Isabelle Saporta, hitherto literary director at Fayard, has been appointed head of the publishing house, to take office at the end of the week, Fayard’s communication department announced on Monday June 13. The communication director of Editions Fayard, Catherine Bourgey, confirmed this appointment revealed by Liberation and Le Figaro.
Isabelle Saporta, 46, is a former investigative journalist (known in particular for her books such as Vino Business or Le Livre noir de l’agriculture). Columnist in the morning of RTL, she had resigned in 2019 from the station after the public revelation of her relationship with the environmental leader Yannick Jadot.
During the last municipal campaign in Paris, Isabelle Saporta initially joined the list of François Hollande’s former communicator, Gaspard Gantzer, before joining the list of mathematician Cédric Villani. At Fayard, she notably published in October 2021, ahead of the presidential campaign, Cyril Hanouna’s book What the French told me.
Merger between the two leading publishing players in France
Isabelle Saporta succeeds Sophie de Closets, who left the position she had held since 2014 in March and had recovered the rights for France to the books signed by Barack and Michelle Obama.
The appointment of Isabelle Saporta at the head of Fayard – one of the major houses of the Hachette group, which notably publishes successful novelists Aurélie Valognes and Virginie Grimaldi – comes as the French publishing community is in turmoil.
The takeover of the Lagardère group by Vivendi should lead to the merger between the two leading publishing players in France, Hachette (Lagardère) and Editis (Vivendi). The outcome of this operation remains subject to the authorization of several authorities, including the European Commission, guardian of competition in Europe.
