Rosa Montero, Enrique Vila-Matas, Estrella Morente, Pedro Piqueras and Belén Cuesta, stars of the III Estepona Literary Festival (FLEST)

The event, organized by the Estepona Town Hall, will also feature Luis Alberto de Cuenca and Paloma Sanchez-Garnica, among other prominent names in the arts and literature. It will be held at the Mirador del Carmen Cultural Center from June 26th to 28th.

The inauguration will begin with an exhibition of works by the artist Brianda Fitz James Stuart, who will be accompanied by Topacio Fresh and Mario Vaquerizo. It can be visited in the central Terraza street.

The Estepona City Council has presented the program of the third edition of the Estepona Literary Festival (FLEST), which will take place from June 26 to 28, at the Mirador del Carmen Cultural Center, and will feature prominent names in the arts and letters, such as Rosa Montero, Enrique Vila-Matas Pedro Piqueras, Belén Cuesta or Estrella Morente, making it one of the most relevant in Andalusia.

The mayor, José María García Urbano, stressed that this third edition is another step forward in the firm commitment to culture that has been making the City Council. “Estepona is moving forward in many ways, and one of them is undoubtedly culture. For years we have been betting on culture, arts and thought, and this has been reflected not only in top-level events like this festival, but in new facilities that can accommodate them.” In this sense, he has highlighted the importance of the Mirador del Carmen Cultural Center, and its Library of Contemporary Cultures, as “beacon of culture in the province of Malaga”. “It has meant a huge leap in quality in the artistic offer, with first class activities throughout the year, which has positioned Estepona as a benchmark in the cultural field,” he said.

For his part, Alejandro Simon Partal, head of the Festival, highlighted the quality of its programming, which is designed to enhance the cultural fabric of the city through various activities, bringing big names in the arts and letters to the general public. He also pointed out that this third edition “emphasizes its cultural transversality and the celebration of the word, with a list of guests that addresses film, literature, music, painting and research”.

Concerts, conferences, dialogues and workshops will make up this third edition, which will kick off on Friday, June 26, at 8 p.m., with the opening on Terraza Street of the exhibition ‘El camino: de lo invisible a lo visible’, by artist Brinda Fitz James Stuart, who will be accompanied at this event by Topacio Fresh and Mario Vaquerizo.

An hour later, at 21.00 hours, in the Mirador del Carmen, will take place the meeting with the writer Rosa Montero. At 10 p.m., in the section Poets in the lighthouse, the protagonist will be the author Marta Jimenez Serrano.

To close the day, at 11 p.m., the talk entitled ‘Pop culture, all the parties of tomorrow’ will be given by Mario Vaquerizo and Topacio Fresh.

Youth literature and poetry

Youth literature will be represented by the author Myriam M. Lejardi, who will open the day on Saturday, June 27 at 12:00 noon. After this event, thinkers Marta Peirano and Santiago Alba Rico will discuss the future and artificial intelligence with a talk entitled ‘AI and Eternity: who wants to live forever?’

Also on this day there will be a children’s workshop (which will be repeated on Sunday) entitled ‘The house out the window’, aimed at children aged between 6 and 12 years. It will start at 11.00 a.m.

Saturday evening will start at 8 p.m. with the Malaga actress Belén Cuesta, who will talk about series and literature, and will continue at 9 p.m. with the participation of the writer Enrique Vila-Matas, one of the most prominent European authors of the moment, with his work translated into 32 languages.

The poet and philologist, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, National Poetry Prize 2015 and Queen Sofia Prize for Ibero-American Poetry 2025, will participate from 10 p.m. in the section Poets in the lighthouse.

The singer Estrella Morente will close this second day of FLEST, at 11 pm, with a concert/recital she will offer outside the Cultural Center.

Last day

A recital by the poet and writer Sara Torres (12:00 noon), and the conference ‘Franco: history and memory’, given by historian Julian Casanova (13:00), will open the morning of Sunday, June 28.

In the afternoon, starting at 8 p.m., writer Paloma Sánchez-Garnica, winner of the Fernando Lara Novel Prize (2016) and Planeta Prize (2024), will continue the festival’s program with the lecture ‘The intimate and the published’.

The journalist and writer Pedro Piqueras will be in charge of closing the festival with a dialogue that will be conducted by the writer and producer Jacobo Bergareche.

The III Estepona Literary Festival (FLEST) will once again have a bookstore space, where guest authors will sign copies of their works after their speeches and the public will be able to purchase these and other titles.