At this hour, I write to distract myself from the sadness of the news of the loss of a writer and an unforgettable friend, Félix Hormiga. An immense intellectual and human reference from Lanzarote to the world. And, in particular, to me. He was one of the first people I met upon arriving on the island, thanks to our mutual friendship with Alberto Omar Walls. From that dinner at "La Raspa" onwards, his presence was a constant in my life. Afternoons shared at the café of the old Mercadillo and, later, when it closed, some coffees at Boulevard Spínola that I am unable to accept will not be repeated. Coffees that were always collective, as so many friends who loved and admired him would always gather at his table. In the simple joy of sharing a moment of conversation. It is hard to admit that I will no longer hear his powerful voice, his anecdotes of the old port, his poems... All always seasoned with his extraordinary humor, his jokes that always made me laugh until my face and stomach hurt.
Praising his immense work in cultural management, writing, and his commitment and generosity to so many emerging authors from the Canary Islands through his project "Canarias en Letras" at the Mapfre-Guanarteme Foundation seems imperative this afternoon. To thank him. But I would also like to remember his immense humanity and his commitment to the cultural memory of Lanzarote and Arrecife, his city. He taught me, as well as all his fortunate readers, a way of looking at the city. That Arrecife always looks to the sea. He taught us that Arrecife, a compendium of subtle and precise reefs, launches itself into the sea in such a way that part of it remains trapped in the slopes of its streets. He taught us that the sea of Arrecife is a master key that opens the doors to an island and its secrets.
I will never be able to forget him. At this moment, the certainty that his books remain, to which I can turn whenever melancholy torments me, is barely enough comfort. Among his books, some favorites: his excellent Assa or Arrecife, a declaration of love for his city. To the sea of Lanzarote, to the seafaring tradition and the experience of hard sea work that he captured in that beautiful testimonial work, El rabo del ciclón. I will continue reading and rereading throughout my life the family myths, the testimonies of previous generations reflecting the harshness, but also the beauty, of life in Lanzarote in the past in the stories of Enigmas or La vieja a veces bebía. His delightful stories, profoundly human, true. And I will continue reading his latest poems illustrated on those colored papers of Una red pintada de palabras.
Arrecife will never be the same city without Félix Hormiga and his prodigious memory. Always generous, sharing his experience, his wisdom, offering his word to friends, that's how I want to remember him. His memory between the sea and the city that are part of us. His teaching (about the city): that only by recognizing ourselves within Arrecife can we "redraw" it and make it our own. Thank you, Félix, for so much and, above all, for your friendship, which was a lesson that will never end, thank you for your stories, for your indelible literary legacy
