25 July 2008 - la Repubblica
Two women in publishing
Donatella Barbieri is joined by Chiara Boroli at Ali
At the age of 110, it is natural to think about the future. Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale, created in 1898 by Augusto Foà and which has since become one of the least conspicuous but most constant standard bearers of Italian culture (firstly under the direction of the founder's son Luciano and then under the stewardship of the legendary Erich Linder and, in recent years, Donatella Barbieri), has made the headlines with the agreement between two women both from the world of publishing but from different generations. Joining Donatella Barbieri, who retains 35 per cent and management responsibility, is Chiara Boroli, daughter and niece of publishers (respectively Adolfo and Achille Boroli from De Agostini), who has acquired the remaining 65 per cent.
She will not leave her posts in the family group (she is director of external relations and secretary of Fondazione De Agostini) but explains that her decision to join Ali is a personal choice, in a word her own idea and money. No conflict: in last year's accounts, the non-publishing activities of De Agostini (Lottomatica and others) exceeded books and there is no fiction in the catalogue.
Whereas Ali continues and will continue to carry out the delicate task of representing the rights of authors seeking publication and also of helping books to grow, importing them from abroad and exporting them in other languages. The job of publishing agent in Italy was invented by the Foàs and by Linder and Ali has kept this intact whereas it has changed as it has travelled around the world. In France it has become a niche profession while in Great Britain and USA it has become a profession from aggressive lawyers to Andrew Wylie, the man who demands massive advances for quality best-sellers.
Ali's highly confidential archives in Milan contain a wealth of history written in the form of percentages but also in the form of advice, proposals, acceptances and rejections of 200 Italian authors [ ... and the history of the arrival in Italy of thousands of foreigners from Forster, Pound, Salinger, Bukowski to contemporary writers. Friends first and colleagues now, Barbieri and Boroli are sure that the list can be extended, and the agency can even have its own website, without betraying the spirit of the confidant, ally, principal ideal reader and protector. «Here authors feel at home».
Maurizio Bono
25 July 2008 - Corriere della sera
Chiara and Donatella relaunch Ali in the female style
Chiara Boroli has acquired 65 per cent of the literary agency. Donatella Barbieri will continue to manage it.
The Italian publishing industry has an increasingly female face. At the medieval heart of Milan, a stone's throw away from Piazza San Sepolcro, Chiara Boroli announced yesterday that she had bought 65 per cent of the most prestigious literary agency in Italy, the legendary Ali (Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale). Responsibility for managing the agency will remain with Donatella Barbieri, who took over from the son of Erich Linder, Dennis, in 1988 and who continues to hold a 35% stake.
It was natural, it being Ali, that the announcement of this marriage should not lose sight of the historical references of the oldest literary agency created in 1898 by Augusto Foà, father of Luciano, founder of Adelphi, which was taken over in 1947 by Erich Linder, who paved the way for its considerable success […]
