A Penguin Random House Portugal unveiled its new lineup today, featuring upcoming works by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, Irene Solà, Jon Fosse, and a major journalistic investigation into the origins of the Chega party as its primary highlight.
This month, Companhia das Letras releases ‘Os substitutos’ by Brazilian author Bernardo Carvalho, marking a significant return since the closure of Cotovia. The novel’s narrative centers on a father with improper behavior in a Brazil under military dictatorship and a son who seeks refuge in science fiction literature to escape his father’s shadow, discovering his father’s deviant sexuality and his own homosexuality in the process.
Also debuting this month is Ana Margarida de Carvalho’s ‘A chuva que lança a areia do Saara’, marking her return to novels six years after ‘O gesto que fazemos para proteger a cabeça’. The story begins with a drunken man, unknowingly sentenced to hard labor in a hidden quarry, meeting grotesque characters along the way.
Daniel Jonas makes his prose debut with ‘A justa desproporção’, a collection delving into both lofty and mundane topics, released by the same imprint this month.
October will see the first-time publication of Clarice Lispector’s ‘A legião estrangeira’ as originally imagined in its 1964 edition. Additionally, Companhia das Letras will release new novels by Ricardo Adolfo, set in Japan, and João Tordo’s ‘Inventário da solidão’.
Alfaguara welcomes back Juan Gabriel Vasquez with ‘Os nomes de Feliza’, a narrative drawn from Colombian sculptor Feliza Bursztyn’s life. Her sudden death at 48 in Paris is explored through a blend of biography, reality, and fiction. Feliza, who defied societal norms by pursuing her independence and art, led to her persecution and exile to Paris.
Another notable release is Beatrice Salvioni’s ‘A malcriada’, following ‘A malnascida’ published in 2023.
In October, Carmen Maria Machado’s first novel in Portugal will explore a college-era memory of abuse, woven with folklore and modern themes, following her previous work ‘O corpo dela e outras partes’.
The French writer Marie NDiaye’s new novel ‘Ladivine’, and Colombian Héctor Abad Faciolince’s ‘A nossa hora’ – recounting a tragic bombing at a Ukrainian book fair – highlight the month’s releases.
Eric Chacour’s acclaimed debut, ‘O que não sei de ti’, will also be available, exploring a doctor’s unexpected romance with a young man from the slums.
Cavalo de Ferro offers new works from renowned authors, including ‘Labirinto à beira-mar’ by Zbigniew Herbert, and Irene Solà’s ‘Dei-te olhos e viste as trevas’. October also sees releases of George Simenon’s ‘A casa dos Krull’, Péter Nádas’s ‘O fim de um romance familiar’, and Lázló Krasznahorkai’s satire ‘Herscht 07769’.
November brings Jon Fosse’s ‘Vaim’, the first in a trilogy following his Nobel Prize win. Elsinore will reissue works by Svetlana Alexievich and release Édouard Louis’s ‘O colapso’, focused on themes of violence.
The imprint will also publish ‘A estrada do Donbas’ by Serhij Zhadan, praised for its “jazz-like” literary style.
Non-fiction highlights include Miguel Carvalho’s ‘Por dentro do Chega. A face oculta da extrema-direita em Portugal’, a five-year investigation into the Chega party. Essays by Slavoj Zizek and Yanis Varoufakis will explore themes of progress and tech feudalism, respectively.
