EDITIONS LIBERTALIA
Paris, line 9 to Montreuil, get off at Croix de Chavaux station, before turning right to Libertalia bookstore.
Nicolas Norrito is there already, talking with local folks.
Nico is the co-founder of the Libertalia Publishing House, but he’s also a figure of Punk and of the Parisian anarcho-syndicalism of the late 90s. He animated the mythic Barricata fanzine, and used to be a member of the Brigada Flores Magon, and today he tells us about the history of Libertalia, its practice, and its vision.
Interview by Polka B. & Reda | Translated by Julie B
How did the publishing house come to life in 2007? What’s the history behind the founding trio?
Nicolas : First came Bruno, our graphic designer who lives in the south-west. He’d been an activist at the Fédération Anarchiste for a long time. Back then, he’d created the first antifascist skinhead forum : the « Nono Rude Doodle Hooligan ». He’s been a guitarist and songwriter for the Bolchoï band. He drew in Barricata, a fanzine I’d co-created back in 1999. He’s now a permanent member of the publishing house and I have him on the phone daily !
Charlotte, is the edition sector professional, because her dad was a bookseller (« Choc Corridor » in Lyon, in the 80s and 90s). She’s worked as a press officer, proofreader, editor… And in 2020, after covid, the dropped her jobs in several national journals to permanently become Libertalia’s proofreader.
As for me, I’ve been and French Teacher from 2002 to 2020. I quit to commit entirely to the publishing house and the Montreuil bookstore.To me, it was the logic sequel to a struggle initiated a long time ago, a fight for emancipation that had begun with another crew — the Brigada Flores Magon.
We were hyperactive in the late 90s and early 2000s. We sold our disks, our fanzines… And I thought we lacked a tool to publish books. We started out moneyless, and without any experience except for Charlotte. We funded the first book thanks to a concert of the Brixton Cats. And we funded the second one with a concert of the Moonshiners.
The publishing house is rooted in antifascist punk & skin culture.
With the name Libertalia, the identity of the structure was built around the imagery of piracy. Did this specific choice affect your editorial choices ?
It does orient it, because Libertalia both contains the imagery of piracy (the book Villains of all Nations by Marcus Rediker, which we edited in 2008), and the imagery of literature (we think of A General History of the Pyrates, written in 1724). As an abolitionist pirate republic, Libertalia is a myth that holds some elements of truth.
What enticed us was the romantic and revolutionary figure of the pirate, both as a political and literary concept.
How can you define the publishing house’s direction ? Did you have any references among the existing structures in France ?
Yes, many, of course ! We were close to L’Insomniaque, which was founded by ex-armed robbers who ware passionate about books. We see them as our big brothers, and we continue to work with them. There’s also the Maspero publishing house.
There’s also the Maspero publishing house. La Fabrique editions inspired me a lot as well. We remain very close to them.
The impact of your publications is very interesting, since they are distributed in a wide network of French bookstores.
Wasn’t your book distributor (Harmonia Mundi) a bit reticent, regarding the radical themes of most your books ?
Back in 2012, our structure of diffusion went bankrupt. It was an alternative structure, held with difficulty by its team. We looked for another structure, and Harmonia accepted us. To us, it felt like a huge acceleration of the process. It allowed us to gain visibility, and we went from 150 point of sales to 500. I’d say that one hundred bookshops closely monitor our catalogue and releases.
From the start, our objective has been to distribute as much books as possible. What matters is to have enough money to pay the authors, the projects, the translators, and to be able to live decently from this activity.
Today, Libertalia sells around 110000 books a year. Our basis is the literature of the people, and social History. We did broaden our horizons with books that match today’s political preoccupations.
How do you manage to maintain a constant progression in sales while remaining coherent with the editorial line?
It’s true that it’s hard not to worry about the state of our sales ! We make sure to keep a certain balance. In June of 2026, we are going to publish a book by the Occitan poet Serge Pey, about Walter Benjamin. It’s a pleasure to us, but we know it’s not the kind of book that sells a lot. So we have to compensate with more accessible publications.
