'Mizé', by Ricardo Adolfo, new Portuguese edition out!

'Mizé' is a wonderful novel by Portuguese author Ricardo Adolfo. The novel was originally published in Portugal in 2006 by Dom Quixote and now Alfaguara Portugal is about to release a new edition, revised by the author and with a stunning new cover.

Ricardo Adolfo's latest novel, 'Depois de morrer aconteceram-me muitas cosas' ('Lots Happened to Me After I Died', Alfaguara Portugal 2009) has been a success in Portugal and Alfaguara Portugal has decided to back the author and promote him as one of their top Portuguese authors by releasing this new edition while Ricardo Adolfo writes a new novel.

* “Lots happened to me after I died” is a big, enjoyable surprise (Diario Digital, Portugal)

* A level that is uncommon in the new Portuguese literature ('Ler' magazine, Portugal)

* A successful entry in the literary world (Newspaper 'Sol', Portugal)

* Ricardo Adolfo has already received the blessing of his peers. valter hugo mãe and José Eduardo Agualusa recommend him as obligatory reading (Newspaper 'Sol', Portugal)

* Choice of Best Books 2009 from 'Ler' Magazine: Ricardo Adolfo draws with irony a portrait of all those who live immigrated within themselves, wherever they may be. 

Set in the outskirts of Lisbon 'Mizé' is the story of a man who loved the idea of loving a woman, and a woman who loved the idea of being loved by many men. It’s a research on living in an imaginary dimension created by ambitions and wishes, where an ensemble of suburban characters struggles to fulfil their dreams – while struggling with their petty conditions, the daily grind, and bigger aspirations than they could possibly handle. 

With a very peculiar point of view, these characters take us into an exploration of double moral standards, ambiguity and into the grey zones that we all operate in. 'Mizé' is a story of fiction versus fiction, where truth doesn’t exist, but lie doesn’t either.

Foreign rights of 'Mizé' have been sold to: Berlin Verlag (Germany) in a pre-empt, Querido (The Netherlands) and Suma – Santillana Group (Spain).

The novel centers on Palha, a young man who still lives with his parents in the unglamorous suburbs of Lisbon, who desperately wants to fall in love. His life proceeds as expected until one magical night when he finds himself drinking with Mizé, the beautiful and sought-after neighborhood hairdresser. After a night of unprecedented passion, she agrees to marry him. 

Soon after he begins conjugal life in a small apartment, Palha is faced with an insurmountable project at work and seeks advice from his old bar cronies. As is typical, they completely misunderstand his predicament, thinking he’s received a big promotion instead, and so they rent a couple porn movies to celebrate. 

To his horror, Palha discovers the star of the movies is his own Mizé. After confronting her, his life begins a downward spiral which culminates in his attempted murder of a leading porn producer. 

* The entire book is a fast-paced pleasure (Ingrid Mylo, Germany)

* Sublime reading pleasure; a Portuguese who writes books like Almodóvar makes movies! (Neon, Germany)

Orlando Publishers (Netherlands) has acquired rights of 'Hierba Santa', by A. Scheiman

We are happy that Orlando Publishers (a new imprint of AW Bruna Publishers/The Netherlands) has acquired Dutch rights of 'Hierba Santa', by Alexandra Scheiman. The Bruna Group publishes important international authors in The Netherlands, and some of the most acclaimed Spanish speaking ones such as Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Marcelo Figueras or Guillermo Martínez.

'Hierba Santa' has been published by Planeta Mexico and, with echoes of Magic Realism, is a vivid homage to Frida Khalo, a woman who changed the course of modern art. 

In the novel we are told that all her life Frida kept a little notebook which she called 'The Book of Hierba Santa (Holy Herb)'. In it, she wrote down not only her thoughts and ideas but also many Mexican food receipes that she prepared every 'Día de Muertos' (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include preparing the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Some of Frida's favourite receipes are included in the novel towards the end of every chapter, so apart from enjoying the narrative and learning more abot Frida's life, readers can also try their culinary skills and pay their own homage to a woman that has become an icon of 20th century art and feminism.

'Alicia en un mundo real', de Isabel Franc y Susanna Martín

En Abril llegará a las librerías una novela gráfica tierna, divertida y vital: 'Alicia en un mundo real' (Norma Editorial)

Porque 'la vida después del cáncer ya nunca es igual... pero viene a ser lo mismo'.

Isabel Franc y Susanna Martín nos presentan esta novela gráfica en la cual Alicia no vive en el país de las maravillas. Ha pasado por una experiencia que, lamentablemente, es real y común para muchas mujeres: un cáncer de mama. Sin embargo, gracias a su espíritu luchador, alocado y positivo ha sabido darle la vuelta a la situación. Ni el periplo de la enfermedad ni los tratamientos agresivos, ni la extirpación de un pecho le han robado el sentido del humor...

Podéis leer un avance de la novela (aquí).

EL mejor amigo del escritor - Jóvenes Agentes Literarios en Barcelona (Tendències, 04-03-2010)

Ayer, 04-03-2010, el suplemento cultural de 'El Mundo Catalunya' publicó un reportaje de LauraFernández dedicado a los jóvenes agentes literarios de Barcelona. Pinchad (aquí) para leerlo.

