It is with sadness that the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, learned of the death of Jean-Claude Fasquelle.
A great figure of the French edition has left us.
Jean-Claude Fasquelle was born into a family of publishers. His grandfather had founded, in 1896, the Fasquel editions, which had merged with the Charpentier publishing house, which had published notably Emile Zola. Fasquelle has subsequently published Octave Mirbeau, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Edmond Rostand and Marcel Pagnol.
When he took over the family house in 1954, at the age of 24, he merged it in 1967 with Grasset Publishing.
Under his direction, until the early 2000s, Grasset and Fasquelle became a major player in the sector, with many prestigious literary awards. Thanks to him, great names in literature, such as Umberto Eco and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, join Grasset.
Jean-Claude Fasquelle was also the owner and director of the monthly Le Magazine littéraire.
Jean-Claude Fasquelle’s passion, instinct and scholarship will mark the history of publishing.
The Minister of Culture extends her sincere condolences to her family and loved ones.