books Los suicidas del fin del mundo (The Suicides at the End of the World – 2005) and Frutos extraños (Strange Fruits – Aguilar, 2009).

Óscar Guardiola, professor of Law at the University of London, writer and art critic. His most recent book is What if Latin America Ruled the World? (Bloomsbury, 2010).

Presenter and moderator: Olga Merino, journalist and writer.


Tuesday, 30 November, at 7.30 p.m.

“Bolivar’s Incarnations”

Carlos Malamud, professor of History of America at the National Open University of Spain and Senior Research Fellow for Latin America at the Elcano Royal Institute. He has recently published Populismos latinoamericanos (Latin American Populisms – Nobel, 2010).

Ibsen Martínez, writer, analyst, and columnist of the newspaper La Nación. He has published the novel El señor Marx no está en casa (Mr Marx Isn’t Home – Norma, 2009).

Presenter and moderator: Iván de la Nuez, essayist, art critic and curator.

Wednesday, 1 December, at 7.30 p.m. Attention, date change!

“The Territory of La Mancha: Spain and Latin America in Their Stories”

Fernando Iwasaki, Peruvian writer and historian. Among other books of essays and novels, he has published Republicanos (Republicans – Algaba, 2008) and España, aparta de mí estos premios (Spain, Get These Prizes away from Me – Páginas de Espuma, 2009).

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, writer and winner of the Simon Bolivar Prize for Journalism. He is author of the book Los informantes (Alfaguara, 2004), published in English as The Informers (Bloomsbury), and Historia secreta de Costaguana (Alfaguara, 2007), which has been published in English as The Secret History of Costaguana (Bloomsbury).

Presenter and moderator: Jorge Carrión, writer and literary critic.