Best known for its literary fiction, Europa Editions is launching Europa Compass, a nonfiction imprint that will focus on "sophisticated yet accessible titles on travel and contemporary culture, on popular science, history, philosophy, and politics." By next year, it will publish six to eight titles annually.
The first Europa Compass title is A Summer with Montaigne by Antoine Compagnon, which will appear in May, in which the author explores the life and impact of the 16th century philosopher and essayist Michel de Montaigne. Other titles include Out of Italy by the late historian Fernand Braudel (July); The Brilliant Language by Andrea Marcolongo (fall), "a love letter to ancient Greek"; and Berezina by Sylvain Tesson, the travel writer's account of tracing Napoleon's retreat from Moscow to Paris in a motorcycle sidecar.
Many of the titles will be slim volumes that "can be read in a handful of sittings and remembered for a lifetime."