Instituto Cervantes invites Culture Night guests to explore the fiesta as a playground where literature, dance, and memory join hands to ignite our imagination and help us get our hands dirty.

Through reading excerpts from “Fiebre de carnaval” (Yuliana Ortiz Ruano) and “Like Water for Chocolate” (Laura Esquivel), we will analyse how the festive spirit permeates both the body and literature. We have all eaten and danced; our physicality processes information and stores stories through movement and flavour.

Through step-by-step guided practical exercises, attendees will activate these stimuli as creative triggers. The goal is to reconnect with sensory memory to translate the experience of food and rhythm into an original text, filled with vivid imagery, textures, and dynamism in record time.

This workshop is delivered in Spanish.

The workshop is taught by Luciana de Mello, an Afro-indigenous writer born in Buenos Aires. She has written about literature, feminism, and queer culture for the Argentine newspaper Página/12. Her novel Mandinga was published in Spain in 2025 by Penguin Random House and was selected as one of the best books of the year. She currently resides in Belfast and teaches writing workshops at The Crescent Arts Centre.

This event is part of the European Culture Trail brought to you by EUNIC Ireland (European Union National Institutes for Culture). You can download the EUNIC passport here and collect stamps at each stop to enter a draw for wonderful prizes!

See other participating venues in the European Culture Trail here.