Nuno Joanaz de Melo presents his debut book

Nuno Joanaz de Melo is a reader turned bookseller. A bookseller turned author. A storyteller now published by Livraria Lello Porto.

For Nuno, it made perfect sense to launch his book on World Storytellers’ Day. “When I found out my book was going to be published on this day, I said it had to happen. It’s the perfect day because the narrator of the book is called Storyteller. What defines this character is telling stories, and there’s a great deal of me in Teller.”

He also reflected during the live episode of Palavrão: “I believe any writer who says there isn’t a little of themselves in their work is lying. They may be lying to the audience or to themselves. But they’re lying. What we write is a sharing of who we are. So it’s inevitable that we leave a little piece of ourselves between those two covers.”

When Nuno was a child, he used to make up stories to entertain his cousins. Without realising it, that was when he began writing the book that would eventually become his debut novel.

“My instinct for storytelling came from wanting to get my cousin away from the television,” he laughs. “I was 12, my cousin was five, and we kept watching the same VHS tapes on repeat. My sister was my very first reader. There’s a little bit of both of them in my book because of that.”

A bookshop publishing the debut novel of one of its own booksellers is an unusual and remarkable gesture. By publishing Nuno’s first book, Livraria Lello demonstrates its commitment to nurturing the talent within its own team and supporting the personal and creative growth of the people who bring the bookshop to life every day.

After years of writing, Nuno’s first novel has finally reached readers. The Place on Earth of the Impossible Girl is the opening volume of a planned tetralogy. Reflecting on how the book came to be published, he recalls the moment he sought advice from Livraria Lello’s Chair of the Board, Aurora Pedro Pinto:

“Dr Aurora has known me since I arrived here at 25. I was just a kid. I originally wrote the novel in English, then translated it into Portuguese. When I finished, I asked if I could speak with her—not to pitch the book, but because she was the closest person to me who could give me honest advice. What happened instead was that Dr Aurora decided to publish it.”

He remembers the moment with both amusement and gratitude.

After being deeply involved in every stage of the publishing process—from editing and proofreading to the cover design and even the illustrations, with Livraria Lello intentionally involving the bookseller-turned-author throughout—the book now belongs to its readers.

“The Place on Earth of the Impossible Girl is about finding where we belong, even when our lives seem impossible. It’s the story of a young woman who has always known she doesn’t belong where she is, and a young man who introduces her to a new world. A bigger world. A world where everything can become possible.”

Speaking to an audience that filled Livraria Lello Porto for the launch of The Place on Earth of the Impossible Girl, Nuno reflected on growing up in a home where books were always present.

“There was a book on every one of our bedside tables. We had nothing to complain about. I can’t remember a time when books weren’t part of my life.”

He also shared the moment that ultimately led him to begin writing the novel:

“My wife, Catarina, gave me a notebook with a message inside: ‘Stop talking about the book and write it.’ That very night, in 2015, I wrote the first sentence of my novel. I picked up a pen, opened that notebook and wrote: ‘First of all, I’d better warn you. This is a love story, and I’m sorry about that.’”

Being a bookseller turned out to be the perfect profession for Nuno Joanaz de Melo. It all began when he got engaged at the age of 25. He had moved from Setúbal to Porto to study Literature.

“I wasn’t expecting to find a job before finishing my degree. The opportunity to work at Livraria Lello Porto came up, and I fell in love with the profession of being a bookseller. I realised it suited me perfectly.”

Nuno lives surrounded by books every day. During the live episode, he explains that he sees a spark in visitors’ eyes when they leave Livraria Lello with a book in their hands, but creating that connection between book and reader is not always easy:

“The great mission of a bookseller is to find the right story for the right person. That isn’t always easy. We, booksellers, are passionate readers. It is a great challenge to set aside our own tastes and choose the best book for the person standing in front of us. That is the greatest challenge of being a bookseller. We can be selfish and want everyone to love the stories we love, but we forget that no one is exactly like us.”

Therefore, booksellers must try to put their own literary preferences aside in order to better guide each visitor and potential reader:

“It is sublime when we find someone for whom we are the perfect bookseller. It is not just about finding the right story for the right person. At Livraria Lello Porto, there are never boring days. There are heartwarming stories, like marriage proposals, but also much more unusual ones. One day, a visitor took a photo of me with the flash right in my face. He turned to me and said: ‘You look like a writer. You have a writer’s face.’ And I replied: ‘Thank you. Flash is not allowed.’” (laughs)

“This happened six years ago and it is still funny,” he recalls, amused.

When the magical moment of recommending books arrives, the one Nuno Joanaz de Melo most enjoys suggesting is Bram Stoker’s classic:

“Dracula is my most common answer when people ask me what my favourite book is. We have it, for example, in our Pop Collection, and what could be better than taking home a timeless story from a timeless place? Dracula has a fascinating story. It explores the many facets of evil, including its most seductive ones. The book is told entirely through the voices of its characters, and when you read my book, you’ll understand why that fascinates me,” the author explains.

Among Nuno Joanaz de Melo’s favourite books is also The Picture of Dorian Gray.

“It is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. He is one of my favourite authors. Oscar Wilde masters the English language in a magical way. It explores a theme that is very dear to me: horror connected to fantasy.”

Before another touching moment takes place, in which Nuno shares a heartfelt message of appreciation for writer Lídia Jorge by dedicating a signed copy of his debut novel to the author who inspired him to write, Nuno Joanaz de Melo explains why Fantasy Literature fascinates him: “The books that have marked me the most are the ones that use Fantasy to explain something about ourselves that we didn’t know before. I wrote my master’s dissertation on this. Terry Pratchett is the author who fascinates me the most. He uses fantasy, satire and humour to show us our world in a different way. Storytellers don’t just show us magical worlds; they also show us our own world through a different lens. Terry Pratchett taught me that.”

And what does Fantasy Literature have to teach us? Nuno answers without hesitation: “Everything. Fantasy shows us reality in an unexpected way, sometimes in a slightly ridiculous or surprising form. We don’t expect to find so much reality in such a magical world. That is what I want to do. One of my goals is to explore the power of stories,” he promises.

To close the live episode, now available as a podcast, author Nuno Joanaz de Melo performed once again with the Literatus Fado Group, who played the songs “Reminiscências de Liberdade” and “Balada de Despedida de Letras de 2016”. The performance is available in the Palavrão episode.