Sarfraz Manzoor

I am writing this from Cartaghena in Columbia where I am speaking at the Hay festival. It is a steaming, sweltering city and a far cry from my usual experience of Hay festivals which tends to involve wellington boots. I have just come from speaking at a British Council event in front of Columbian students. It was not easy trying to find a topic that I could usefully speak about that would also connect with them. I chose to talk about being an insider and outsider since that is something I have some knowledge of and it was also something that i imagine could resonate with the students. There is a large black population here, because of slavery and it makes me wonder what relations are like, whether there is a greater degree of colour blindness here than say in North America or Europe.

It has been a rather strange and thrilling few days so far. Last night I visited a bar that was throbbing with live African music. Sweat was pouring off the walls as we squeezed our way towards the back. There, seated with friends, enjoying a meal was Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Throughout the night various strangers would sidle up to him and plead to be allowed to be photographed next to him. He face tended to crinkle into a smile when the person asking happened to be an astonishingly beautiful young woman but he did not turn away the fat men with shiny chins. At first I felt sorry for him, but then it struck me that he was most likely relishing the attention and that he if truly wanted to be left alone he would not have chosen to visit the bar during the few days when a festival dedictated to great literature was in town.