More than 130 others have signed an open letter to announce they are leaving French publishing house Grasset in protest of the dismissal of its CEO, Olivier Nora. The publisher, whose firing was announced on Tuesday, will be replaced by Jean-Christophe Thiery, a close associate of the billionaire media mogul Vincent Bolloré, who controls the house through the publishing group Hachette Livre.
We have been published by Olivier Nora for 26 years. Grasset was our home, a unique place where authors who rarely agreed on much coexisted peacefully. Olivier Nora was both our shield and our glue, thanks to his integrity, accessibility and commitment.
His dismissal is an unacceptable attack on editorial independence and creative freedom. Once again, Vincent Bolloré says, "I am at home and I do what I want," disregarding those who publish, those who support, edit, proofread, produce, distribute and sell our books. And disregarding those who read us.
We do not want our ideas – our work – to become his property. Today, we share one thing: We refuse to be hostages in an ideological war aimed at imposing authoritarianism across culture and the media. We stand in full solidarity with the teams, authors and writers who are not yet able to speak out.
