The headlines Ali Akbar shouts to sell his newspapers are much better than the real thing. 'Osama bin Laden Wedding Pictures' and 'That's It! Retirement at 35' are two of his recent brainwaves. Today, as he sells the Journal du Dimanche, he could try 'Parisian News Vendor Writes Bestseller'.
The French literary event of the spring promises to be not the tortured musings of some silk-shirted philosopher but the memoirs of this 52-year-old Pakistani who came to France as an illegal immigrant and is now a hero of the Latin Quarter.
'The regulars are very important,' he says as he zigzags down Rue de Seine delivering Le Monde to the galleries that are among his customers. 'I could do something more lucrative, but I like the contact with people. I could sell about 100 copies a day if I wanted, but I am down to 80 because of all the fuss over the book - interviews, signings, people wanting to chat.'
At the junction of Rue de Buci and Rue Mazarine, a man leaps out of a van with a copy of Je Fais Rire Le Monde ... Mais Le Monde Me Fait Pleurer (I Make The World Laugh But The World Makes Me Cry). 'Ali! I've got it!' Akbar clamps his copies of Le Monde between his knees and signs for the excited driver.
Akbar's publisher, Jean-Claude Gawsewitch, has ordered a large initial print-run for an unknown author - 8,000 copies. 'It should sell out, if only in the 6th arrondissement,' he says. All the top French publishing houses are in the 6th district and all the capital's intellectuals, media personalities and politicians frequent the Sartrian haunts of the area such as Brasserie Lipp and the Café de Flore.
More than a year ago, Gawsewitch was having lunch at Lipp when Akbar dropped in on his daily round. 'I had read about Ali because journalists had mentioned him in their articles. I thought he might have a story to tell,' he says.
It proved to be the case. Akbar was born into hunger, sexual abuse and violence in Rawalpindi. He had his first job at the age of six and was holding down three jobs by the age of 14. His father beat him when he did not bring home enough money.
'I was illiterate and would have remained that way had not an old man pointed out to me that my name meant great emperor and I should live up to it. So I taught myself to read Urdu and later I learnt English by listening to the BBC World Service. I was aiming to go to an English-speaking country, but fate brought me to France.'
Akbar travelled through Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Romania and Sweden before disembarking in Rouen in 1972. His book charts his life from his first job in Pakistan as a barefoot buffalo herder to his employment, in 1973, as a street vendor of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly.
After a few years, Akbar was able to apply for permanent residency, allowing him to return to Pakistan, marry Aziza and bring her back. 'My ambition was that my children would never endure the hardships, beatings and dishonesty I have experienced.' The eldest of his five sons, Shazad, 22, is about to qualify as a computer engineer.
'Publishers look for interesting personalities, and Ali is one,' Gawsewitch adds. 'Also, he needed to write down his story. But there's another, very important, dimension. Here in France the children of a news vendor do not boast about their father's job. Now they can.'
