Magaluf Literature Festival concludes sixth edition with 13,000 attendees

The sixth edition of the Festival de Literatura Expandida de Magaluf (FLEM) has concluded, drawing more than 13,000 attendees. Despite inclement weather and a change in venue to the Innside Wave Calvià hotel, organizers reported the event as a success, noting that no scheduled activities were canceled.

The festival introduced new elements this year, including the FLEM-Magaluf Novel Prize and a writing residency for authors in Catalan and English. Participants included paleoanthropologist Juan Luis Arsuagay and novelist Anna Hope, among others.

The event continues to navigate tensions regarding its location in Magaluf, a major tourism hub in Mallorca. While some critics have previously accused the festival of ‘culturewashing’ to sanitize the area's reputation for mass tourism, festival director Miquel Ferrer maintains that the program does not hide the region's contradictions. Instead, the festival aims to use culture to open debates about the local economic model, historical routes, and the social impacts of tourism.