CCPC Caps Award-Winning Year with Over 20 New Books

The Center for Canarian Popular Culture (CCPC) is ending the year with an impressive list of new books. They've published over twenty titles on different topics, for all kinds of readers, including poetry, fiction, essays, and children's literature. As always, this experienced publisher distributes these books across the Canary Islands and through its online store.

This year has been especially important for the CCPC. They received the Canary Islands Award for Popular Culture, the highest honor in the region, largely for their publishing efforts. So far, they've released nearly a thousand publications and sold over 4 million books.

Since 1977, the CCPC has consistently published books, helping generations of readers discover a love for reading through its extensive catalog.

For the holiday season, the Center suggests some of its latest titles:

(Vice-Ministry of External Action and Ministry of Universities, Science and Innovation of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo de La Palma and Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

La Palma author Cecilia López has released a new children's book, illustrated by Víctor Jaubert. It explores the complex issue of immigration through the eyes of a young African girl. With a style that blends tenderness and realism, López tells the story of Nafissa's journey from Hombori, a small town in Mali's Mopti region, to the far-off island of La Palma.

While suitable for all ages, the story is particularly aimed at children in the Canary Islands. It helps them understand the experiences of many young people, like Nafissa, who now share their classrooms and communities after making difficult journeys in boats, driven by the hope of a better life and the sadness of leaving their families.

(General Directorate of Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands and Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

This dictionary is the masterpiece of journalist, writer, and lexicographer Alfonso O’Shanahan (1944-2009). Spanning over 1,200 pages, it features more than 13,000 words and phrases from both rural and urban Canarian culture. It's a truly valuable resource.

For nearly 20 years, Alfonso O’Shanahan meticulously collected words and idioms from his surroundings, from folk songs across the islands, popular music, and traditional ballads. He also documented thousands of important discoveries from newspaper archives in both provinces and from hundreds of books – many now out of print – by renowned authors from various islands and time periods.

First published in 1995, this book has been out of print for the past 23 years. There are many reasons to make this powerful "tool" available to Canarian society once more. It's perhaps even more vital today, as we see many unique elements of the islands' speech rapidly and irreversibly disappearing, leading to the quiet loss of part of our intangible cultural heritage.

(Cabildo de Tenerife and Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

In this book, Tenerife author Cecilia López writes intimate and heartfelt letters to remarkable women from throughout history. She explores their lives and their contributions to human progress, offering her reflections as an experienced feminist. Through short, beautifully written chapters, she introduces us to women from different eras and cultures around the world, including Cleopatra, Hypatia of Alexandria, Trotula of Salerno, Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pizan, Joan of Arc, Artemisia Gentileschi, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Olympe de Gouges, Charlotte Corday, Flora Tristán, Clotilde Cerdà, Marie Curie, Helen Keller, Mercedes Pinto, Josefina de la Torre, Clemencia Hardisson, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Carlota María Angélica de la Quintana, and concludes with an imagined conversation with Anne Frank.

(Cabildo de Tenerife and the Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

Amílcar Martín Medina, who holds a doctorate in chemistry from ULL, explores the extraordinary life of a truly versatile individual in this publication. Figures like Agustín de Betancourt y Molina are rare in the history of science and technology. He was an engineer, scientist, professor, and artist, as well as an urban planner, architect, and a brilliant organizer. He even founded two Schools of Civil Engineering, one in Spain and one in Russia. His many accomplishments truly mark him as a genius. The author details Betancourt y Molina's technical achievements and delves into his scientific work, which is often overlooked or barely mentioned in books about the Canarian scholar. The goal is to present this information to the general public in a simple and educational way.

(Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

María del Pino Marrero Berbel, known as Berbel, is a celebrated poet, writer, and multidisciplinary artist. She has showcased her talents in various fields, including photography, film, and painting.

With over 30 published titles, this anthology brings together a broad selection of her poetry from 1982 to 2021. While Berbel's literary output is vast, this collection features poems from the ten books that best represent her unique poetic voice and journey, offering a comprehensive insight into her work.

(Güímar City Council and Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

José Galán Hernández was a Tenerife intellectual who was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War due to his progressive views. Born in Tacoronte in 1893, he was a man of many talents: a national teacher, an Artillery sergeant, mayor of Fasnia, founder of the Socialist Group of Güímar, secretary of the Federation of Education Workers (FETE-UGT), and a respected writer, journalist, and poet.

As a renowned poet and essayist, his literary interests led him to regularly attend the prestigious poetry gatherings in La Laguna, where Manuel Verdugo was a leading figure.

This anthology features a selection of his poetry along with an extensive biography written by Octavio Rodríguez Delgado, the official chronicler of Candelaria and Güímar.

(Ministry of Culture and Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

Pepa Aurora is regarded as one of the top children's literature authors in the Canary Islands, with extensive experience in education.

Her stories offer children across the islands a wonderfully creative journey, teaching them about the landscapes, traditions, history, legends, and customs of the Canary Islands. "Cuenteando con Pepa Aurora" contains 10 short stories. As is typical of her work, she includes words unique to Canarian speech.

The book features beautiful illustrations by the well-known Canarian artist Víctor Jaubert.

(Center for Canarian Popular Culture)

This book is a collection of press articles published between 2019 and 2025. In it, the author analyzes a series of court rulings, which he himself calls "legal atrocities perpetrated by some judges." With a distinguished political and legal career, including 30 years as a professor of constitutional law at the University of La Laguna, Santiago Pérez offers a sharp and brilliant legal analysis of the most significant events in Spain during the last four years of this "judicial war." He also clearly uncovers their underlying motives and goals.