Javier Cercas

Invitado de Honor

Javier Cercas is a Lecturer in Spanish Literature at the University of Girona, an honorary fellow of the University of Oxford and honorary lecturer at Diego Portales University in Chile. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. His novels include The Motive, The Tenant, El vientre de la ballena (The Belly of the Whale), Soldiers of Salamis (The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Grinzane-Cavour Prize, Chilean Critics Prize, City of Barcelona Prize, Llibreter Prize, Salambó Prize, among others), The Speed of Light (Athens Prize for Literature, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Fernando Lara Prize, ex aequo), The Anatomy of a Moment (National Narrative Prize, Terenci Moix International Prize, Mondello Città di Palermo Prize, Prix Jean Monnet, Radovan Galonja Prize), Outlaws (Prix Méditerranée Étranger, Correntes d’Escritas Prize, Mandarache Prize), The Impostor (Prix du Livre Européen, Isola d’Elba International Prize, Ceppo di Pistoia International Prize, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Taofen Prize for Best Foreign Novel Published in China), Lord of All the Dead (Prix Malraux), Even the Darkest Night: Terra Alta I (Planeta Prize and Dagger Prize), Independence (Terra Alta II) and El castillo de Barbazul (Terra Alta III) (Bluebeard’s Castle [Terra Alta III]) (NordSud International Prize). He has also published several miscellaneous works – Una buena temporada (A Good Season), Relatos reales (Real Tales), La verdad de Agamenón (The Truth of Agamemnon), Formas de ocultarse (Ways of Hiding), No callar (Not Keeping Silent) and La aventura de escribir (The Adventure of Writing), as well as essays such as La obra literaria de Gonzalo Suárez (The Literary Work of Gonzalo Suárez) and El punto ciego (The Blind Spot).

Other activities involving the participant:

Fiction, Tension and Memory
The privilege of turning off the light

Javier Cercas

Invitado de Honor

Javier Cercas is a Lecturer in Spanish Literature at the University of Girona, an honorary fellow of the University of Oxford and honorary lecturer at Diego Portales University in Chile. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. His novels include The Motive, The Tenant, El vientre de la ballena (The Belly of the Whale), Soldiers of Salamis (The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Grinzane-Cavour Prize, Chilean Critics Prize, City of Barcelona Prize, Llibreter Prize, Salambó Prize, among others), The Speed of Light (Athens Prize for Literature, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Fernando Lara Prize, ex aequo), The Anatomy of a Moment (National Narrative Prize, Terenci Moix International Prize, Mondello Città di Palermo Prize, Prix Jean Monnet, Radovan Galonja Prize), Outlaws (Prix Méditerranée Étranger, Correntes d’Escritas Prize, Mandarache Prize), The Impostor (Prix du Livre Européen, Isola d’Elba International Prize, Ceppo di Pistoia International Prize, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Taofen Prize for Best Foreign Novel Published in China), Lord of All the Dead (Prix Malraux), Even the Darkest Night: Terra Alta I (Planeta Prize and Dagger Prize), Independence (Terra Alta II) and El castillo de Barbazul (Terra Alta III) (Bluebeard’s Castle [Terra Alta III]) (NordSud International Prize). He has also published several miscellaneous works – Una buena temporada (A Good Season), Relatos reales (Real Tales), La verdad de Agamenón (The Truth of Agamemnon), Formas de ocultarse (Ways of Hiding), No callar (Not Keeping Silent) and La aventura de escribir (The Adventure of Writing), as well as essays such as La obra literaria de Gonzalo Suárez (The Literary Work of Gonzalo Suárez) and El punto ciego (The Blind Spot).

Other activities involving the participant:

Talk
Fiction, Tension and Memory

Leonardo Padura

Licenciado en filología por la universidad de esta ciudad, ha trabajado como guionista, periodista y crítico. Es autor de las novelas La novela de mi vida, en torno a la figura del poeta José María Heredia, y El hombre que amaba a los perros, un éxito de repercusión internacional en el que reconstruye las vidas de Trotsky y Ramón Mercader.

Ha logrado el reconocimiento sobre todo por la serie de novelas policiacas protagonizadas por el detective Mario Conde: Pasado perfecto, Vientos de cuaresma, Máscaras, Paisaje de otoño, Adiós, Hemingway, La neblina del ayer y La cola de la serpiente, traducidas a numerosos idiomas y merecedoras de premios como el Café Gijón 1995, el Premio Hammett 1997, 1998 y 2005, el Premio de las Islas 2000, en Francia, y el Brigada 21.

