Canary Islands Overhauls Literary Award Selection Process with Expert Committee
The Canary Islands government has introduced an expert-led selection process for its literary awards, naming poet Domingo López Torres and author Lola Suárez as the inaugural honorees under the new academic framework.
The Canary Islands government is changing how it selects honorees for its literary awards, moving toward a more professional and academic approach. The Ministry of Universities, Science, Innovation, and Culture, led by Migdalia Machín, has decided to hand the selection process for the 2027 Canary Islands Literature Day and the Day of Women Writers over to an expert committee.
The committee chose poet Domingo López Torres for the regional literature commemoration and author Lola Suárez for the day dedicated to female writers. This decision followed months of deliberation by a panel of nine specialists—including Víctor Álamo de la Rosa, Isabel García Bolta, and others—who reviewed nominations from cultural and scientific organizations across the islands.
The choice of López Torres (1907–1937) highlights the importance of the islands' avant-garde history. As a key figure in the early 20th-century surrealist movement, his work helped reshape local poetry before his life was tragically cut short. Meanwhile, honoring Lola Suárez (born 1956) brings much-needed institutional recognition to children’s and young adult literature, celebrating her long-standing efforts to encourage reading among younger generations.
Vice-Minister of Culture Horacio Umpiérrez explained that this new selection process is part of a broader strategy to honor essential authors and elevate the role of women in Canarian literature. By relying on expert evaluation rather than political discretion, the government hopes to increase the prestige of these awards and better reflect the archipelago’s five centuries of literary history. The proposal now awaits final approval from the Governing Council.