One of the great excitements of Hay’s international festivals is getting to know major writers who are often barely known, if at all, in Britain. The oldest of these figures currently in Xalapa, Mexico, is Sergio Pitol, a 79-year old Mexican who hobbles round the town in a faded grey suit and tie, looking like an intellectual from another era.

To better understand Mexico’s attempts to reclaim its global reputation, the Holmes Report recently travelled to the nation’s capital city. The country may not be known as a hotbed of public relations innovation, but the lessons from Mexico’s public relations programme are ones that should be heeded by any government, or indeed organisation, facing its own issues or crises.

At the beginning of May 2012, students, faculty and alums of Emerson College met with their counterparts in the beachside community of Rosarito, Mexico to commemorate the 5 year ongoing public diplomacy projects in the wake of the drug cartel crisis.

"Youth Excellene On Stage" is the theme of this workshop launched in 2009 jointly by the US Embassy in Thailand and a non-profit organisation, American Voices, with the aim to form a bridge between American and Thai cultures through the power of art and music, by providing budding Thai talents a chance to learn and master their skills from seasoned professionals.

APDS Blogger: Oscar Castellanos del Collado

Between January 29 and May 6, 2012, posters of Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait were hung from light posts around Los Angeles. The portraits served as invitations to “In Wonderland: the Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States,” the first co-organized exhibition by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Mexico’s Museum of Modern Art.

This colonial Mexican city recently received a special guest. Malia Obama, the US president’s 13-year-old daughter, walked through the city’s elegant, ornate churches on a school field trip with 12 classmates and two dozen security guards.

CPD Blog Manager: Naweed Lemar