Alfaguara publishes a special edition of Jose Saramago’s The Stone Raft in aid of Haiti

Following a request from the Fundación José Saramago, the publishers Alfaguara and Caminho, in Portugal, are to bring out a special edition of The Stone Raft (La balsa de piedra), the proceeds of which will go to the Red Cross aid fund for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

The special edition of one of the greatest works by the Nobel prize-winning author José Saramago will go on sale over the next few days for 15 euros. "We all have a responsibility," explained Jose Saramago, who in 1999 sponsored a similar initiative -on that occasion with The Tale of the Unknown Island in aid of the victims of hurricane Mitch in Central America.

The Stone Raft is based on an audacious narrative conceit: a seismic movement separates the Iberian peninsula from the rest of Europe, setting it adrift like an enormous stone raft in the Atlantic Ocean and in search of a reunion with the peoples of the other side of the ocean.