Other activities involving the participant:

Km América raffle space + Barcelona's most Latin American festival

Marisol Schulz Manaut

Marisol Schulz Manaut is an editor, commentator, speaker, cultural journalist, and expert in the literary and publishing world. She has received multiple recognitions for her work promoting reading and advocating for the future of books and the Spanish language.

For the past twelve years, she has served as the director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, considered the most important Spanish-language book fair and one of the most significant in the world. Under her leadership, FIL Guadalajara has received several awards, including the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award in the area of Communication and Humanities, shared with the Hay Festival; the Order of Rio Branco from Brazil; and recently, the Sor Juana Medal, a recognition granted by the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico.

She also directs the Los Angeles Spanish Language Book Fair and Literary Festival, an ambitious program aimed at promoting books and reading in Spanish in the United States, founded in 2011.

For over four decades, Marisol Schulz has focused on the book and reading sector, leading editorial areas in various public and private organizations, such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). She was the editorial director at Plaza y Janés Mexico and spent 17 years at Grupo Santillana, first as executive editor and later as director of the Taurus and Alfaguara imprints in Mexico. She was responsible for the edition of major Ibero-American writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, José Saramago, Arturo Pérez Reverte, Elena Poniatowska, Augusto Monterroso, Sergio Ramírez, Carmen Boullosa, Alberto Ruy Sánchez, and Xavier Velasco, among others.

In 2013, the Mexican edition of Forbes recognized her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Mexico. In 2016 and 2020, the magazine Quién named her one of the "50 people who move Mexico." In 2021, she received the National Juan Pablos Award for Editorial Merit, a recognition granted annually by the Mexican Chamber of the Publishing Industry (Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana).

Other activities involving the participant:

Indigenous Literature Award 2025
Diana Moreno Toscano Latin American Young Poetry Prize 2025
Acknowledgments and closing
The universal humanist
Inauguration
Opening Ceremony
Inter-American Publishers Group Award

Javier Cercas

Invitado de Honor

Javier Cercas is a Lecturer in Spanish Literature at the University of Girona, an honorary fellow of the University of Oxford and honorary lecturer at Diego Portales University in Chile. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages. His novels include The Motive, The Tenant, El vientre de la ballena (The Belly of the Whale), Soldiers of Salamis (The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, Grinzane-Cavour Prize, Chilean Critics Prize, City of Barcelona Prize, Llibreter Prize, Salambó Prize, among others), The Speed of Light (Athens Prize for Literature, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Fernando Lara Prize, ex aequo), The Anatomy of a Moment (National Narrative Prize, Terenci Moix International Prize, Mondello Città di Palermo Prize, Prix Jean Monnet, Radovan Galonja Prize), Outlaws (Prix Méditerranée Étranger, Correntes d’Escritas Prize, Mandarache Prize), The Impostor (Prix du Livre Européen, Isola d’Elba International Prize, Ceppo di Pistoia International Prize, Archbishop Juan de San Clemente Prize, Taofen Prize for Best Foreign Novel Published in China), Lord of All the Dead (Prix Malraux), Even the Darkest Night: Terra Alta I (Planeta Prize and Dagger Prize), Independence (Terra Alta II) and El castillo de Barbazul (Terra Alta III) (Bluebeard’s Castle [Terra Alta III]) (NordSud International Prize). He has also published several miscellaneous works – Una buena temporada (A Good Season), Relatos reales (Real Tales), La verdad de Agamenón (The Truth of Agamemnon), Formas de ocultarse (Ways of Hiding), No callar (Not Keeping Silent) and La aventura de escribir (The Adventure of Writing), as well as essays such as La obra literaria de Gonzalo Suárez (The Literary Work of Gonzalo Suárez) and El punto ciego (The Blind Spot).

Other activities involving the participant:

Talk
The privilege of turning off the light

Natalka Sniadanko

(Ukraine, 1973)

She is a writer, translator and cultural journalist born in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 2001, she has published nine books, including seven novels translated into eleven languages. Her best-known work includes The Passion Collection and Frau Müller Does not Wish To Pay More. With an ironic and feminist writing voice, Sniadanko explores themes of identity, freedom and the female experience in Eastern Europe. She has been awarded the Joseph Conrad Prize and the Translation Prize of the Austrian Ministry of Education, Art and Culture for her version of The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek. She was also a finalist for the Angelus Literary Award. Her career combines literary work with social criticism, and active participation in the European cultural dialogue.

Other activities involving the participant:

Experience, narrative, and resilience
Echoes of FIL