Cultural Landmark for Queer Expression in Spanish. The fifth edition of the Queer Culture Festival in Spanish will take place in London from November 19 to 25, reaffirming its status as a key event for Spanish-language queer literature, film and music.

“The festival builds community and connects thousands of Spanish speakers in the UK with queer literature from Spain and Latin America, while offering a space for reflection on history, memory and the politics of our dissidences,” explains its director, Jorge Gárriz, highlighting the event’s growing importance. In 2025, the festival pays tribute to artist and poet Perla Zuñiga, presenting an exclusive video of her poetry reading during the inaugural edition in 2021, now available on the website: https://www.romancerobooks-store.co.uk/v-lfqsc-fcqel-2025

The program intertwines cultural activities with debates on historical memory and the political legacies that continue to affect LGBTQ+ communities. Featured guests include Sara Torres, Daniel Saldaña París, Laura Hojman, Ángelo Néstore, Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita (Las Hijas de Felipe), and Ana Quiroga.

Themes explored will include the lives and works of Agustín Gómez Arcos, Mario Bellatin, and Francis Bacon’s Madrid in the 1990s, as well as the lives of 16th- and 17th-century nuns, the legacies of Francoism for LGBTQ+ people, and a stage performance inspired by Anne Dufourmantelle’s reimagined concept of gentleness.

“After five years, we can say the event has grown especially by embracing artistic disciplines connected to Spanish literature, its authors and history. It goes beyond the written word or the act of reading—each edition is an opportunity to revisit unresolved issues, recover overlooked voices, and reflect on queer matters in the Spanish-speaking world,” adds Gárriz.

THE PROGRAM – A Map of Encounters in Subcultural London

The festival will open on Wednesday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m. with an inaugural talk at the Spanish Embassy. Writer Sara Torres will present her new book X is Where I Am, translated into English by Maureen Shaughnessy and published by Charco Press, in conversation with Professor Nuria Capdevil-Argüelles (University of Exeter). This English-language event will discuss queer love, family relationships, and “how to build a life around the only constant: loss.” Admission by invitation only.

On Thursday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m., at October Gallery, Daniel Saldaña París will present his novel The Dance and the Fire in conversation with festival director Jorge Gárriz. The work follows three friends reunited in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as they face past loves, family ties, and the impact of wildfires—while ecstatic dance becomes a means to channel anxiety and creativity. The book will be published in the UK this November by Charco Press, translated by Christina MacSweeney.

On Friday, November 21 at 7:00 p.m., at Hundred Years Gallery, poet Ángelo Néstore will present Leche Cruda (Raw Milk), their debut novel, in conversation with Gárriz. The book questions the limits of communication, queer imagination, and whether love is possible beyond a shared language. “Could crossing the borders between the human and the animal help bridge the gap that separates us?” asks its synopsis.

The evening will also feature the screening of seven short films by queer Spanish and Latin American filmmakers, curated by the collective Cinema Mentiré, under the title Fables, Chronicles and Love Letters. The selection includes: Carta a Lady (Ariel Nahon, Argentina 2019), Pytagua/Extranjere (Sara J. Quintana, Paraguay 2023), Calypso (Annalisa D. Quagliata, Mexico 2016), El mundo es afuera (Pablo Roldán Fernández, Colombia 2024), El sueño de Ana (José Luis Torres Leiva, Chile 2017), La noche del minotauro (Juliana Zuluaga Montoya, Colombia 2023), and 11 de septiembre (Cristina Peri Rossi, Uruguay/Spain). The evening will conclude with an exclusive live listening of Ana Quiroga’s new album FILE COPY.

On Saturday, November 22 at 4:00 p.m., Rio Cinema will screen Un hombre libre, a documentary directed by Laura Hojman about the life of exiled Spanish writer Agustín Gómez Arcos. The film, which portrays his life as a celebrated yet censored author, invites reflection on memory, silence and identity in Spain’s recent history.

That evening at 7:30 p.m. in The Divine, the play Pulsión de dulzura (Drive of Sweetness), written and performed by Sara Torres, Carmen Rojas, Karelis Zabrano, and Malena Casado, will reinterpret Anne Dufourmantelle’s essay and explore how gentleness can dismantle dualistic structures of body, desire and language, “challenging the philosophical tradition that distrusts emotion.” The night will close with the official fifth-anniversary party at Stokey Hall from 10:00 p.m., featuring DJ Selbor and Larga DJ, in collaboration with Lady Olé, celebrating queer music and Spanish culture in London, and aiming to connect the Spanish LGBTQIA+ community with a broader pan-European audience—“becoming a benchmark event for Eurovision fans,” say the organizers.