Yesterday, 03-04-2010, the Arts supplement of 'EL Mundo Catalunya' published a reportage by Laura Fernández dedicated to young literary agents from Barcelona. Click (here) to read it. 

Promotional Video - Les desventures d'un llibre vagabund, de Paul Desalmand (Editorial Empúries)

Editorial Empúries has recently published the translation into Catalan of Paul Desalmand's 'Les desventures d'un llibre vagabund'. A short novel that tells the story of a book in first person. To help promoting it Empúries has commissioned a beautiful video-clip that you can see (here).

For more info about the book see this link (here).

The image below shows both the Catalan and Spanish (published by Ediciones Destino) versions of the novel displayed in the bookshop La Central del Raval last weekend (20th of February).

Aliento a muerte, de F.G. Haghenbeck - en librerías!

Editorial Salto de Página acaba de publicar 'Aliento a muerte', una nueva novela del autor Mexicano F.G. Haghenbeck quien, en esta ocasión, nos invita a viajar al México de finales del siglo XIX, justo en el momento en el que el Emperador Maximiliano ha sido fusilado. 

El país se enfrenta a grandes cambios tras la victoria del republicano Juárez, y nuestro protagonista, Adrián Blanquet, verá como el mundo que conocía como oficial del derrotado ejército imperial se derrumba y se ve amenazado por los nuevos tiempos. Pero no se resignará a aceptar la situación y a quedarse de brazos cruzados...

'Aliento a muerte' es un thriller histórico y un ajuste de cuentas, una historia de venganza y de traición. Pinchad (aqui) para leer la ficha del libro. 

F. G. Haghenbeck nació en Ciudad de México en 1965. Escritor y guionista de cómics, trabajó antes para Televisa y para varios museos. Es el único mexicano que ha escrito guiones de Superman para DC Comics, además de participar en la creación y escritura de Crimson (Wildstorm 1999-2001) y Alternation (Image Comics, 2004). 

Su novela Trago amargo (Roca, 2009) mereció el Premio Nacional de Novela una Vuelta de Tuerca en el año 2006 y en 2010 será publicada en Francia (Éditions Denoël) y Serbia (Laguna Publishers). Ha publicado también en México las novelas Solamente una vez, basada en la figura de Agustín Lara, y El código nazi.

'El anticuario' now in China

Shangai Translation Publishing House has recently acquired Simplified Chinese rights of 'El anticuario' (The Antiques Delaer), by Julián Sánchez.

El anticuario (RocaEditorial) is a novel about a secret, a murder, a search, a love and an adventure all over the streets of a mysterious Barcelona. A story of intrigue, suspense and search of the truth, set in nowadays and 15th C. Barcelona. (Plot summary here)

The publishers who had already acquired rights are:

LimesVerlag/ Random House (Germany), Querido (The Netherlands), Livanis (Greece), Einaudi/Stile Libero (Italy), AST (Russia), Swiat Ksiaszky (Poland) and Jota (Czech Republic).

TV Clip: Darrere les barricades, de John Langdon-Davies

A short reportage from Catalan TV about John Langdon-Davies's 'Behind the Spanish Barricades' (see it here)

The book was originally published by Reportage Press and has been recently released in Spanish by Península Ediciones and in Catalan by Angle Editorial.

¿Cómo publicar?

Today in Spanish... Si os interesa saber brevemente qué pasos seguir para publicar un libro os aconsejamos visitar un post del blog del programa de TVE Página2. (pinchad aquí).

Aunque es un texto breve, resume bien qué primeros pasos se pueden dar. Nosotros, como comprenderéis, nos inclinamos por la segunda opción...

Dom Quixote (Portugal) will publish 'The Destitutes of Lodz', by Steve Sem-Sandberg

Published this year in Sweden by Albert Bonniers, this novel was one of the hist of last Frankfurt Book Fair and it recently won the August Prize, awarded by the Swedish Booksellers Association. 

The jury's motivation was as follows:

"With this collective novel, Steve Sem-Sandberg attends to a specific chapter in the annals of World War II: the Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lodz (west of Warsaw), its origin, organisation and heartbreaking conditions under Nazi supervision. It is a story that is told after all the tears have dried, depicted in an almost dry and unsentimental style, a balancing act between fact and fiction that with a basis in the (authentic) Ghetto Chronicles 1941-44, portrays a series of individual destinies with strong integrity, also when they waver or fail".

SalmaiaLit handles Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal & Brazil) and Catalan Languages rights. We are happy that (with this last deal in Portugal) we have managed to get deals with good publishers in all these territories.

All other rights are handled from Sweden by Joakim Hansson at Nordin Agency. Up to now, the following publishers have already acquired rights:

Brazil (Companhia das Letras), Canada (Anansi), Catalonia (La Campana), Czech Republic (Paseka), Denmark (Gyldendal), Finland (Like) France (Robert Laffont), Germany (Klett-Cotta), Greece (Patakis), Israel (Kinneret), Italy (Marsilio Editore), The Netherlands (Ambo Anthos), Norway (Aschehoug), Poland (Wydawnictwo Literackie), Portugal (Dom Quixote), Russia (Corpus), Spain (Literatura Mondadori/ RHM Group), UK (Faber & Faber), USA (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux).