Cercas, Belli, Gioconda Iwasaki, and Juan Gabriel Vásquez will participate in the 10th International Congress of the Spanish Language in Arequipa

The Diplomat Writers Javier Cercas, Gioconda Belli, Fernando Iwasaki, and Juan Gabriel Vásquez will be among the authors participating in the 10th International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), which will be held in Arequipa, Peru, from October 14 to 17, 2025, under the theme "Major Challenges of the Spanish Language: Mestizaje and Interculturality, Clear and Accessible Language, Digital Cultures, and Artificial Intelligence." This Friday, the academic and cultural program for this edition of the Congress was presented in Arequipa. The program is organized by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the Cervantes Institute, together with the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE) and the host country, which is Peru this year. The event was attended by the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero; The director of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and president of ASALE, Santiago Muñoz Machado; the Foreign Minister of Peru, Elmer Schialer; the president of the Organizing Committee and the Working Group of the 10th CILE of the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Chávez-Taffur; the president of the Peruvian Academy of Language (APL), Eduardo Hopkins Rodríguez; the rector of the National University of San Agustín de Arequipa, Hugo Rojas Flores; and the mayor of Arequipa, Víctor Hugo Rivera Chávez. This tenth congress, a triennial event usually inaugurated by the King of Spain, will provide a forum for reflection on the Spanish language and will be divided into three thematic sections. It will also include a plenary session in honor of the writer and academic Mario Vargas Llosa, who passed away last April, in his hometown. Among the participants will be the aforementioned writers, in addition to Alonso Cueto, Jorge Eduardo Benavides, Inés Martín Rodrigo, Carlos Granés, and Jorge Fernández Díaz, as well as various experts in clear and accessible language and artificial intelligence, according to a press release from the Cervantes Institute. At the ceremony, held in the Arequipa Auditorium of the National University of San Agustín (UNSA), details were revealed about the 10th CILE in Arequipa and the academic and cultural program of the language summit, which will be held for the first time in Peru. The director of the Cervantes Institute, García Montero, previewed some of the cultural activities that will take place in the Peruvian city, such as the exhibition "El Prado en las calles" (The Prado in the Streets) and the dictionary of words in homage to Mario Vargas Llosa. “These meetings serve as a reflection on the language that unites us and also on the horizons of the world we inhabit. I hope this congress is the congress that Arequipa, Peru, and the Spanish language that unites us all deserve,” he stated. Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Language For his part, the director of the RAE and president of ASALE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, explained (via videoconference) the academic program of the congress and previewed some of the activities that will take place during the 10th CILE, including the presentation of the printed edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Language, a ten-volume publication. In addition to the director himself, RAE members Carme Riera, Juan Luis Cebrián, Ignacio Bosque, Guillermo Rojo, José Manuel Sánchez Ron, Salvador Gutiérrez Ordóñez, Darío Villanueva, Soledad Puértolas, Juan Gil, Aurora Egido, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, Dolores Corbella, Asunción Gómez-Pérez, Clara Sánchez, and Javier Cercas will participate in the conference. Eduardo Hopkins Rodríguez, president of the Peruvian Academy of Language (APL), announced that the "Dictionary of Peruvianisms" will be presented. In addition, the RAE, the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE), and the APL will launch a commemorative edition of César Vallejo's poetry in Arequipa, which will be published simultaneously in all Spanish-speaking countries. The book will be edited by poet and academic Marco Martos. Finally, Elmer Schialer Salcedo, Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs, congratulated the organizers for their collaborative work and assured that Arequipa will be "a celebration." With the Arequipa congress, Peru joins the countries that have hosted the most important event dedicated to the Spanish language for more than 25 years. Previous CILEs were held in Zacatecas (Mexico, 1997), Valladolid (Spain, 2001), Rosario (Argentina, 2004), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 2007), Valparaíso (Chile, 2010, held online due to an earthquake), Panama (Panama, 2013), San Juan (Puerto Rico, 2016), Córdoba (Argentina, 2019), and Cádiz (Spain, 2023). Arequipa was scheduled to host the ninth International Congress of the Spanish Language in 2023, but was forced to withdraw in favor of Cádiz due to the country's political instability. For this reason, at the end of that Congress (held in March 2023), it was decided to once again entrust the Peruvian city with hosting the next edition.

Related Content

The Government of Peru dismisses its ambassador in Spain, who will continue in office until the end of July

The Cervantes Institute will hold its Annual Directors' Meeting in Jerez at the end of July

Albares condemns Russia's latest massive attacks on Ukraine, which left 13 dead

Spanish Consul in Tripoli meets personally with Alicia Armesto, the activist detained in Libya

Spain rejects military escalation in southern Lebanon and demands respect for the ceasefire