On Sunday, November 23 at 7:00 p.m., at The Divine, Ana Garriga and Carmen Urbita, creators of the acclaimed podcast Las Hijas de Felipe, will present Convent Wisdom, an essay recovering the lives of 16th- and 17th-century nuns whose independence and rebelliousness offer inspiration for facing today’s chaos. “These nuns were clever, defiant and surprisingly modern—their lives hold astonishing lessons for our times,” the authors note.

On Tuesday, November 25 from 6:30 p.m., the Cervantes Institute London will host the panel The Legacies of Francoism for the LGBTQ+ Community, focusing on topics such as the persecution of lesbians in religious spaces, gender-dissident archives, and reeducation centres for homosexuals. Speakers include Moisés Fernández Cano, Daniela Ferrández Pérez, and Víctor M. Ramírez, all specialists in historical memory and queer studies.

Revisions: Queer Podcasts ad hoc

Online activities will include special podcast editions revisiting key figures and moments connected to the festival’s themes. Juanra San and Bernardo Pajares will present a live edition of Arte Compacto, dedicated to Francis Bacon in 1990s Madrid, based on their book Pasiones creativas, exploring the artist’s love life and how it fed his unsettling paintings. (The Divine, November 23, 5:30 p.m.)

Three exclusive podcasts will also be available online from November 19–30: Las chicas del Volcán will explore ephebophilia and gay literary archetypes through writers like Álvaro Pombo, Jesús Alviz, Luis Antonio de Villena, and Manuel Mujica Lainez; Pequeños Bastardos, hosted by Luis Romeri, will feature Gonzalo Valdés Medellín and Erik Meneses, discussing their inspirations, reading habits, and reflections on the contested label “gay literature.”; and Niños Gratis, that will feature historian Nacho Moreno Segarra and writer-editor Sabina Urraca, focusing on Mario Bellatin, the celebrated and controversial Mexican queer author known for his experimental novels and international acclaim.

Tickets for all events are now available on Outsavvy:

https://www.romancerobooks-store.co.uk/v-lfqsc-fcqel-2025

Looking South: Studying Queer Experience

The fifth Festival of Queer Culture in Spanish reaffirms its commitment to visibility, diversity, artistic innovation and historical memory, becoming a cultural landmark for the LGBTQ+ community in London. Over the years, it has evolved beyond a mere festival to become a safe and reflective space amplifying the voices of artists and writers exploring queer experiences across the Spanish-speaking world. Past participants include Camila Sosa, Eva Baltasar, Luisgé Martín, Pol Guasch, Christo Casas, Ariel Florencia Richards, Paco Bezerra, Elizabeth Duval, Paco y Manolo, Carlos Barea, Eddi Circa, and Fernando López Rodríguez.

Romancero Books, an online bookstore and cultural platform based in London and directed by Jorge Gárriz, offers literature from Spain and Latin America, focusing especially on works by women authors. The store collaborates with both major and independent publishers and curates a diverse catalogue covering figures like Lorca, the Generation of ’27, writers in exile and diaspora, and emerging LGBTQ+ voices.

The event is sponsored by the Spanish Embassy in the UK, Spain Culture & Science UK, Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through its PICE program for internationalizing Spanish culture, the Cervantes Institute London, Hackney Council and its Hackney PRIDE 365 program, the Mexican Embassy in the UK, and Diversitas Institute. It also receives support from Latin American House, CLAUK: Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK, SRUK/CERU: Spanish Researchers in the UK, SpainU, Lady Olé, Gay’s The Word, Cinema Mentiré, The Poetry Translation Centre, and venues The Divine, Hundred Years Gallery, Rio Cinema, and October Gallery.

LOCATIONS:

Spanish Embassy in the UK (39 Chesham Place, London SW1X 8SB)

October Gallery (24 Old Gloucester St, London WC1N 3AL)

Hundred Years Gallery (13 Pearson St, London E2 8JD)

Rio Cinema (107 Kingsland High St, London E8 2PB)

The Divine (33-35 Stoke Newington Rd, London N16 8BJ)

Instituto Cervantes Londres (15–19 Devereux Ct, Temple, London WC2R 3JJ)

Stokey Hall (10 Northwold Rd, London N16 7HR)