“Cartas para a Vila Berta”, to be published by Bertrand, is a work that has remained unpublished for nearly 50 years. The book compiles letters written by Miguel Esteves Cardoso to his friend Carlos Vilela, who lived in Vila Berta, Lisbon, and never responded to them.
“Who was Miguel Esteves Cardoso from the ages of 20 to 24? Everything he felt and thought is here, penned by himself or typed on an Olivetti Lettera32, in the aftermath of April 25th, from Manchester, where he graduated with top marks in Political Studies and later earned a doctorate in Political Philosophy with equal distinction,” the publisher highlights.
These letters include the author’s reflections on life, politics, and culture, touching on varied themes such as an “obsession with kitsch, youthful cruelty toward the misery of others, a taste for being discriminatory, controversial political opinions, from Salazar to Mussolini, the beginning of collaboration with newspapers, an interview with Leonard Cohen, a walk through Scotland, disdain for almost all Portuguese authors, or the terror of a possible fatherhood with an Irish woman.”
At Quetzal, one of the major releases is “De quatro” by American writer, screenwriter, and director Miranda July, which is a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and has been featured on many other literary prize lists, including the National Book Award for Fiction.
The same imprint revives two Portuguese authors: André Canhoto Costa with “A corte das mulheres,” which revisits the story of a select but powerful group of women commanding intellectual life in the Portuguese Court of the 16th century, and João Pedro Vala with “Dicionário de Proust,” a work about the essentials of Marcel Proust “for those who have read him, those who have never read him, and those who read him long ago.”
Quetzal will also reissue the “Conta-Corrente” collection, a diary-style work by Vergílio Ferreira, starting this month with volume 1, covering the period between 1969 and 1981.
Leya presents as one of its major new releases the novel “Pés de barro” by Nuno Duarte, winner of the Leya Prize 2024, set against the backdrop of the construction of the first bridge over the Tagus in Lisbon, portraying Portugal of the 1960s.
Dom Quixote is set to release a novel that was a finalist for the same prize in 2023, “Passagem Noturna” by Azorean Leonor Sampaio da Silva. In translated literature, the publisher brings “O Lado Errado” by Davide Copo, about a young man from a good family with no significant traumas who chooses the path of political extremism and fascism, as well as “Seis Malas” by Maxim Biller, a story about an enigma that was a finalist for the German Book Prize.
Editorial Presença introduces German author Ewald Arenz to Portugal with “O perfume das peras selvagens,” a novel acclaimed by the German critics, exploring the unlikely relationship between a 17-year-old anorexic girl and a 50-year-old woman who has withdrawn from the world, living in seclusion on a farm she tends to alone.
At Alfaguara, authors Jamaica Kincaid and Fleur Jaeggy return. Kincaid, known for “Annie John,” offers the novel “Lucy,” centered on family ties. Jaeggy presents “O medo do céu,” a compilation of seven dark stories.
Cavalo de Ferro publishes “A mulher nova” by Carmen Laforet (1921-2004), a pioneering novel depicting a woman rebelling against her condition and seeking independence in post-war Spain, alongside another book by Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse, “Casa de Barcos.”
Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor, author of “Temporada de furacões,” returns to Elsinore, which publishes this month her first book, “Isto não é Miami,” in a revised edition with an added unpublished text.
Companhia das Letras introduces illustrator António Jorge Gonçalves into its literary non-fiction collection with “O caminho de volta,” an essay written and drawn by the author during his mother’s stay in a nursing home, blending image and text as equal narrative components.
In the same imprint, “A árvore mais sozinha do mundo” by Brazilian author Mariana Salomão Carrara is released, telling the story of a family exhausted by tobacco plantation work, struggling to survive amid scarcity and climate collapse.
Among the highlights from Porto Editora is the publication of the latest book by Cuban writer Leonardo Padura, “Ia a Havana,” while Assírio & Alvim releases “Lamento Por Uma Pedra e outros poemas” by W.S. Merwin, and “Carta Sobre o Comércio dos Livros” by Denis Diderot.
