Gallic Books

Gallic Books was founded by francophile former Random House colleagues Jane Aitken and Pilar Webb in 2007, and has been publishing the best of French in English for over ten years. In 2015 we expanded our catalogue to include an eclectic selection of English fiction from around the world.

Our aim is to give English book lovers a taste of true French reading, and to discover great fiction, written in English, from far and wide. Our authors hail from all points of the globe and the stories they tell span centuries and continents, from Jazz Age Sydney to wartime Suffolk, from New Zealand in the sixties to contemporary London, from modern day South Africa to the heart of the French Revolution.

We believe that books are windows into other lives, and, in a time of turbulence, we are committed to discovering and advocating literature that opens our eyes to global experiences beyond our own, while touching on the universality of the human experience.

The Gallic list now comprises more than 75 works of contemporary fiction, including crime and noir; biography and memoir; commercial, historical and literary fiction; graphic novels and classics.

In 2011 we opened our bookshop, Belgravia Books, near London’s Victoria station, stocking our own books as well as a wide selection of general fiction and non-fiction, championing titles from our fellow independent publishers.

Our Authors and translators have won or been shortlisted for a number of prestigious prizes, including the Goncourt, the Prix Interallié, the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française, the IMPAC, the CWA Dagger, the French-American Translation Prize and the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, and have been selected to take part in events such as European Literature Night, and promotions including Waterstones Book Club and the ABA Indies Introduce programme.