Until December 21, it is celebrated Abrawordthe second edition of the great literature festival for children and young people, organized by La Casa Encendida of the Montemadrid Foundation and La Fábrica.
For ten days, the meeting brings together some of the more names … notable figures in contemporary illustration, narration and writing such as Violeta Lópiz, Kitty Crowther, Kristin Roskifte, Mónica Rodríguez, Gabriel Pacheco, Karina Schaapman or Juan Gómez-Jurado, as well as authors in conversation with schools, libraries, centers for the elderly, families and vulnerable groups, such as the Soto del Real Prison Center – Madrid V and the San Isidro Reception Center of Madrid City Hall.
The programming includes intergenerational meetings, artistic workshops, early childhood shows, live podcasts, guided toursreading spaces, myths told with interpretation in sign language, collective interventions and creative experiences where words coexist with music, illustration, theater and the imagination.
under the motto “It’s written in the sky”Abrapalabra structures its entire programming around the idea – in the words of its artistic director, Ana Cristina Herreros – that “the first thing we read was the sky”. The festival recovers this ancestral gaze to invite us to “learn to read what is not written” through celestial myths, workshops, shows and experiences that explore the visible and the invisible, the fragile and the imagined.
‘Microcosm’ is the interactive installation created by Violeta Lópiz – National Illustration Prize 2025 and author of the image of this second edition – in collaboration with the Gheada studio, and produced with the support of the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics of the Government of the Balearic Islands.
There are activities aimed at families with children aged 3 and over.
The work transforms an exhibition room at La Casa Encendida into an immersive space of light, sound and observation of the tiny. In addition, Lópiz hosts the workshop “The answer is in the wind”, also supported by the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics, aimed at families with boys and girls from 3 years old, where participants will create birds and form a collective flock.
The famous Dutch artist Karina Schaapman presents in Abrapalabra, with the support of the Dutch Embassy and the Nederlands Letterenfonds, one of his famous miniatures of “The House of the Mouse” and offers a guided tour to families to discover the artisanal and narrative process behind his work.
Nordic illustration
“We create paradise together” is a workshop with Elena Valin which each participant designs their own imaginary planet, their ship and the tools necessary to achieve their goals. The results of this workshop give shape to the exhibition installation “Imaginary Rumbos”.
Norwegian illustrator Kristin Roskiftewith the support of the Norwegian Embassy and Norla, presents an artistic intervention that will be constructed collectively during all days of the festival: an open work that will bring together the drawings and wishes of the public to reflect on diversity, hope and possible futures.
The festival also presents other names among the most recognized on today’s cultural scene: Juan Gomez-Juradowho will participate alongside Barbara Montés in a workshop for young readers revealing the keys to storytelling and the creative process; and neuroscientist Nazareth Castellanos, who will offer a workshop on breathing, rhythm and the brain for children, to understand that inside we house a large orchestra that must be coordinated.
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