The VIII International Congress of the Spanish Language will be held from March 27–30 in Córdoba, Argentina, with more than 200 writers, academics, experts, and professionals from around the world related to Spanish. It will be inaugurated by King Felipe of Spain and the Argentine president, Mauricio Macri. The theme of the event is “America and the future of Spanish. Culture and education, technology and entrepreneurship.”
It will be the second time that Argentina has hosted the Congress, the first being in Rosario in 2004. Gustavo Santos, Argentina’s secretary of tourism, remarked that “the Córdoba of Leopoldo Lugones [poet] or María Teresa Andruetto [writer] will be infected by the beautiful Spanish language.”
The program of academic events of this panhispanic symposium has been devised by Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Real Academia Española (RAE), who is taking into account the broad geographical origin of the speakers (America, Africa, Asia, and Europe) as well as the high proportion of women participating in the event.
Luis García Montero, director del Instituto Cervantes; Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Real Academia Española (RAE) and of the ASALE (Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española); Gustavo Santos, secretary of tourism for Argentina; and Juan Schiaretti, governor of the province of Córdoba.
Experts and artists from all over the Spanish-speaking world and from other countries will take part in the event, including the writers Mario Vargas Llosa and Carme Riera and the Ibero-American general secretary, Rebeca Grynspan.
Five Thematic Axes
The symposium is structured around five thematic sections or axes: “Spanish, universal language,” “Language and interculturality,” “Challenges of Spanish in 21st-century education,” “Spanish and the digital society,” and “The competitiveness of Spanish as a language for innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Each section will begin with a plenary session, a general presentation, and a round table, followed by a series of panels addressing the issue in depth.
There will also be three special plenary sessions: a tribute to Víctor García de la Concha, former director of the RAE (1998–2010) and Instituto Cervantes (2012–2017); a concert in homage to the Spanish musician Manuel de Falla; and another session in which the organizing institutions (RAE-ASALE, Instituto Cervantes, and Argentina) will present their activities and projects.
Previous congresses were held in Zacatecas (Mexico, 1997), Valladolid (Spain, 2001), Rosario (Argentina, 2004), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 2007), Valparaíso (Chile, 2010), Panama City (2013), and San Juan (Puerto Rico, 2016).
Registration for the event is now open (www.congresodelalengua.org.ar).
