Guadalajara International Book Fair

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Guest of Honor Pavilion

Spain, Guest of Honor
Guest of Honor Pavilion
Crossroads. Mathematics, technology and literature

Although it may seem surprising at first glance, the interrelation between mathematical knowledge, technology and literature has been a constant throughout history. The three disciplines are dictated by a convention of rules and symbols that provide order, meaning and beauty to the world. The logician and mathematician Charles L. Dodgson imagined the fascinating world of Alice in Wonderland; the visionary mind of Jules Verne predicted technological advances that would only become reality a century later. A Spanish writer, Ana María Matute, invented a princess who disappeared at the end of an addition in El país de la pizarra, and Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska devoted one of her poems to the number pi. Mathematics, technology and literature continue to cross paths and to feed back on each other. Our guests will talk about these intersections in the past, present and in the hypermonitored future of humanity, as predicted by Orwell in his dystopian novel. Welcome to the era of chips, algorithms and superintelligences that, in great and uncertain leaps and bounds, are taking over and dominating the planet.

Participants: Clara Grima, Marta Peirano

Moderator: Eva Orúe

Clara Grima

Invitado de Honor

(Coria del Río, Seville, 1971)

She has a PhD in Mathematics and teaches at the University of Seville. She combines her teaching and research work with intense scientific outreach in various written media and radio and television programs, always with a focus on mathematics.

Her books include Hasta el infinito y más allá, ¡Que las matemáticas te acompañen!, Las matemáticas vigilan tu salud, En busca del grafo perdido and Mati y los matemonstruos. Her books have been translated into French, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Korean and Chinese.

She is the host of the program “Una matemática viene a verte” on Radio Television Española (RTVE).

She has won the Bitácoras Award for best education blog (2011), the 20Blogs Award for the best blog, the Prismas Award for the best science information website (2013), the special Prismas Jury Award (2018) for her outreach work, the COSCE Award for Science Outreach (2017), the Roma Award in the STEM woman category (2019) and the Passion for Science Award (2023) for her work as a communicator.

She was the first woman to give the opening address at the Granada Book Fair (2016) and was named Coriana of the year (her native village) in 2018. She has also received the Gold Medal from the City of Seville (2021) and the Gold Medal from the Province of Seville (2022). She also received the 2022 Meridiana Equality Award from the Regional Government of Andalusia.

She was the second Spanish woman mathematician in history to be invited to speak at the International Mathematical Congress, in 2022.

She has been on the jury of the Princess of Asturias Awards for Technical and Scientific Research since 2018.

She was included in the Forbes list of “the 22 people who will change 2022.”

Other activities involving the participant:
How to tame the math devil?

Marta Peirano

Invitado de Honor

Peirano is a columnist for El País and a contributor on Radio Nacional de España (RNE). She has been the Culture Director at ADN and deputy director at eldiario.es. She has curated the Barcelona Thought Biennial and created “(re) programming - Strategies for Self-Renewal,” a program of interviews on technology and climate change at the Institute of Contemporary Art of Ljubljana, and “In-depth Journalism,” a seminar on new journalism at Medialab-Matadero.

She has published El rival de Prometeo, a manual of famous automatons (2011, Impedimenta); El pequeño libro rojo del activista en la Red (2015, Rocaeditorial), a cryptography manual with a foreword by Edward Snowden, and El enemigo conoce el sistema (2019, Debate), an instant hit on the capitalism of surveillance. Her latest books are Contra el futuro (2022, Debate), a critical analysis of climatic technologies and apocalyptic stories, and (re) programming, a book of discussions with thinkers and visionaries about alternatives to the end of the world (2022, Aksioma).

Other activities involving the participant:
Worldly ailments of the Earth

Eva Orúe

Invitado de Honor

(Zaragoza, 1962) studied Journalism in Barcelona and began working in print, radio, and television even before completing her degree.

In 1988, she moved to London, marking the beginning of a 10-year period as a correspondent, during which she covered Paris, Moscow (a role that earned her the Award for Best Journalistic Work Abroad from the International Press Club), and again Paris.

Upon returning to Spain, after serving as the deputy director of a digital media outlet, she co-founded and co-directed Ingenio de Divertinajes, an agency that collaborates with French, British, American, and Canadian media, promotes authors, publishers, and bookstores, organizes projects for institutions and NGOs, and provides content for medical and other types of companies. Throughout this time, she continued her journalistic contributions and became a regular participant in discussions, especially on political topics, on both public and private radio and television.

On January 1, 2022, she took over as director of the Madrid Book Fair. She did so after applying to a call for candidates that attracted 16 applicants. She is the first woman to lead Spain's most important literary event, which receives more than 1,200,000 visitors each year.

As a solo author, she has published one book, La segunda oportunidad (2003, Temas de Hoy), and in collaboration with Sara Gutiérrez, she has published Rusia en la encrucijada (1997, Espasa), Historias de miopes (1999, Ediciones del Prado), Locas por el fútbol (2001, Temas de Hoy), Mujeres contra la guerra (2003, Belacqua), and Padres e hijos (2005, Ediciones B). The latest book, also co-authored with Gutiérrez, was released in March 2024: En el Transiberiano. Una historia personal del tren que forjó un imperio (Reino de Cordelia).