Fuerteventura Book Fair honours Lorenza Machín with the 2026 Alexis Ravelo Award

Fuerteventura Island Council will present Machín with the 2026 Alexis Ravelo Award, recognising her cultural career and enduring commitment to creativity, literature, the performing arts and the defence of a more equal and diverse society.

With this award, the island institution aims to honour a woman whose career is deeply rooted in Fuerteventura and its cultural life, and who for decades has used words, performance and artistic creation to tell stories, raise awareness and give visibility to social realities.

The 2026 Alexis Ravelo Award will be presented to Lorenza Machín on Friday, 16 October, at 8pm, as part of the Fuerteventura Book Fair programme.

Lorenza Machín is a writer, poet, actress and social activist. Her career includes performances in plays, monologues, short films and feature films, as well as literary work. Her work has been particularly closely linked to the defence of women’s rights and efforts to raise the profile of diversity.

Lorenza Machín’s literary career is closely tied to Fuerteventura and to the island institution itself. Her early publications include *El jardincillo encantado*, published by Fuerteventura Island Council in 2012, a work that forms part of the author’s literary output.

*El jardincillo encantado* was followed by other works, including *Tres nanas* (literally, *Three Lullabies*) and *Anarán*, also published in 2012, *Aurora Ocaso* (2017) and *Caminando. Antología* (2021). The Biblioteca de Canarias currently lists these works as part of her career as a writer.

For Island Council president Lola García and Culture Councillor Rayco León, it is important to recognise a career that forms part of Fuerteventura’s cultural memory, as well as Machín’s view of culture as a space for expression, questioning and thought, where other people can feel represented.

Rayco León says: “The Alexis Ravelo Award has one feature that we consider fundamental: it recognises those who have helped make books, reading and culture part of our society. Lorenza Machín embodies that spirit perfectly.”

Lorenza Machín has also been a familiar presence at the Book Fair and in various areas of Fuerteventura’s cultural life. The award also honours an entire generation of creators who have kept the island’s culture alive.

Lorenza Machín’s connection with the Book Fair and literary creation on the island goes back many years. In 2022, she took part in the round-table discussion ‘Writing in Fuerteventura’, alongside other Majorero authors, reflecting on the influence of the island, its landscapes and its people on literary creation.

She has also featured in earlier editions of the fair, taking part as a storyteller in the 2015 programme dedicated to Young Literature.

This connection with the fair gives the award particular significance: it recognises not only an individual career, but also a way of taking part in and contributing to Fuerteventura’s cultural life.