With over 26 million books sold in 2007, Univers Poche is France’s leading paperback publisher, bringing together five imprints whose editorial lines complement each other perfectly: Pocket, Pocket Jeunesse, 10/18, Fleuve Noir and Langues Pour Tous.
Its catalogue lists over 4,500 works – including 50% previously unpublished titles, with 700 new releases annually. Univers Poche covers all genres, from contemporary literature to reference works, bestsellers to books on social sciences, and detective novels/thrillers to psychological “self-help” guides. Its goal is to spread the pleasure of reading to as many people as possible.
Established in 1962, Pocket is a general-interest publisher of pocket literature. Its collections cover all genres of literary fiction and non-fiction. Pocket published 308 new works and has a catalogue listing some 2,305 titles.
Pocket’s catalogue includes: • Numerous French and foreign best-selling authors (literature, detective novels and thrillers) such as Marc Levy, Douglas Kennedy, Françoise Sagan, Harlan Coben, Isabelle Wolff, Michael Crichton, Katherine Neville, John Grisham, Elizabeth George, José Frèches, Martha Grimes, and many others; • Up-and-coming young authors such as Jean-Philippe Blondel, Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, Olivier Adam and others, with republications of “first novels” in the collection “Nouvelles Voix”; • Classics with “Pocket Classiques” (reference works with annotated comments) and “Pocket 1,50 €” (unabridged classical works); • Documents and essays related to the social sciences with the collections “Agora” and “Terre Humaine” (a collection directed by Jean Malaurie); • Biographical accounts featuring Ingrid Betancourt, Michel Serrault, Jean-Claude Brialy, and others; • "Spiritualité", a collection that includes the writings of the Dalai Lama.
Pocket is also France’s leading science fiction and fantasy publisher, with authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne McCaffrey, David Eddings and Terry Pratchett.
Finally, the collection "Evolution" has enabled Pocket to position itself as one of the key publishers on the psychological “self-help” market, particularly with Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking and David Servan-Schreiber’s Guérir.
Founded in 1994, Pocket Jeunesse is Univers Poche’s newest addition, and is acclaimed both for its bestselling series and for its policy of publishing both French and foreign writers. In 2004, Pocket Jeunesse released 140 new titles and has 872 works in its catalogue.
Pocket Jeunesse features various children’s series such as “Les Jumelles” (with the Olsen twins), “Ducobu”, “Heartland”, “Gagne!” and “Golem”, centred around children’s centres of interest and with recurring heroes that kids want to identify with, thus giving them the taste for reading and the desire to discover more complex books.
Pocket Jeunesse also publishes works written by the finest authors for young people. Over the past few years, some thirty French and foreign authors have been added to the catalogue, including Michel Quint, Pascal Garnier, Florence Reynaud, Marie-Sabine Roger, Claude Gutman, Hubert Ben Kemoun, Gudule, Christian Jolibois, Evelyne Brisou-Pellen, Marie-Aude, Elvire and Lorris Murail.
In addition, Pocket Jeunesse has developed a range for adolescents, with the collection “Pocket Jeunes Adultes”, and a large-format collection of bestselling works such as Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Herbie Brennan’s Faerie Wars.
Founded in 1962, 10/18 is one of the biggest publishers of paperback foreign literature, with a catalogue of classical and contemporary works featuring some 1056 reference titles and approximately 110 new releases annually.
The collection “Domaine étranger” – celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2005 – showcases works by internationally acclaimed fiction writers such as Colum McCann, Jim Harrison, Lucia Etxebarria, Toni Morrison, Kazuo Ishiguro, Nick Hornby, Armistead Maupin, John Fante, Haruki Murakami, Douglas Coupland, Italo Calvino, and many others. Every year, the collection lists previously unpublished works, by authors such as Woody Allen, Carlos Liscano, Louis Bayard and Magnus Mills (in 2005) and explores new collections, with “Fictions en noir” (dark, urban and literary ambiances by cult authors and outsiders) and “Aventures Humaines” (unusual trajectories and unabashed life stories that tell it like it is) –both created in 2005. “Domaine étranger” includes works by Nobel Prize authors such as Imre Kertéscz, Naguib Mahfouz and V.S. Naipaul.
The collection “Grands détectives” publishes classical and often previously unpublished detective novels: Anne Perry (set in late 19th century London, or during WWI, in her latest series), Ellis Peters (12th century England) and French authors such as Jean-François Parot (Paris under Louis XV), Elena Arseneva (11th century Russia), Claude Izner (19th century Paris) and Armand Cabasson (Napoleonic era) – as well as exotic and contemporary works by authors such as Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana) and Iain Pears (Italy).
10/18 also publishes a collection consisting of essays and works on social sciences, “Fait et cause”, gathering the most representative critical works on today’s society, including books by Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky.
Created in 1949, Fleuve Noir is a major publisher of popular literature, with over 892 titles and 100 new releases annually. It specialises in genre literature, such as hip comedies, detective and science fiction/fantasy novels, as well as series such as “La Compagnie des Glaces” (The Ice Company), “Perry Rhodan” and “Forgotten Realms”.
With The Devil Wears Prada and the “Gossip Girl” series, Fleuve Noir has become the leading French publisher of “trendy” novels stemming from “Gossip Lit” – a new literary trend that has changed the codes of feminine literature in English-speaking countries, under the influence of the series “Sex & the City”. Thanks to Fleuve Noir, these works rapidly rose to the top of the 2004 large format bestsellers list in France. In 2005, the release of Plum Sykes’ Bergdorf Blondes (9 June) – the hilarious account of the lives of Park Avenue heiresses – and of “The A List” series are eagerly awaited by growing numbers of fans.
Fleuve Noir also publishes thrillers by renowned authors such as Andrea Camilleri, Harlan Coben and James Patterson, as well as Martin Winckler, Patrick Bard and Virginie Brac (winner of France’s 2004 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière with her novel Double Peine).
Attentive to trends in popular culture, Fleuve Noir has developed, during the past few years, book series inspired by TV series that are popular with young audiences (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Smallville, Alias, CSI, etc.).
Finally, the prestigious collection “Rendez-vous Ailleurs” is dedicated to fantasy fiction, with some of the greatest names in fantasy and science fiction, such as Michael Moorcock, David Eddings, Greg Keyes, DOA, Christophe Lambert and China Mieville, winner of France’s 2005 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire with Perdido Street Station.
The manga is a real social phenomenon, representing 30% of cartoon sales in France. Kurokawa was launched in September 2005 with a strong and innovative program covering shonen (adventures, action, friendship – for boys) and shojo (love stories and humor for girls), right up to seinen (humorous mangas). Kurokawa decided to cover these three types of manga and to offer a wider readership a limited number of series characterized by their editorial quality.
Upcoming titles: one of the top series in Japan, Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, eagerly awaited in France by fans of this genre. Other new titles: Azumanga Daioh by Kiyohiko Azuma, a humorous manga based on a series of unusual characters; Kimi Wa Pet by Yayoi Ogawa, the story of a thirty-something single woman who adopts Momo, a male dancer, as her pet; and finally, the official adaptation of the video game and cartoon, Megaman, produced by Miho Asada and Jun Keijima.
