Next March, Éditions Douro will celebrate their ten years in existence.
From the outset, our publishing project has been to offer emerging authors the opportunity to publish their first book, in a context where independent publishing houses willing to undertake this approach are increasingly rare. As is the case in North America and the United Kingdom, many authors today are forced to accept vanity publishing offers, which involve a financial contribution to the production of their books. This model constitutes the bulk of these companies' revenue and, in effect, absolves them of any responsibility regarding distribution and marketing.
By surrounding ourselves with directors of collections recognized for the quality of their work, whom we continue to present each month in this letter, we have naturally been approached by established authors, some of whom have published numerous works, particularly in genres sometimes described as elitist, such as poetry, theatre or essays.
Éditions Douro, however, is careful to maintain a constant balance between supporting new talent and welcoming established authors, and intends to pursue this editorial line as long as the conditions of the book market allow.
Antonio Cardoso
Editorial direction
Philippe Bouret — Director of the Poetry in the Present collection
One of the major goals of writing is to give voice to others, to voices responding to one another on the stage of a theater with no way out, the theater of existence. Lord Tanjah. It was at the end of 2023 that Douro publishers entrusted Philippe Bouret with the direction of the "Poetry in the Present" collection. This collection had been directed for the previous three years by Hubert Le Boisselier. Philippe Bouret stated: "It was with pleasure and honor that I accepted the proposal from Antonio Cardoso, Director of Douro publishers. Entrusting me with this responsibility represented a sign of confidence, coupled with a remarkable welcome. Antonio Cardoso gave me free rein, both in outlining a new editorial direction and in choosing the texts and creating a unique visual identity. I couldn't pass up this opportunity, which promised me four books to publish within the year." Since January 2024, ten books have been published and have found their way to a new readership. For Philippe Bouret, "Poetry consists of 'making holes in the world's scenery.'" To give the "Poetry in the Present" collection a specific and distinctive focus, he chose to base his work on a quote from Marguerite Duras, "The only subject of a book is the writing," which guides both his journey as an author and his search for a publisher. Thus, the text takes precedence over the person who wrote it, even if discovering the former does not preclude the encounter—often exceptional and full of surprises—with the latter. Not wishing to be "a vassal of a feudal system of propriety," an expression he borrows from Thierry Savatier, he has chosen texts that are particularly sensitive, profound, and unconventional. He turned to writers who write, poets, men and women, without regard for their fame. What matters to him is being captivated by the writing. Sensitive to aesthetics and attached to the book as an object, Philippe Bouret strove to create a simple and distinctive cover design: white lettering on a black background and a white band for the accompanying graphic. In this vein, he states: "Before the reader turns the book over to read the back cover, they must be looked at by the book." Poetry in the Present is a collection of the unexpected.
“In these nineteen stories, people fight to obtain far more than life demands and refuse to bow their heads. A waste picker living in an open-air landfill questions Europe, Gabriel appeals to a judge to save his half-sister, Claquette, a teenager, hesitates between emptiness and an outstretched hand, Mona revisits her past, and Mina searches for a future… families in conflict or mourning, the experience of prison or war—always, always, women and men turn their faces toward the sun: perhaps it isn't so far away, on the other side of the wall, on the other side of the sea, on the other side of the street… And then, there will always be the song of the waves and life that endlessly begins anew.” Publication date: February 2, 2026 Order Press release
Three destinies, three lost souls… A village clinging to the Causses du Quercy, ready to bring them together for better or for worse. Three paths, three existential questions: Who do we become when we renounce what we thought we were? Does revenge extinguish pain or rekindle it? What price does redemption demand? Vincent Mercier, a brilliant Parisian business lawyer, is at his wit's end. His career is faltering, his marriage is falling apart, and his certainties are crumbling. On the verge of collapse, he chooses to leave everything behind and exile himself to Saint-Martin-de-Vers, a remote village in the Lot region, convinced he will find the strength to rebuild his life. In this timeless place, Vincent crosses paths with an enigmatic old man, whose gaze hints at a secret too heavy to bear alone. The Village of Lost Souls is an intense psychological thriller that explores the limits of humanity when confronted with its deepest truths. Knowing how to get lost is sometimes the only way to find yourself… Publication date: February 2, 2026 Order Press release
When the president of the Regional Government of Madeira—an explosive populist, elected consecutively for over thirty years—disappears without a trace, Inspector Pereira is called in to solve the mystery. Between dubious allies and enemies as noisy as they are eccentric, Pereira delves into the underworld of local politics during a period when the island vibrates with Christmas festivities. While uncovering secrets and lies, the inspector also succumbs to the discreet charms of this luminous island. But the truth that awaits him at the end is far more surprising than you could imagine. Publication date: February 2, 2026 Commander Press release
The Pirate is a maritime and fantastical epic where the fury of the oceans roars and a legendary crew rises: the Burning Shadow, a sisterhood of African women rescued from slavery and transformed into the vengeful flames of the seas. At their head, Olympe de Clair-Vaillant, an indomitable captain, raises her black flag against the triangular trade and the colonial powers ravaging the 17th-century world. The story is told to us by Atx, an old sailor whose memories, in the twilight of his life, have become a raging sea once more. In 1668, he was only ten years old when he embarked alongside his grandfather Opa to protect their family from greedy colonists. Very quickly, they discover the unthinkable: Txénoa, Atx's cousin, has been kidnapped to be sold into slavery. This desperate quest throws them onto the road to Olympe, where they are in direct confrontation with her sworn enemy, Captain Sargouin, whose cruelty knows no bounds. Publication date: February 2, 2026 Order Press release
It is time to turn to thought. To approach the mystery by wiping away the sobs of the wild child, nestled within, held close to the heart. In Petals, Anna Maria Celli constructs a fervent poetics of torment, cruelty, and injustice. A poetry that does not look away, but traverses the night, the night of the flesh, of desire, of memory, and of loss. Through the sacredness of landscape, of the feminine, and of tales, this collection affirms that if we must die once more, it will be to better survive: by confronting, then vanquishing, the intimate monsters that haunt us. Nourished by an unquenchable hunger for self, this contemporary, deeply embodied writing makes the poem a place of struggle, vigilance, and rebirth. Eric Costan Publication: February 2, 2026 Order Press Release
Who hasn't dreamed of "knowing" what the gods are? Or at least of approaching the mystery of their existence? It's not forbidden to think that this is possible. To enter the great hall of mysteries, it's essential to simply let go of our attachment to those beliefs which, while speaking to us of God, actually bar us from Him. First, there is the word itself, then the meanings we ascribe to it. We rarely, if ever, think of returning to the source from which all that has taken the name of gods originated. From the Iliad to the Gospels, but taking unexpected detours, this book offers a journey. A journey that will allow us to grasp the extent of our denial, not so much of what it means to believe, but of what it implies. It opens doors to rarely explored realms: those of religious practices that partly escape any orthodoxy, those of the Anastenaria in Greece, those of mystics, those that populate science fiction novels, and those analyzed by neurobiologist Jill Bolte Taylor. It reveals some secrets of our cerebral and psychic functioning, particularly by explaining the nature of the Greek gods in light of Julian Jaynes's work. Finally, it propels us through literary works (Homer, Chrétien de Troyes, Fitzgerald, Philip K. Dick, Kluge), theological works (Boethius, Saint Anselm), and philosophical works (Plato, Nietzsche) to the threshold of the most well-known experience in our lands: that of Christ, through a fresh reinterpretation of the four canonical Gospels. Publication date: February 2, 2026. Order now
