Pivot Bows Out as French Literary Talk Show Host

Bernard Pivot, France’s No. 1 literary ambassador, says goodby Friday night to millions of viewers after 15 years as host of a talk show that turned authors and books into television stars.

The rumpled, affable Pivot, who became a national institution as host of “Apostrophes,” transformed books into topics of public debate and kept even avid TV viewers in contact with the world of literature.

An author’s appearance on the weekly 90-minute show nearly guaranteed increased book sales.

“Publishers are going to have to use their imagination now,” said Francois Nourissier of the Academie Goncourt, the prestigious literary circle that awards France’s top book prize each year. For 15 years, he said, Pivot “did a good part” of the publishers’ job.

Studies show that “Apostrophes” influenced up to one-third of book-buyers. In 1982, Regis Debray, former counselor to President Francois Mitterrand, complained that Pivot was becoming a “dictator of the book market.”

Pivot, 55, said he was bowing out after 724 shows because he is tired of reading 10 hours a day.