The major maneuvers are starting at Editis, the second French publisher, of which Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky officially took control in November 2023. Thursday January 11, Denis Olivennes, president of Editis, and Catherine Lucet, general director, during a cake shared with employees, announced their first reforms with a reorganization of the literature department.
Plon first of all, the most emblematic of the group’s houses which, over the years, has published Julien Green, Jack London, Claude Lévy-Strauss, General de Gaulle (but also Robert Brasillach), is equipped with a new president: Jean-Luc Barré. This author of Nobody’s Man, the first volume of the triptych of the biography which he devotes precisely to De Gaulle (Grasset), will continue to oversee the destiny of the Bouquins collection which he directs. He will be supported by Sophie Berlin, who was general secretary and director of human sciences at Flammarion (Madrigall), and joined Editis to take charge of Plon.
This house experienced particularly turbulent years when Vincent Bolloré’s Vivendi group was the owner. Lise Boëll, the editor of Eric Zemmour – author from whom Albin Michel separated during the presidential campaign – took over as director of Plon in 2021. Lise Boëll had been imposed by the shareholder, which the Vivendi spokesperson then refuted. This appointment proved particularly complicated politically. But also in practice since Céline Thoulouze, in post at the management of Plon since November 2020, had remained in office.
Brutal management
Unsurprisingly, this two-headed team failed to work. Two rival teams had hated each other for months, to the point of working in different premises. Finally, despite two audits on the particularly brutal management of Lise Boëll, the management of Editis entrusted her with sole management of Plon in March 2023, and resolved to create the Récamier house for Céline Thoulouze and her team.
Lise Boëll and her assistant Estelle Cerutti both left Editis at the end of December having negotiated their departure. The small world of publishing is buzzing with rumors about the arrival of the former boss of Plon to the management of Fayard (at Hachette Livre, a group which now belongs to Vivendi). Asked by The worldLise Boëll denies. “I leave fiction to the literary genre”, she says. For her part, Isabelle Saporta, who manages Fayard, declared to World “not being aware”. She adds : “Arnaud Lagardère [PDG d’Hachette Livre] has assured me of his full support since these rumors began to spread. “.
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