HarperCollins Officially Expands in France

Publishers Lunch 

It's book fair time -- as the Bologna Book Fair officially opens -- so Harper Collins has announced another expanded international unit. This time it is the formation of Harper Collins France. Previously, Harlequin SA was a joint venture in France with Hachette Livre, but Harper Collins bought out their partner. They will continue to work with Hachette in an "ongoing partnership for distribution and sales." (They bought out Mondadori's share of Harlequin Mondadori in September 2015, and they ended their joint venture in Brazil with Record Publishing Group -- pairing instead with Ediuoro Group, last August. The new business will continue to publish romance under the Harlequin imprint and expand its trade publishing with titles from Harper Collins as well as local authors. Managing director of Harlequin SA Emmanuelle Bucco-Cancès remains in charge, now as managing director of HarperCollins France.

Harper Collins ceo Brian Murray said in the announcement: "Were excited to announce the formation of Harper Collins France and complete the rebranding of our Harlequin offices in Europe. There is a long and successful history of publishing in France and we look forward to growing the program further and providing our authors with a global, multi-language publishing platform."

Bucco-Cances said in the announcement: "We will leverage our strong experience in publishing and our commercial strengths to develop HarperCollins authors locally, while continuing to grow our position in romance under the Harlequin imprint. This is a turning point for the company and an exciting journey for the whole French team."