France honors last newspaper hawker in Paris with knighthood : NPR

Ali Akbar sells newspapers in the Latin Quarter in Paris in September 2025. The 73-year-old man of Pakistani origin is considered the last newspaper seller in the French capital and was knighted by French President Emmanuel Macron last month.

GUILLAUME BAPTISTE/AFP via Getty Images

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PARIS — We call him the voice of the 6th arrondissement of Paris. In the cafes of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Ali Akbar is essential, with a voice that cannot be missed. You usually hear him before you see him, screaming “That’s it!” – his signature catchphrase, “That’s it!”

For more than 50 years, this newspaper seller of Pakistani origin has made the same daily rounds on his second-hand bicycle, weaving between breweries with piles of fresh newspapers like The World And Release. Its customers range from neighborhood regulars to Left Bank intellectuals like 20th-century philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and visiting presidents including Bill Clinton.

And last month, another of his former clients – French President Emmanuel Macron – awarded him one of France’s highest honors, naming Akbar a knight of the National Order of Merit.

“You are the accent of the 6th arrondissement,” Macron told Akbar during an official ceremony at the Élysée in late January. “The voice of the French press on Sunday morning and every other day of the week.”

Macron then called Akbar “the most French of the French – a Voltairian who arrived from Pakistan”.

Akbar’s medal is accompanied by a discreet footnote: he is considered the last newspaper peddler left in Paris. A job that once filled the city’s streets has all but disappeared, driven by the Internet and collapsing print sales. In a city that now makes headlines on his phone, Akbar continues to hand deliver them.

French President Emmanuel Macron awards the Knight of the National Order of Merit to Ali Akbar at the Elysée in Paris on January 28, 2026. Akbar, a Pakistani immigrant, has been selling newspapers around Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the French capital for 50 years.

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A big dream

At 73, Akbar still works seven days a week, 10 hours a day, rain or shine.

Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the eldest of 10 children, he says growing up poor, he had a big dream: to earn enough money to build his mother a house. Just before his 18th birthday, he left his country, determined to live a better life abroad.

“I started working hard,” he said.

For a time he cleaned floors on a ship in Greece, learning the Greek language. After that he spent some time in the Netherlands and Rouen in northern France.

When he arrived in Paris in 1973, an Argentinian friend suggested that he start selling newspapers with him in the Latin Quarter. One of the first titles Akbar sold was a satirical weekly, which shocked him with its raunchy caricatures and irreverence toward French politicians.

“My first thought was: in my country, if you do this, they will kill you,” says Akbar.

He then added mainstream dailies and began to enjoy the job of peddling newspapers, barely thinking twice about the 18-hour days.

“Really, those days were heaven for me,” he says.

But that doesn’t mean things have been easy. There were times when he was homeless, choosing to sleep on the streets to save money to send back to his family.

“I always thought of my mother and her children,” he says.

Finally, he was able to realize his dream of building his house for his mother. Since then, he has continued to earn a modest living selling newspapers. After an arranged marriage in Pakistan, Akbar and his wife Aziza settled in the Paris suburbs and raised five sons.

Akbar says he remains grateful to France for all the opportunities he has been given. But he is not afraid to acknowledge the difficulties he has faced. The title of his 2005 memoir hints at what lies behind the jubilant image that made him famous: I make the world laugh, but the world makes me cry.

Despite everything, Akbar – as the Voltairian Macron described him – chooses to focus on the positive. “You can meet bad people everywhere, and there are also good people everywhere,” he says when asked about his difficulties.

Bravo and congratulations wherever he goes

These days, Akbar can hardly go more than a few minutes without a stranger stopping him in the street to congratulate him on his recent honor.

For his family, his medal also symbolizes healing.

“It healed old wounds,” says his son, Shamshad Akbar.

Akbar, who obtained his residency papers decades ago, says Macron promised him French citizenship. The Élysée declined to comment when NPR asked about it.

Neighborhood residents say Akbar gave them something invaluable: a chance to make everyday human connections.

“He is interested in you, and then you are interested in him,” explains Michel Mimran, a long-time customer. “And it’s very rare now in big cities.”

Today, Akbar says he is lucky to earn about 60 euros – about $70 – a day selling newspapers.

And when one day he finally leaves, the Parisian newspaper peddler will accompany him.

But he has no plans to leave anytime soon. On a recent Sunday afternoon, Akbar pushed open the door of a crowded brasserie on Boulevard Saint-Germain. Heads turned. From the back of the room, a small crowd began chanting his name. Then the rest of the place joined in.

“Ali, Ali!” the room sang in unison.

Akbar smiled, raised his hands, holding papers, laughed – then shouted in French and English:

“That’s it! I made my dream come true!”