Independent bookstores in France are protesting the influence of Hachette Livre’s conservative owner Vincent Bolloré. Bolloré’s Vivendi bought control of Hachette parent company Lagardère in 2023. Bookstore owners say it’s impossible to boycott the publisher completely, since they are largest publisher and book distributor in the country. But the protest campaign has included cutting back on Hachette Livre titles, stocking them on lower shelves, and a “bookmark rebellion” in which people “hide bookmarks inside paperbacks in large commercial stores with messages such as ‘boycott Hachette.'” Le Pied à Terre, an independent bookshop in Paris, has started limiting orders of books from […]
