140 writers have stated they will not “be hostages in ideological war” as they quit the esteemed French publishing house Grasset. Their principled stand comes in protest at its super-rich owner, Vincent Bolloré, who regularly promotes reactionary and far-right propaganda through the billionaire’s media empire.
Similar to the Murdoch monopoly in the UK, Bolloré owns much of the media in France and regularly uses them to push far-right hateful rhetoric to the wider public. Having bought France’s biggest publishers Hachette Livre in 2023, his hateful reach is only becoming more entrenched in French society.
This latest acquisition, however, has given rise to widespread resistance, with the authors stating:
We refuse to be hostages in an ideological war that seeks to impose authoritarianism everywhere in culture and the media.
We don’t want our ideas, our work, to be his property.
More than 100 writers have quit the historic French publishing house, Grasset, in protest at its billionaire conservative owner, Vincent Bolloré, whose media empire has been accused of promoting reactionary and far-right ideas. https://t.co/0P9RPV4d2K #France
— Francisco Taveira (@jftaveira1993) April 16, 2026
Grasset face storm
The revolt exploded after Bolloré abruptly sacked long-time Grasset boss Olivier Nora, triggering an immediate backlash across France’s literary world. By Wednesday night, 140 authors had pledged to walk away from the prestigious publisher.
They declared in a blistering open letter:
We are Grasset authors. We have published with Grasset. We have books coming out with Grasset. But we will not sign our next books with Grasset – and we are 140.
For these writers, Nora wasn’t just an editor – he was the last line of defence. In their letter, they argue that his removal marks a direct attack on editorial independence and creative freedom.
Subsequently, their message is uncompromising: they refuse to become “hostages in an ideological war” or allow their work to be controlled by an owner they fundamentally oppose.
And in a rare show of unity across a deeply divided literary scene, they’ve made their demand clear: without Nora, they walk.
Nevertheless, this letter suggests this demand may just be the start. They intend on pursuing legal action to regain their rights to their work prior to the far-right takeover. This is likely to be expensive for Bolloré, as Grasset has been the home of a number of highly successful authors such as Vanessa Springora’s bestselling book “Consent”.
Some have even been more provocative in their protest, with journalist David Dufresne tearing up his contract with the publishing house on French TV.
Doing so, he declared:
Bolloré is trading in commerce and ideology, not literature or essays.
Le journaliste David Dufresne déchire en direct son contrat le liant à Grasset et Bolloréhttps://t.co/hLw8ifp9zj
— Le HuffPost (@LeHuffPost) April 16, 2026
The French ‘Murdoch’ empire
Bolloré strikes many similarities with the corrosive impact we see on our own society in the bile-spilling far-right Murdoch-owned press. Just like Murdoch, the French billionaire is widening is influence on their democracy, using his extensive reach through TV, radio and even a Sunday paper Le Journal Du Dimanche. In another deja vu, he is most often seen providing platforms for the far-right.
This isn’t even his first acquisition into the world of literature, in 2023 he took over France’s largest publishing and distribution conglomerate, Hachette Livre.
Looking to TV, he owns the most-watched news channel CNews, which has been criticised by the left as fueling the rise of the far-right. In fact, a legal investigation is currently open into racism on the channel, an allegation which the channel obviously denied.
Unsurprising really, we have seen the same political maneuvering from billionaires through the media in the UK. Whether it is GBNews or TalkTV, the far-right are drastically extending their sphere of influence across Western democracies.
Beautifully, this protest from these authors, in a great sacrifice to their own success, includes writers from the left and right.
Author Colombe Schneck defiantly commented:
We can’t let all the publishing houses of the Hachette group become far right.
That concern is likely to come back to bite us here in the UK, as Hachette also own the second biggest publishing outfit in the UK – Hodder & Stoughton. Similarly, they are the third biggest in the US. This ability for Bolloré to extend his views across continents is a danger we must all heed and a danger that these authors are bringing to the forefront of public debate. After all, his views have been deemed “very close to the most radical far right” by French former minister Pap Ndiaye.
This only works to help fascism defeat us at the ballot box and it is stacking the deck against ordinary people.
The far-right have their claws in and they mean business
The far right and their vast wealth are increasingly working to bring in hostile, fascist governments across the West. This example today, whilst across the channel in France, has every potential to meter its abusive influence on our own democracy in the UK. Therefore, this righteous protest yesterday is uniting people across the left and right and offers a warning we all must heed.
It also draws critical attention to the reach of this divisive and malign intentioned billionaire in the UK, and the potential that he has already been using his empirical influence in the UK to further the aims of the far right in our own communities.
Yet this teaches us a powerful lesson: together, we can make it very expensive for the super-rich when we take our business elsewhere.
Let’s hope British authors in Hodder & Stoughton soon follow suit!
Featured image via the Canary
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