Companhia das Letras
Companhia das Letras is the largest publishing house in São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded in 1986 by Luiz Schwarcz and his wife, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz. Companhia das Letras began as a literary publishing house and gradually grew into 17 independent publishing units with a broad readership of all ages and industries. History In an interview with The Guardian, Luis Schwarcz said he knew Brazil lacked quality publishing houses after working eight years in the publishing industry at Editora Brasiliense. In 1986, recognizing the opportunity, he and his wife, Lilia Moritz, established a publishing house that combined literary, commercial, and progressive marketing techniques. One of the publisher's first four titles, Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station, had never been published in Brazil, despite having been published in English 40 years before. Their Portuguese version sold more copies in Brazil than the English edition sold in the United States. Consequently, Companhia das Letras gained in reputation and signed a well-known Brazilian contemporary writer, Rubem Fonseca. In its first year, Companhia das Letras published 48 different titles. In 1989, businessman, writer and economist Fernando Moreira Salles became a partner of Companhia das Letras. In 2010, the Penguin Companhia label began to publish