2025 ALL IMPROVES AWARD FOR LGTBIQ+ YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
Malospelos presents itself as a young adult novel, but its reach goes far beyond an age label. It is a story capable of crossing generations and connecting with very different readers. From childhood to adulthood, the narrative offers an honest look at identity, belonging, and emotional refuge, showing that when a story is written with truth, good literature knows no closed audiences or generational limits.
The novel’s prologue is by Estrella Xtravaganza, providing a personal and committed perspective that accompanies and amplifies the spirit of the book from its first pages.
Synopsis
With the end of the school year just around the corner, Samuel eagerly awaits the holidays. However, his parents announce that this summer there will be no beach, but the countryside. And not just any countryside, but his grandfather’s village, lost in the middle of Extremadura.
The last thing Samuel wants is to spend weeks among cows and chickens, but his sister is convinced that great adventures await them there. He, on the other hand, is not so sure. However, what begins as a rural sentence will end up transforming into a bright experience, full of discoveries, unexpected bonds, and new ways of seeing himself and the world around him.
About the author
Dani Broncano is a Spanish as a Foreign Language teacher. He has lived in Greece, the United States, and currently resides in the Netherlands. He describes himself as “an Extremaduran around the world, as rural as cosmopolitan, bibliophile, travel sock, apprentice poet, and yellow in color.”
His writing is situated in contemporary costumbrismo and is especially aimed at women and the LGTBIQ+ community, with a clear goal: to build stories that serve as refuge, recognition, and a safe space for those who read them.
