Palabras al Vuelo 2026, the 14th Lanzarote International Oral Storytelling Festival, ran from Thursday, October 8 to Sunday, October 18 with more than fifty storytelling sessions in Arrecife, Tías, Yaiza, Haría and San Bartolomé. Six storytellers from Kenya, France, Italy and Spain performed for adults and families, with three sessions in English, French and Italian and almost the whole program free.

How Palabras al Vuelo 2026 went

The festival opened on Thursday the 8th at the Camel Interpretation Center in Uga with La primera palabra, a session for several voices with Pepito Mateo, Pablo Albo and Cristina Temprano. The next day, Planeta Cuento brought all six storytellers together at the Teatro Municipal de Tías.

The following days brought stories at the Centro Cívico and the Biblioteca Insular in Arrecife, a storytelling walk through the Albergue de Tegoyo, Pepito Mateo’s El camino de la lengua at El Almacén and Delayed, stories for adults set in airport waiting rooms, with Isabel Bolívar. The festival closed on Sunday the 18th with a catamaran trip from Puerto del Carmen harbor and stories from the Decameron told by Simone Negrín, the festival’s only paid activity.

Stories in English, French and Italian

The three sessions in other languages took place at El Fondeadero in Puerto del Carmen, with free entry: So They Said, in English, with Kenyan storyteller Wangari; Pepito Solo, in French, with Pepito Mateo; and Racconti al sapore di vermut, in Italian, with Simone Negrín. Palabras al Vuelo programs them every year for foreign residents, visitors and language students.

Families, workshops and other activities

The family program was mostly in Arrecife, with Bebecuentos for babies aged 6 to 36 months, Planeta Cuento en órbita familiar and Animalario diverso, which filled up with a waiting list. There were also storytelling workshops with Pepito Mateo and Pablo Albo, a Biblioteca Humana (human library) at the Sociedad de Máguez in Haría, and a sold-out Cuentos entre volcanes in San Bartolomé.

The next edition

Palabras al Vuelo takes place every October. The dates of the 15th edition, in 2027, will be announced on the festival website, and we’ll add them to the cultural agenda as soon as they are published.

More to do in Lanzarote

Uga, where the festival opened, is the village of the camels that carry visitors on the slopes of Timanfaya, and Tegoyo sits among the La Geria vineyards explained in our guide to Lanzarote wines. A week after the catamaran trip, Puerto del Carmen hosted the Ocean Lava Lanzarote 2026 triathlon, and the month closed with the Noche de los Finaos.

→ What happened in October, in the Lanzarote Cultural Agenda · October 2026.
→ What’s coming up, in the Lanzarote Cultural Agenda · November 2026.
→ For the full picture of the island, our guide to things to do in Lanzarote.

Published: Oct 5, 2026. Updated: Oct 28, 2026. Official sources: Palabras al Vuelo, Cabildo de Lanzarote · Cultura, Ayuntamiento de Tías.