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Feminist author Virginie Despentes is one of over 230 writers to leave the Grasset publishing house.
Imago
Following the dismissal of publisher Olivier Nora, over 230 authors are leaving the Grasset publishing house. They are defending themselves against the influence of the right-wing identitarian media mogul Vincent Bolloré.
There is a culture war going on in France, a "real" one, as "Die Zeit" wrote. For it is a battle that is not only about culture - namely literature - but also about values and power.
Publisher Olivier Nora was dismissed last Tuesday after 26 years at French publishing house Grasset. The reaction was swift: since Wednesday last week, over 230 of the publisher's authors have also announced their intention to leave. "His dismissal is an unacceptable attack on journalistic independence and artistic freedom," they wrote in a letter. "We will not publish our next book with Grasset."
The reaction is also so strong because Grasset belongs to the Hachette Group - which is controlled by the right-wing identitarian multi-billionaire Vincent Bolloré. Bolloré is waging an "ideological war to impose authoritarianism in the media and culture", the letter continues. "We do not want our ideas and our work to become his property."
"Bolloré is Clan Bardella," feminist author Virginie Despentes told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. Alongside Bernard-Henri Lévy and Frédéric Beigbeder, she is one of the prominent names to leave the publishing house.
This refers to the closeness of Bolloré, the 74-year-old media mogul and billionaire, to France's political far right - in particular to the chairman of the far-right Rassemblement national, Jordan Bardella.
The media mogul Vincent Bolloré
Keystone
It is well known that Bolloré has cultivated close ties with France's far right for years - and he has never made a secret of it. It is not for nothing that he has been called the "godfather of the right". Back in 2007, he provided Nicolas Sarkozy with a luxury yacht for a short vacation in the Mediterranean after his election victory. "I wish the French economy many like Vincent Bolloré," said Sarkozy at the time.
His influence is growing primarily through the media and culture: Bolloré is systematically buying into media and publishing houses, filling key positions with people who are close to his political line and realigning the brands. Before Grasset, he did this at the radio station Europe 1, the TV stations Canal+ and CNews, the Sunday newspaper "Le Journal du Dimanche" and the book publisher Fayard.
In 2024, he replaced the publisher at Fayard with a successor who was already known for "anti-woke" publications and an authoritarian management style. Today, the publishing house publishes books by Nicolas Sarkozy, Jordan Bardella and Xenia Fedorova, the former French head of the Russian propaganda channel "Russia Today", among others.
Following the example of Fox News, Bolloré transformed the television channel CNews into a mouthpiece for right-wing opinion journalism. In 2019, he brought the racist and far-right journalist Éric Zemmour to the channel. He has already been convicted several times by the French judiciary for inciting hatred and racism. In 2022, he ran for president - publicly supported by Vincent Bolloré, of course.
Éric Zemmour is racist, far-right and has been convicted several times.
Jeremias Gonzalez/AP/dpa/Archiv
When journalists resist this political realignment - such as at the "Journal du Dimanche", where they went on strike for weeks in 2023 against the appointment of a right-wing identitarian editor-in-chief - Bolloré simply waits until their resistance breaks down. In the end, almost the entire staff resigned.
Bolloré also controls part of the distribution through the Relay kiosk chain, which belongs to the Hachette Group, where books from his network are prominently displayed.
The dismissal of Grasset publisher Nora therefore comes as no surprise - even late by Bolloré's standards, three years after he joined Hachette. There are different versions of the exact reason. One revolves around the prominent new arrival of French Algerian author Boualem Sansal: Bolloré is said to have offered him an advance of millions for his new, politically charged book and urged him to publish it quickly. Nora, on the other hand, is said to have pleaded for a revision and a later date. Another explanation sees the trigger in Nora's refusal to give the right-wing Catholic author Nicolas Diat a prominent place in the publishing program.
Whether the authors who are now turning their backs on Grasset will actually be able to terminate their contracts remains to be seen. Author Despentes at least believes so. She told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper: "We concluded these contracts with a certain type of publisher and are now dealing with a completely different one. It should be possible to terminate them." This applies to bestselling authors as well as lesser-known names.
