Europe in Focus at Hay Festival Segovia 2025

Hay Festival has today announced the full programme for its 20th edition in Segovia, Spain, taking place 11–14 September 2025 with a focus on the future of Europe. 

Engaging with the continent’s biggest challenges while launching the season’s best new fiction and non-fiction books in Spain, the programme takes a fresh look at the world with award-winning writers and journalists, artists and designers, global policy makers and innovators in conversations and activities. Once again, IE University, through the IE Foundation, is a main academic partner of Hay Festival, with its campus in Segovia serving as one of the event’s main venues.

More than 100 artists feature in the programme, including former Italian Prime Minister and Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs Enrico Letta, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell; economist Minouche Shafik, historians Paul Preston and Orlando Figes; philosophers A.C Grayling and Rob Riemen; artists Secundino Hernández, Hubertus von Holenlohe and Alberto Garcia-Alix; actress, director and singer Maria de Medeiros; writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva; classicists Emilio del Río and Andrea Marcolongo; novelists Leonardo Padura. Juan Gabriel Vásquez, David Uclés, Javier Cercas, Dolores Redondo, Maria Dueñas and Yael van der Wouden; poet Javier Velaza and Momtaza Mehri; and more. 

Major Hay Festival Global projects feature – the South to North conversations with Open Society Foundations, projects with CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean), AECID, and the Spanish body for cultural action AC/E – forging essential global connections across borders. Meanwhile a special event with FT Weekend explores the transatlantic partnership, marking 249 years since American Independence.

Outreach and education programmes across the region, including free events in universities for students and workshops in local prisons, continue to open access to Festival inspiration more widely, while some sessions will be broadcast live online, maintaining Hay Festival Global’s commitment to digital accessibility.

Segovia itself presents a majestic backdrop for events as the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city offers plenty to enjoy beyond the Festival stages, from the soaring Roman aqueduct to the fairytale-inspiring castle, Alcázar. 

Hay Festival Global CEO Julie Finch said: "Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen the speed at which our world can change and the high stakes for our times. Here’s a Hay Festival programme to tackle our shared challenges head-on with purpose and hope, celebrating new ideas and the power of storytelling to improve our lives. Events in Segovia are open to everyone, with extensive outreach and engagement in libraries, universities and prisons. Join us."

Hay Festival Segovia director Sheila Cremaschi added: "Europe is at a critical moment. After decades of peace, the continent is once again dealing with war in its lands, the rise of the far right, and a loss of influence on the geopolitical stage. A kaleidoscope of names from a variety of fields join us to rethink Europe. Because, in the depths of the problems such as those we currently face, culture shows itself to be the pivotal means of soft power; the best way we can defend and promote shared values."

Festival supporters this year include Ayuntamiento de Segovia (Segovia City Council), Junta de Castilla y León regional authority, Diputación de Segovia, Segovia Banco Sabadell Foundation, AC/E (Spanish Cultural Action), AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), Fundación Telefónica, IE Foundation, British Embassy, Royal Netherlands Embassy, British Council, French Institute, Fundación Loewe, and Fundación Aida.