How would you describe the importance of foreign literature at Payot Rivages?
Payot Rivages is unique for two reasons, the first being that it is a completely independent publishing house owned by one man, Jean-François Lamunière. The second is that it does not publish French literature, except in the “mystery/police procedural” category. Everything else comes from foreign writers. – And what is your position in the organisation of Payot Rivages? Payot and Rivages were two separate publishing houses which fused; Payot focusing more on non-fiction, essays, documents and biographies, and Rivages on fiction. I began working two and a half years ago with this collection which was begun twenty years ago under the direction of some extremely talented editors. The house policy is to work with auteurs, ranking authors like Jane Smiley, Alison Lurie and David Lodge, whose works are published by Payot Rivages. One of the collection’s major components has traditionally been American literature, complemented by works from Italy and Spain. I tried to continue in this traditi
