Otras historias del Archivo de Indias

Founded in Seville in 1785, the General Archive of the Indies (AGI) houses a vast collection of diverse documents (royal letters, travelogues, merit reports, estates of deceased persons, among others), generated primarily by the agencies of the Spanish Crown throughout the four centuries of the Empire. Besides bearing witness to the colossal effort involved in administering distant territories, this immense universe of paper treasured by the AGI also holds countless personal stories. Other Stories from the Archive of the Indies brings together texts by ten fiction and essay writers from Spain and Latin America who, using one or more documents from the Archive, tell us "other stories" that intertwine the distant voices of the past with the concerns of the present. In the dialogue between the document and literary creation, the analysis of these sources and the imagination converge to bring them closer to a contemporary audience. These stories are also an invitation to discuss the complex and necessary task of understanding and rethinking the traces of that history that both unites and separates us. Beyond this anthology, this project becomes a starting point for the many relevant and vital conversations that take place at the various Hay Festivals.