Françoise Nyssen (; born 9 June 1951) is a French- Belgian publisher and politician and a former director of the

Actes Sud Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members. ...

publishing house. From 2017 until 2018, she served as Minister of Culture of France in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

Early life and education

Françoise Nyssen was raised and attended university in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. She has a ''maîtrise'' (

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

) from the ''Institut supérieur d’urbanisme et de rénovation urbaine'' in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Career

Early in her career, Nyssen worked first as an urban planner in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1987, Nyssen became an associate and presiding director of

publisher, founded by her father

Hubert Nyssen Hubert Nyssen (; 11April 192512November 2011) was a Belgian-French writer, publisher and founder of the Éditions Actes Sud. Biography Hubert Nyssen grew up in Watermael-Boitsfort, Boitsfort (today a commune in Brussels) and settled in Provenc ...

, and located in

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

. Françoise Nyssen and her husband founded the school Domaine du possible in 2014, using

Steiner-Waldorf Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is Holistic education, holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic ...

paedagogical methods.. The school settled in a farm a few kilometers away from the centre of

, where a hundred pupils, aged from 3 to 16, were enrolled in September 2016. On 17 May 2017, Nyssen was appointed French Minister of Culture, as the successor of

Audrey Azoulay Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French Jew of Moroccan descent, French Civil Service, civil servant and politician who has served as the 11th Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UN ...

. On 13 November 2017, she announced the launch of a new fund to support young designers with €300,000 to be invested in 10 projects annually. During her time in office, Nyssen was accused of impropriety over renovations done in her previous publishing house’s outpost in Arles in 2011. Shortly after, the public prosecutor’s office in Paris launched a preliminary investigation into Nyssen, after French weekly ''

Le Canard Enchaîné (; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism ...

'' reported that she had failed to declare building renovations in her prior career as a publisher. In October 2018, she was replaced by

Franck Riester Franck Alix Georges Riester (born 3 January 1974) is a French politician of Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance (RE). He has represented the Seine-et-Marne's 5th constituency, fifth constituency of Seine-et-Marne in the National A ...

in a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

Other activities

Corporate boards

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP. until 2022) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full-service independent studios that both produce and distribute ...

, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (2012-2017) * Société Marseillaise de Crédit (SMC), Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d'Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historian ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (-2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyssen, Francoise 1951 births Living people Ministers of culture of France French publishers (people) Officers of the Legion of Honour Université libre de Bruxelles alumni Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from Etterbeek French people of Belgian descent Women government ministers of France 21st-century French politicians 21st-century French women politicians