We offer different types of publications. First, we’ve got books about the actual hot topics. Then, we’ve got books that we categorise as « the fridge », these are books that belong to the classic literary field and that can be released at any time. For example, Jack London. We had many of his work retranslated. The Call of the Wild will come out in January, with a wonderful translation. We’re also reediting B.Traven, Victor Serge… It’s the « popular classic » fringe of Libertalia. We’re looking into publishing contemporary literature, even if it’s way more difficult.
We’re also very careful about publishing as much women as men. We’re very mindful about this matter. We also publish graphic novels, comics, theatre, History collections… And we have some series that operate well, such as the « 10 questions » series (about feminism, anarchism, communism, anti-speciesism, the crusades, islamophobia, antisemitism, transphobia…).
We try to find a global balance between all those different segments. We have two authors that have a great success in bookstores : Anne Crignon (Une belle grève de femmes) and Corinne Morel Darleux (Plutôt couler en beauté que couler sans grâce ; Du Fond des océans les montagnes sont plus grandes). We owe them a lot. They guarantee our capacity to publish harder-to-sell books.
Libertalia also is an openly antifascist publishing house. Has this incisively anti-far right line ever caused you problems?
Antifascism is our most fundamental data. We will never back down on this. We sometimes have been attacked, like during the controversy around our board game Antifa, the game, that we conceived with our friends from La Horde. A former RN* member of parliament got angry and was widely relayed in mainstream media.
This antifascist history we share with La Horde is not over yet. We will release together a card game called Fachorama. It’s a « 7 families »-like game, starring 7 far-right families. The controversy surrounding the Antifa game got bigger than us. In a way, we can even say it helped us !
*t/n : « La Horde » is an antifascist platform born in 2012, made to federate antifascist groups and share infos and material.
** t/n : « RN » stands for « Rassemblement National », formerly « Front National », an extreme-right party founded in 1972 by former Waffen-SS and former members of OAS (French far-right colonial terrorist organisation).
2022 had been a bad year for us. The game revitalised us, and gave us money and visibility ! The polemic started our on November 28, 2022. On November 30, it was sold out !
Can you tell us about your Montreuil bookstore? We feel as though the « local bookstore » vibe helps gaining a certain proximity with people who might not be used to reading literature.
For a long time, we were hosted in La Parole Errante. We organised many events there. We left our spot to settle two blocks away, in an shabby store on 12, rue Marcelin-Berthelot.
We didn’t want to open a bookstore at first ! But as the locals showed curiosity and sympathy, we progressively took that path in 2018. Here you can find the catalogue from Libertalia, from l’Insomniaque, from La Fabrique…But also new releases, comics, mangas…
It’s been 7 years. Some kids have known us ever since they were born ! This place really matters to us.
And you’re opening a second store!
It’s our actual hot news ! We just settled in La Maison des Métallos, in the 11th arrondissement. It’s a former musical instruments manufacture, built in 1881, and sold in 1936 to the Fraternal union of metalworkers (which is linked to the CGT***). The place was then bought by the City of Paris in 2001, renovated and re-opened in 2007. It’s a wonderful place. It’s a new era for Libertalia.
***n/t : « CGT » = Confédération Générale du Travail, one of France’s biggest worker’s unions.
We coming to the end of the interview ! Can you tell us about one of your most cherished books in your catalogue ?
Tough question ! I’d say Ma Guerre d’Espagne à moi, de Mika Etchebéhère. by Mika Etchebéhère. It’s an essential testimony. An incredible story. And I love everything that this author embodies.
And a little music question ! If you had to think of an old school track that you particularly love, and one from the new generation, what would it be ?
That’s a tough one too ! On the old school side, I can only quote « Partisans » by Brigada Flores Magon, because it’s my story. Listening to it still tears my heart into pieces. For the new generation, I’m gonna say Krav Boca. To me, you’re the legit continuity of the struggle for emancipation, with risk-taking.
