new publishing house tenerife bookshop

New publishing house launches in Tenerife

Books and wine in El Sauzal

A bookshop in a small northern Tenerife town has just created its own publishing imprint and will soon launch its first literary awards. This is the story of El Barco de Papel, which on Sunday 24 May hosted a gathering at the Linaje del Pago wine estate, also in El Sauzal, to present its first four titles. Several dozen people attended the event, many of them authors from the Islands, to support a project born in November 2025: Editorial B de Papel.

The first four books published by the imprint, led by Nauzet Pérez, are Llantos de sirena by Yolanda Espinosa; A ti y a mí nos unió el volcán by Gara Alom; El monstruo cobarde by Diego and David Reinfeld; and Triana 1899 by Annika Brunke. These writers joined the event to discuss their respective books and spend time with readers.

Once the call for submissions opened, B de Papel received around 800 manuscripts. From these, they selected the first four titles, and it is expected that two more books will be published before the end of 2026.

A special day for a 13-year journey

“This is a special day for the El Barco de Papel team. After 13 years working in the bookshop, they have truly brought culture to the north of the Island. The one missing piece was this publishing house,” explained the event’s host. The first author to speak about her newly launched book is, in fact, part of the El Barco de Papel team. Yolanda Espinosa is the author of Llantos de sirena. “I chose ‘llantos’ [cries] instead of ‘cantos’ [songs], which is more usual, because in a sense I am talking about feelings that go unexpressed. We have all been through that kind of thing, which is why I chose poetic prose, and I also think it is easy to identify with this book.”

The second author to join the presentation was Diego Reinfeld, with El monstruo cobarde, illustrated by his brother David. “It is a huge thrill to have a book with my brother. When I was little, I used to play at having him illustrate my thoughts,” he celebrated. This book, as the writer argued, has no age limit. “It does not just talk about fear; it talks about how we relate to things. I have always believed that reading is the space created as an excuse to encounter something,” he added.

A love story set against the Tajogaite eruption

A ti y a mí nos unió el volcán is the first published work by Gara Alom, who never imagined she would see her manuscript on bookshelves. “I have been writing since I was a child, heavily influenced by a teacher I had at school,” she recalled. It is a love story set during the Tajogaite eruption on La Palma, with a distinctly Canarian character. “Although it now seems we are beginning to defend and feel proud of ourselves, until a few years ago we were ashamed of speaking the way we have always spoken,” the writer lamented.

The last of the authors published by the newly launched imprint from El Sauzal is a veteran of literary creation: Annika Brunke. Her book is Triana 1899, and it is based on a real murder that took place that same year in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. “It was a story I discovered while researching something else, and it captivated me,” she confessed. The author draws on accounts that appeared in the press of the time and uses them to craft a gripping criminal investigation story.

Literary awards with a twist: customers as judges

To close the event, those behind the publishing house addressed the audience to thank those present and, in passing, announce the latest news from this popular bookshop in northern Tenerife. If all goes according to plan, by the end of the year they will present the first edition of the B de Papel Awards, a prize in which the jury will be the shop’s customers. For now, it is known that awards will be given in the following categories: Best Book of the Year, Best Children’s and Young Adult Book, and Best Book by a Canarian Author.

Source

Scroll to Top