Jacques Testard on setting up Fitzcarraldo Editions, publishing fiction in translation and those blue-and-white covers

About this episode

Jacques Testard discusses the founding of Fitzcarraldo Editions and its success in publishing translated fiction.

Simon and Rachel speak to Jacques Testard, the founder and publisher of Fitzcarraldo Editions, an independent house based in London that, since its establishment in 2014, has won four Nobel Prizes for literature. Jacques's Nobel winners are Svetlana Alexievich (2015), Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Annie Ernaux (2022) and Jon Fosse (2023). Prior to setting up Fitzcarraldo, Jacques co-founded The White Review, a literary magazine launched in 2011. He's also published work by Claire-Louise Bennett, Jon Lee Anderson and Fernanda Melchor. We spoke to Jacques about setting up Fitzcarraldo and releasing its first book in 2014, its extraordinary success with literary prizes, including the Nobel, and the economics of running a small publishing house.In addition to the standard audio format, the podcast is now available in video. You can check us out on YouTube under Always Take Notes. Join us on April 21st as we interview Michael Morpurgo at the Lantern Theatre in Bristol. You can get your tickets here. We’ve made another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We’ve added 40 pages of new material to the package of successful article pitches…

People in this episode

Hosts: Simon, Rachel

Guest: Jacques Testard

Topics covered

• publishing
• fiction
• translation
• literary prizes

Keywords

• Fitzcarraldo Editions
• Nobel Prizes
• literary magazine
• The White Review

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Fitzcarraldo Editions

Books & works: Nobel Prizes, Nobel, Always Take Notes, Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers

Places: London, Bristol

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