“The extreme right must be fought”: foreign authors, including a Nobel Prize winner, in turn break with Grasset

The bleeding continues at Grasset. The majority of foreign authors published by the publishing house announced Monday, in a joint text, that they will not submit their next books to it, following the dismissal of its CEO Olivier Nora.

“As authors published on the international list of Éditions Grasset, we express our deep concern about the future of this house, its editorial integrity, and the teams who bring it to life,” indicate these authors in this text, of which AFP has taken note.

“We refuse to allow our work to be used for political purposes that we do not share. The far right acts across borders; it must be fought beyond borders. Under these conditions, we will not submit our next works to Éditions Grasset,” they add.

This text, which must be published in several media abroad, is notably signed by the writers Han Kang, 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature, Ali Smith, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Colm Tóibín and Sandro Veronesi.

The response is being organized, a meeting planned for Wednesday

These writers are taking the same decision as some 200 French authors who announced in mid-April their refusal to publish new books with Grasset to denounce the “dismissal” of Olivier Nora, for which they hold responsible Vincent Bolloré, the businessman who has Hachette, Grasset’s parent company, in his fold.

“The dismissal of Olivier Nora for his editorial choices suggests that no editor at Grasset, nor within Hachette, is now safe, that editors can be dismissed at any time without continuity or protection, and that the conditions of editorial independence have been fundamentally compromised,” believe the foreign authors. “It was an honor to be translated into French and published by such a dedicated and high-level team,” they emphasize.

Vincent Bolloré denounced, in a column published by the JDD on April 19, the “uproar” of a “small caste which believes itself to be above everything and everyone”, and assured that Grasset “will continue” despite the departure of many writers. The publishing house is due to publish Boualem Sansal’s new book, “The Legend”, on June 2, about his detention in Algeria.

The mobilization of dissatisfied authors is to continue on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting in a Parisian theater, where they will discuss the next actions to take, in particular to protect their rights, with officials from the publishing world and lawyers.