Giles Tremlett

Writer and journalist Giles Tremlett looks at the history of Spain and argues that its failure to fashion a pure national identity is the country’s defining trait.

Tremlett says Spain’s position in the south-western corner of Europe has exposed it to cultural and political winds and to actual winds blowing from all corners. The Mediterranean connected it to the Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantines and the Arabic lands of the near east. Hordes from the Russian Steppes arrived followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Meanwhile, the winds and currents linked Spain to the Americas and allowed it to conquer and colonise much of it. Tremlett says all this has given Spain a hybrid vigour that it has found impossible to deny.

Tremlett is a writer, journalist and broadcaster based in Madrid. He is contributing editor at the Guardian and Madrid correspondent for the Economist.

The event is part of the festival’s programme of Spanish and Latin American literature and culture.