Former Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, daughter of the founder of Actes Sud editions, Hubert Nyssen, will step down as president of the publishing house at the end of the year, the company said on Tuesday, September 27. METERme Nyssen, 71, will remain a member of the board of directors, chaired from 1Ahem January by Anne-Sylvie Bameule, 48 years old. She is the daughter of Jean-Paul Capitani, the husband of the former minister. Pauline Capitani, daughter of Mrs.me Nyssen and Mr. Capitani will become COO of Actes Sud on the same date. Finally, the position of general manager will fall to Julie Gautier, who will succeed Olivier Randon.
“This family transmission represents an opportunity for the house because it guarantees its independence for the coming years. The three new leaders have been working at Actes Sud for a long time, they know how it works”said mme Nyssen, quoted in a press release.
Nina Berberova, Paul Auster, Jerome Ferrari…
Actes Sud, a publishing house founded in the Arles region (Bouches-du-Rhône) in 1978, has become one of the largest independent publishing groups in France. Hubert Nyssen, écrivain belge installed en Provence, fit grandir son entreprise grâce à des inspirations comme celle d’éditer au milieu des années 1980 la Russe Nina Berberova, que n’avait rien écrit depuis vingt ans, ou Paul Auster, unconnu en dehors des USA.
It also made France known in France for Nancy Huston, Prix Femina 2006, the Hungarian writer Imre Kertész, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002, the Austrian Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel in 2004, or even the saga Millennium Swedish Stieg Larsson. In 2004, Actes Sud won the Prix Goncourt for the first time (with The Sun of the Scortas by Laurent Gaude). Following the death of Mr. Nyssen in 2011, the house has won this award four times: in 2011 (Jérôme Ferrari), 2015 (Mathias Enard), 2017 (Eric Vuillard) and 2018 (Nicolas Mathieu).