We already mentioned the subject here, last November, but we can’t help but come back to it, as the inexhaustible phenomenon is growing, with each day bringing its share of announcements. In the memory of a literary observer, we have never seen such a waltz of transfers. Yesterday, most of the defectors left a “small” publisher to go to a large one, like Fred Vargas, migrating in 2015 from Viviane Hamy to Flammarion, or Franck Bouysse, abandoning the Book Manufacture for Albin Michel in 2020. Today Today, no publishing house is spared from the flight of its flagship authors, not even the most prestigious, such as Gallimard, who lost Jean-Christophe Rufin, who left for Calmann-Lévy, Marc Dugain, on his way to Albin Michel , Aurélien Bellanger, refugee at Seuil, or even Gilles Kepel.
Conversely, the house made a great deal with Salman Rushdie, author of Actes Sud, of which it published The knife in mid-April. If Albin Michel is reaping these days with Tatiana de Rosnay dropping EHO or Grégoire Delacourt, ex-author Grasset, of whom it is announced List 2 my desires for April 17, remember that she lost her Goncourt Pierre Lemaitre in 2020, shipped by Calmann-Lévy, and that Ian Manook published at the beginning of April by Flammarion, while Françoise Chandernagor will release a story, River Gold, at Gallimard at the end of April… In short, no one is safe from a mood.
Is your head spinning? Let’s stop there, momentarily, and recall the potential reasons for such infidelities: following one’s publisher who has gone to a competitor, blaming the failure of one’s latest book on one’s publisher, taking an agent, succumbing to the lure of a check, hoping for a literary prize, or even being in disagreement with its new owner. By this yardstick, there is no doubt, the arrival of the publisher of Zemmour and protégé of Bolloré, Lise Boëll, at the head of Fayard (Hachette) will further shake up the landscape, just like the departure of Sophie de Closets, in 2022, had led to many defections. Waltz of publishers, group sales to come, like Humensis… We still have to update our files. And to shake up the layout of his library.