The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) awarded an honorary doctorate on Thursday to the writer Juan Jesús Armas Marcelo, aged 80, who in turn announced that he would donate his library, his original manuscripts and his entire cultural heritage to the university.
The ULPGC has awarded the writer from Gran Canaria an honorary doctorate in recognition of «his contribution to Hispanic literature, the intellectual and essayistic dimension of his work, and his role as a cultural agent».
It also praises his efforts to create spaces for debate and the exchange of ideas and works, such as the Festival of Latin American Writers in La Palma, and the enduring connection he has maintained with the Canary Islands through his writing and work.
ULPGC: Honorary doctorate recognises literary and cultural achievements
The university emphasises in a statement that all of this «is fully in line» with its aims and values as «an Atlantic, open and cosmopolitan university committed to the international promotion of culture».
Professor Carmen Márquez, who acted as Armas Marcelo’s patron at his investiture ceremony, highlighted in her laudatory speech the life and work of this writer and journalist, who was also recently awarded the 2025 Canary Islands Prize for Literature.
«Armas Marcelo’s work provides material for studying the classical tradition, narrative techniques, insular memory and transatlantic exchanges. By incorporating it into our intellectual heritage, we take on the task of continuing to examine it,» she argued.
Marcelo Armas donates a library and original manuscripts
During the event, Armas Marcelo announced his intention to donate his entire cultural collection to the ULPGC; specifically, a library of over 15,000 volumes, an art collection comprising more than 50 paintings, his original writings, photographs, letters from writers and his collection of vinyl records.
«The ULPGC is the best place for this part of my memory to be preserved,» he said.
As for his speech as a newly qualified doctor, Armas Marcelo dedicated it to Benito Pérez Galdós and Mercedes Pinto, two writers whom he admires for their literature, their free-thinking and their defence of women.
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