On Monday, Spain went dark. Two days ago, at 12:33PM, the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula lost power completely. Mainland Spain, Portugal and part of France shut down from one moment to the next. Every home, business, traffic light, train, lost electricity. Hospitals worked with back-up generators, while traffic jams lasted for hours. We are Spanish National Radio's English broadcast, and we will be dedicating today's broadcast to explain how Spain went through the crisis and what the aftershocks are.

We also talk to Pablo Ledesma, Associate Professor of Electric Engineering of the Carlos III University of Madrid, about what might have caused the blackout, and whether it might happen again.

The International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in April. A day to encourage girls and young women to pursue technological degrees and raise awareness about the gender gap in ICT. In Spain, less than 20% of people who work in tech are women, and only 1.5% of girls want to pursue a career in STEM, according to the latest survey conducted by the National Obervatory of Technology and Society.

Ester Maestro, programs director at the "Cibervoluntarios" foundation, joined us in this broadcast to tell us about their project "Innovadoras TIC" (women innovators ITC).

After that, we speak with Conxi Perez, IT engineer and CEO of "Rolldbox Games" about her experience as a woman in tech.

To celebrate this year's World Book Day, we visited a unique bookstore located in the heart of Madrid. The Secret Kingdoms is the only bookstore in the city with a catalog exclusively in English. A hidden treasure in Madrid's literary quarter. Owner David Price opened its doors for us.

As consciousness about environmental issues grows, companies and institutions are becoming more aware of the necessity of developing sustainable and ethical business models. The fashion industry is one of the most environmentally unfriendly. Its impact is enormous in terms of water consumption and carbon emissions.

That's why more and more associations are raising their voices and coming up with initiatives to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability in fashion. One of these projects is the Circular Sustainable Fashion Week Madrid, which will be celebrating its 9th edition from the 21st to the 26th of April. Paloma López, director of the project, joined us to tell us about it.

After that we learn about "torrijas", a traditional Spanish Holy Week dessert, with Roberto Hernandez, chef at Latasia and winner of this year's "Madrid's Best Traditional Torrija contest".

"In a certain village in La Mancha, which I do not wish to name" is probably one of the most well-known openings in literature. And more than 400 years after its publication, Miguel de Cervantes's "Don Quijote de la Mancha" continues inspiring literary works.

This is the case of American writer Roy Lotz, who took inspiration from the Cervantine classic to write a satiric novel about American Society. He joined us here to tell us about "Don Bigote".

We have heard a lot about tariffs lately. The imposition of highest tariffs by the United States, to basically every country, has led to chaos and uncertainty. But what is it exactly that we are facing?

Professor or Economy, Óscar Fentanes, joined us to answer this question.

"Las sombras ya tienen nombre", the shadows already have names partly because he gave it to them. In between hope and melancholy, Spanish photographer Samuel Nacar, portrayed those who were released from the Syrian prisons after the fall of the Al-Asad Regime in December of 2024.

His work, featured in the Revista 5W, was recognized by the World Press Photo this year, in the the category Stories of Western, Central and South Asia. Samuel Nacar joined us to tell us about his work.

Also, in this broadcast we hear from economy professor Oscar Fentanes, who told us about the "tariff war" and its consequences.

Antonio Machado is probably one of the most important personalities in Spanish literature. The youngest in the Generation of 1898, his poetry was characterized by an intimate symbolism. During the Spanish Civil War, he exiled to France where he died shortly after, very far from his brother Manuel Machado, who stayed in Spain. Also a poet, he continued his work at the service of the regime.

Two brothers divided by the war, a reflection of the country at the time. Now, a graphic novel reconciles the Machado brothers in the afterlife. The third installment in the trilogy about Spanish poets, which also includes Federico Garcia Lorca and Miguel Hernandez. Author Carles Esquembre closes off this stage with "Los hermanos Machado. Hoy son siempre todavía". He joined us to tell us about the inspiration behind this trilogy.