Poet, novelist and playwright · 1943
Poet, novelist and playwright
Isabel Medina is a poet, novelist and playwright born in Hermigua. Her work, particularly important in Canarian children's and young adult literature, brings together a pedagogical vocation, popular culture, island memory and advocacy for equality.
She was born in Hermigua, La Gomera, on 20 June 1943. At three she moved with her family to Güímar, Tenerife, and later trained as a teacher. She taught for decades at schools on La Gomera and in southern Tenerife, an experience that directed much of her writing towards schools and young readers.
She made her poetry debut with Gánigo de ausencia in 1982 and published Cuentos canarios para niños the following year. That book began an extensive children's and young adult output based on island legends, landscape, heritage and popular culture, alongside poetry, theatre, essays and fiction for adults.
In 2003 she published La hija de abril, her first adult novel. She has also written opera librettos and several of her poems have been set to music by Canarian artists. The Biblioteca de Canarias and the Academia Canaria de la Lengua identify her as one of the most widely read and prolific writers of Canarian children's literature.
