Noticia · 2 de November de 2026

A fair without its publishers: a boycott clouds the Las Palmas Book Fair’s return

The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Book Fair will return to San Telmo Park from 19 to 22 November, for the first time since May 2024. But the event will take on a different character without the 25 publishers in the Canary Islands Publishers’ Guild (GRECA), who have unanimously agreed not to take part.

The boycott turns an organisational problem into a wider cultural debate. A fair can keep its dates, its stalls and its programme, but something of its fabric is lost when local publishers feel they were brought into the conversation too late.

A week to decide

The city council announced its call for participants on 26 October. It said bookshops, publishers and other organisations could register free of charge until 30 October. According to local reporting, the terms had been published on 23 October, giving the book trade roughly a week to arrange to attend a fair less than a month away.

GRECA argues that this leaves too little time to coordinate authors, launches, logistics and professional commitments with the care an established event demands. The guild also questions the location and layout of the spaces in San Telmo Park, arguing that the proposed arrangements fall short on comfort, accessibility and the smooth running of the fair.

According to its statement, reported by the EFE news agency, the decision doesn't mean the publishers are turning their backs on the fair. They remain willing to discuss future editions and are calling for continuity, planning and a genuine say for the book trade in shaping the event.

Book signings beyond the stalls

Author signings are one of the most visible points of contention. The rules don't ban them, but move them away from the stalls: they must take place at times and in spaces approved by the organisers.

The council's reasoning is practical. Some stalls will line narrow walkways, and holding signings in designated areas would help prevent overcrowding and keep people moving. GRECA, however, argues that separating authors from the stalls weakens one of the relationships at the heart of any book fair: direct contact between those who write, publish, sell and read books.

This is no small distinction. A signing may look like a promotional exercise, but for an independent publisher it's also a chance to introduce readers to a list, help voices with less commercial exposure find readers and turn a one-off sale into a lasting relationship with a reader.

Two accounts of the same return

The council says it had been working on the programme for weeks with the Canary Islands Booksellers’ Association (ACOLI). Its announcement presents the fair's revival as a show of support for books and reading, and stresses that taking a stall will be free.

GRECA counters that consulting one part of the book world is no substitute for involving the others. The publishers also want an explanation for the hiatus after the May 2024 fair and warn that interruptions make it harder to build an audience, establish a regular place in the calendar and develop professional partnerships.

Both sides agree on one essential point: Las Palmas needs a book fair. The dispute is over how to make it a fair that the book trade, on which it depends, can call its own.

The fair as cultural infrastructure

A book fair is more than a collection of stalls. It's a temporary piece of infrastructure that brings together public policy, bookshops, publishers, authors, libraries and readers. If any one of them is left out of the planning, the programme may survive, but the conversation narrows.

The Las Palmas dispute raises a question for many cities: is putting on a fair enough to strengthen the book world, or must it be built with the people who work all year to bring books into being and into readers’ hands?

The announcement of the boycott won't provide the answer. That will emerge from what happens before 19 November, from whether the two sides can reopen talks and, above all, from how they prepare for the next fair. The fair has a date; trust has yet to be restored.