The departure, announced Friday 1er March, of Adrien Bosc, publishing director at Seuil (Média-Participations group), to run Julliard (Editis) will it, through a domino effect, expose the fragilities of this house? Especially since Frédéric Mora, editorial director of the French literature department, is following him to this competitor bought by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. This war of two recognized publishers will undoubtedly be accompanied by a flight of certain authors from Le Seuil to Julliard.
“It’s the life of publishing”says Hugues Jallon, president since 2018 of Seuil and its subsidiaries (Points, L’Olivier, Métailié, Seuil Jeunesse, etc.), which have nearly 120 employees. “Two publishers who leave, others who arrive: publishing is a microcosm”, tempers Claude de Saint-Vincent, vice-president of Média-Participations.
However, to say that everything diametrically opposes Hugues Jallon and Adrien Bosc is an understatement. As much as the first, a claimed left-wing boss, abhors social dinners and does not open up easily, the second can be at the same time flamboyant, ambitious, intuitive and unpredictable. Even difficult to manage, according to its detractors.
Both maintain an almost priestly devotion to the book, but display a different conception of their second career, that of author. Hugues Jallon regularly publishes with Verticales (Gallimard) outside the literary season. Adrien Bosc – Grand Prize for the novel of the French Academy in 2014 for Constellation (Stock) – he wants to establish himself as both a great publisher and a great author, without sacrificing anything.
The two men did not choose to work together. Hugues Jallon was appointed president of Seuil upon the departure of Olivier Bétourné in 2018, on the proposal of Hervé de La Martinière (who had sold the group bearing his name, to which Seuil belonged, to Média-Participations in December 2017). If Adrien Bosc, then deputy publishing director of Le Seuil, could hope that he would, at less than 30 years old, take the reins of this prestigious house, Olivier Bétourné assures in his Memoirs – Life like a book. Memoirs of a committed editor, ed. Philippe Rey, 2020 – that he had not promised her anything.
Three important hires
“We had difficulty agreeing on the duration”admits Hugues Jallon, who also recognizes “real moments of complicity”and holds Adrien Bosc for “one of the best editors in the house”. Ego problems? “Adrien Bosc’s worst enemy is himself”, continues the president of Seuil. The departing editor does not want to comment on the company he is leaving. For Bernard Comment, director of the Fiction & Cie collection and special advisor to the president for the strategic development of literature, this departure is “a huge waste”. “When you have an Adrien Bosc, you do everything to keep him! » he says, hoping “may he come back one day”.
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