Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter,

Françoise Nyssen Françoise Nyssen (born 9 June 1951) is a French-Belgian publisher and politician and a former director of the Actes Sud publishing house. From 2017 until 2018, she served as Minister of Culture of France in the government of Prime Minister Édo ...

, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members.

History

ACTeS was situated in

Paradou Paradou (, also ''Le Paradou''; oc, Lo Parador) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Population See also * Alpilles * Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department The following is a list of the 119 commune ...

, a village in the

Vallée des Baux Les Baux-de-Provence (; oc, label= Provençal, Lei Bauç de Provença), commonly called Baux, is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southern France. It is located in the Alpilles mountain ...

. Here, founder Hubert Nyssen, his wife Christine Le Bœuf, (which was the granddaughter of

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

Henry Le Bœuf), his sister

, Bertrand Py and Jean-Paul Capitani met and founded Actes Sud. In 1983 Actes Sud moved to

. The publishing house was incorporated on May 2, 1987. The ''Actes Sud'' was a publication of the "Atelier de cartographie thématique et statistique" (ACTeS).

Authors

A selection of authors Actes Sud published:

Prizes

* 2004: the book '' The Scortas' Sun'' (''Le Soleil des Scorta'') by

Laurent Gaudé Laurent Gaudé (born demain, 6 July 1972) is a French writer. He studied theater and has written many dramatic works, among them ''Onysos le furieux, Cendres sur les mains, Médée Kali,'' and ''Le Tigre bleu de l'Euphrate''. Life Gaudé was b ...

, was the first book published by Actes Sud, receiving a

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

(Prix Goncourt/Roman). The book sold 400,000 copies. * 2012: ''Sermon sur la chute de Rome'' by Jérôme Ferrari was the second book published by Actes Sud honoured by the Prix Goncourt. * 2015: ''

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

'' (''Bussole'') by

Mathias Énard Mathias Énard (born 1972) is a French novelist. He studied Persian and Arabic and spent long periods in the Middle East. He has lived in Barcelona for about fifteen years, interrupted in 2013 by a writing residency in Berlin. He won several awa ...

, also published by Actes Sud, received the Prix Goncourt. * 2017: '' The order of the day'' (''L'Ordre du jour'') by

Éric Vuillard Éric Vuillard (4 May 1968, Lyon) is a French writer and film director. He has made two films, ''L'homme qui marche'' and ''Mateo Falcone'', the latter based on a story by Prosper Merimee. He is the author of ''Conquistadors'' (2009) which won th ...

, published by Actes Sud, got the Prix Goncourt. * 2015:

Svetlana Alexievich Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suf ...

won the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

. * 2018: Nicolas Mathieu wins the

for his novel '' Leurs enfants après eux''.

Programme

Actes Süd provides a catalogue naming 11,500 titles. It has more than two hundred employees, mostly at the sites in

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, about twenty external advisors and a plethora of translators work in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and elsewhere

Book series

* Actes Sud BD * Actes Sud - Classica * Actes Sud Junior * Actes Sud - L’An 2 * Actes noirs * Actes Sud - Papiers * Actes Sud / Solin * Actes Sud / Sindbad * Babel * Babel noir * Domaine du possible * Un endroit où aller * Exofictions * Photo Poche

References

External links

* Book publishing companies of France 1978 establishments in France Publishing companies established in 1978 Arles French brands {{France-company-stub