Alexis Onestas

Alexis is the founder of OmaxBooks, an independent publishing house in Paris, created to connect African-American literature with French-speaking readers. Over the past few years, he has personally negotiated rights with major groups such as Hachette and Simon & Schuster, and then led the translation and distribution of books by 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Issa Rae, Common, Taraji P. Henson, and soon Gucci Mane. He's currently working on projects about Tupac Shakur and Nipsey Hussle, and has recently fulfilled one of his dreams by collaborating with Steve Stoute — business partner of Jay-Z and Nas — all completely independently from Paris.

TRANSLATION (Business-Memoir)

TRANSLATION is a professional and personal memoir by Alexis Onestas. It details his journey from a childhood in the Paris suburbs inspired by Hip-Hop culture to becoming an entrepreneur and founding OmaxBooks, a publishing house dedicated to translating influential African-American works into French. The narrative follows his experiences managing a fanzine, organizing major concerts, and eventually overcoming the language barrier to discover role models like Steve Stoute and Issa Rae. Onestas describes the challenges of breaking into the traditional French publishing industry, which he perceived as being resistant to diverse voices, and his subsequent decision to achieve independence by handling translation, layout, and distribution in-house. Ultimately, the book serves as both a history of his business ventures—including the successful release of Issa Rae's The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and Common's Let Love Have the Last Word—and an inspirational guide for building a cultural legacy through perseverance and sincerity.

Agent: Zeynep Sen
Rights Available: All