1.
Alain Machu: Tell us about your career before
you launched your own publishing house.
Thierry
Magnier: Among many other things, I was
a high-school teacher and a bookseller before
joining Gallimard and working with Pierre
Marchand. At Gallimard, I was responsible
for promotion at the newly created Gallimard
Education imprint. I was also editor-in-chief
of a magazine called Lire et Savoir. While
at Gallimard, I published a picture book
called Solange et l’ange. Rights were
recently sold in the USA, where the title
will be Isabel and the Angel.
My past experience has allowed me
to work not only with content, but also
production and bookselling. In 1998, I felt
I was ready to strike out on my own. In
its first year, Editions Thierry Magnier
published more than 45 books.
2. A.M.:
Books with sometimes difficult subject-matter.
T.M.:
‘Difficult,’ I don’t know,
but these are the subjects that interest
me and that I want to share with children.
3.
AM: It seems like your books speak to children’s
minds as much as to their emotions.
T.M.:
I’m glad you said that (laughs). I
want to publish books that are ‘difficult,’
but accessible, books that aren’t
boring. I hope they will be a source of
enjoyment for children, as well as food
for thought.
4.
A.M.: You have forged a real identity for
your publishing house.
T.M.:
Yes, I am concentrating on several collections
with new authors, including "Têtes
de Lard" (picture books) and "Aller
Simple" (middle-grade novels). My YA
novels take on subjects like the demonstrations
in Paris in October 1961 —which no
one talks about — or a young girl
defending her mentally retarded parents,
or the story of a girl with "two"
mothers who are lesbians.
5.
A.M.: A small house like yours takes bigger
risks than a large publisher. Does that
include taking risks with new authors? What
advice can you give to new writers?
T.M.:
There is no one recipe for success. They
start out by submitting their manuscripts
by mail. I might publish 2 percent of what
I receive. They also have to be flexible.
I rarely accept a project as is. I always
add my "grain of salt." But working
with authors and taking risks is part of
what it means to be a publisher.
6.
A.M.: Do you follow your instincts when
selecting projects?
T.M.:
Yes, but I can be wrong. You can never predict
what is going to happen. All you can do
is try to publish the best books possible.
Editions
Thierry Magnier
31, rue de Vaudrezanne
75013 Paris
Alain Machu
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