Focus – Gaëtan Ruffault

In 2022, our publishers and employees took action to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Ukraine and contribute to the collective effort.

Hachette Livre donated €140,000 to NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF) to fund setting up an Ideas Box at a refugee camp on the Ukrainian border, providing psychosocial, cultural and fun activities for children. We also donated children’s books (picture books, activity books and creative hobby books) to BSF, which delivered them to libraries in urgent need.

Furthermore, a number of our publishers have got involved by publishing works paying tribute to Ukraine, or donating the profits to support organisations. This includes works such as Pour l’Ukraine from Editions Grasset, Hommage à l’Ukraine from Editions Stock, Cuisiner simplissime et aider l’Ukraine from Hachette Pratique and Un arc-en-ciel d’émotions from Livre du Poche. Le Routard also republished and distributed for free 10,000 copies of its Hello ! guide, a universal visual dictionary for refugees.

Finally, we launched exceptional incentive schemes to encourage our employees to show their solidarity in welcoming refugees to France. Each employee supporting a charity helping refugees can benefit from one day of skills volunteering, and employees welcoming refugees to their homes can receive a lump sum of aid from Hachette Livre.

“In 2022, Hachette Livre donated €140,000 to NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF) to help Ukrainian children in refugee camps.”

Gaëtan Ruffault