This book is a selection from the three books that I published so far. 'A Child in Ruins' is the title of the first of these books. A Crianca em Ruinas (A Child in Ruins), first published in 2001 A Casa, a Escuridao (The House, the Darkness), first published in 2002 Gaveta de Papeis (Drawer of Papers), first published in 2008 The selection of the poems was made by me with some suggestions by Hugo. 'A Child in Ruins' was awarded the Award of the Portuguese Society of Authors for the best poetry book of that year. 'Gaveta de Papeis' was awarded the Daniel Faria Award for poetry. This is the first time 'A Child in Ruins' has been translated into English."