About

A onça, the jaguar. An animal simultaneously powerful, beautiful, striking and rare. To be in the presence of an onça is a gift, an experience to treasure. This is the standard of excellence Onça Publishing strives for.

Hello! I am Libris Simas Ferraz, but you may also know me as João or Shed. My pronouns are he / him. I’m a book designer with over ten years of experience in the book publishing industry. I have earned a Master of Publishing and a Bachelor of Fine Arts. My returning clients include Harbour Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre, Ronsdale Press and Caitlin Press.

I was born in Brazil, in the ancestral territory of the Tupi-Guarani peoples. I moved to British Columbia in 2008 and since 2020 I have been an univited guest on the territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, now known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. I have worked in-house at several BC publishing houses, including Tradewind Books, Harbour Publishing and Douglas & McIntyre, doing everything from cover design and page layout to copyediting and substantive editing, production management and ebook conversion.

I’m always happy to hear from new prospective clients, so please have a look at my portfolio and the services I can offer, then get in touch. I am particularly interested in working on projects involving anarchism, social ecology, solarpunk and related topics.

As Onça Publishing, I have also published one title independently. My special edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde represents many of my interests. Stevenson’s classic gothic novella was an early work of science fiction in which Dr. Jekyll attempts to split his personality in two. My edition was carefully designed to reflect the relationship between Jekyll and his alter ego, Hyde, and was produced with high-quality materials.

Experience