Fabula Literary Evening – Ljubljana: Sergio Ramírez

Please be advised that Sergio Ramírez, the chief guest at this year’s Fabula Festival, will unfortunately be unable to attend the event in person on Monday, 16 March, due to health reasons. He will, however, join us remotely via live streaming.


Novelist, essayist, and Cervantes Prize winner (2017), Sergio Ramírez is one of Latin America’s most celebrated writers and intellectuals. Formerly Vice President of Nicaragua, Ramírez became a leading voice in Nicaraguan exile after the government stripped him of citizenship following the violent crackdown on protests in 2018; he is currently based in Spain.

The evening will focus on his novel Tongolele No Sabía Bailar (Tongolele Couldn’t Dance, 2021), a political noir and the third instalment in his Nicaraguan crime trilogy featuring Inspector Dolores Morales. Set in present-day Nicaragua under repressive rule, the story follows Morales, now a private detective, navigating corruption, violence, and mass protests. The novel blends crime fiction with sharp political analysis, exploring responsibility, memory, and the individual’s role in times of fear and censorship.

In Tongolele No Sabía Bailar the crime story becomes a chronicle of the present, with the detective serving as a guide through a world where private lives collide with systemic violence – and where literature assumes the role of a public voice.

Moderated by Carlos Pascual, with readings by Peter Podgoršek, the event will be held in Spanish with simultaneous translation into Slovenian.

Join us for a literary evening where a gripping narrative transforms into political testimony, and literature becomes an act of freedom and civic courage.