Today @ Penguin
Canadian media accompanies the release of the unauthorized Justin Bieber biography (new this week)
An interview with Chas Newkey-Burden, author of Justin Bieber: An Unauthorized Biography (9780143178378 / Puffin Canada), ran in Wednesday's Globe and Mail. The author was also interviewed on Virgin 99.9 FM in Toronto.
The following radio stations will be doing on-air giveaways of the book:
- 99.9 FM's Virgin Breakfast Show, Toronto
- 98.5's Virgin Morning Show, Calgary
- 95.5 FM's Morning Show, Belleville, Ontario
- 570 AM, Kitchener, Ontario
- Q92, Timmins, Ontario
- CHAT-FM, Redcliff, Alberta
- Lite 96, Calgary
Justin Bieber, a native of Stratford, Ontario, is a global singing sensation and teen heartthrob whose debut single "One Time" was released in 2009 and went into the top 30 in 10 countries.
It all started when Justin's mom posted videos on YouTube of her 13-year-old boy singing cover songs. Hits on the site started building almost immediately, and it wasn't long before he had fans of all ages, all over the world. When, in 2008, music-industry professional Scooter Braun became his manager, this young star was on his way.
Five Penguin Group authors included in New York Magazine's fall preview
In their August 30–September 6th double issue, New York magazine listed their twenty most anticipated fiction and nonfiction titles for this fall and Penguin Group (USA) had five titles on the list, including:
- Zero History by William Gibson (9780399156823 / Putnam / September 7))
- Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (9781594487699 / Riverhead / September 28)
- How To Read The Air by Dinaw Mengestu (9781594487705 / Riverhead / October 19)
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, trans. Lydia Davis (9780670022076 / Viking / September 28)
- The Petting Zoo by Jim Carroll (9780670022182 / Viking / November 9)
In addition, Where Good Ideas Come From: the Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson (9781594487712 / Riverhead / October 5) and Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (9781594202667 / The Penguin Press / October 5) were also included in the extended list for October releases.
See the full list here.
Watch this video where William Gibson explains what Zero History is about.
Explore the reading group guide to How to Read the Air.
MTV's Jersey Shore sensation Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino to publish with Penguin
In December 2009, the MTV reality television show Jersey Shore exploded into pop culture consciousness and quickly grew from a cult following to a mainstream phenomenon.
At the core of its success is the fist-pumping, girl-chasing, hair-gel-applying, tanning-bed-frequenting mega-breakout star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino.
In Here's the Situation (9781592406425 / Gotham / November 2), Sorrentino lays out the tenets of "guido"-dom for anyone who wants to live (or mock) the Jersey Shore lifestyle.
Sorrentino will be making national American TV and radio appearances at the time of publication, and national American magazine features and interviews are expected. The book deal was reported widely on such websites as CBC.ca and MTV.ca.
Fantastic advance review of Zero History is in the September issue of Quill & Quire
A great review of William Gibson's forthcoming novel, Zero History (9780399156823 / Putnam / September 7), ran in Quill & Quire's September issue, in which the book was described as a "serious contender" to rank among his strongest novels.
Zero History is the third book in a trilogy that includes Spook Country (9780425221419 / Berkley) and Pattern Recognition (9780425192931 / Berkley), and features the return of such memorable characters as Hollis Henry and Milgrim.
William Gibson is scheduled to tour the following Canadian cities this October:
- October 13: WordFest—University of Calgary
- October 21–22: Vancouver International Writer's Festival
- October 24: Ottawa International Writer's Festival
- October 26–27: International Festival of Authors, Toronto
- October 29: Drawn & Quarterly, Montreal
- October 31: Paragraphe Books & Breakfast, Montreal
- November 1: Bolen Books, Victoria
"The clash of ... different viewpoints results in a true and authentic-feeling vision of the here and now. Gibson's writing is richly textured, dense with information but never intrusively so."
—Quill & Quire
Betty White, award-winning film and television actress, will write two books for G.P. Putnam's Sons
Putnam announced this week that it has acquired two books by Emmy Award-winning actress Betty White—Listen Up! and The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends—in a highly competitive auction.
White said, "Much as I love what I do for a living in show business, I love writing even more—so I am thrilled to be working on not only one new book but two of them."
The first book, Listen Up!, to be published in hardcover in spring 2011, will draw upon life lessons learned during White's incredibly varied, decades-long career in Hollywood, with an emphasis on the extraordinary past 15 years. With her unique brand of irreverent wit and wisdom, she will offer her observations on a wide range of topics, including television, aging, life, love, sex, and celebrity, as well as her recent resurgence, including her headline-making turn as the guest host of Saturday Night Live.
The second book, The Zoo and I: Betty and Her Friends, to be published in hardcover in 2012, will be filled with stories and photographs that capture the daily life of her animal friends at the zoo. White is a long-time member of the board of the Los Angeles Zoo, and throughout her life she has been a passionate supporter of animal health and welfare.
The announcement was reported by top Canadian media such as CTV National News, the Canadian Press, the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, CBC.ca, and Sun Media, and by dozens of community papers across the country.
Rooney Mara to play Lisbeth Salander in Hollywood adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Rooney Mara will play Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as was announced August 16, and reported in major Canadian media such as The Globe & Mail and The National Post.
Mara bested some of Hollywood's best-known young actresses to win the role of Lisbeth Salander in the upcoming Hollywood film adaptation of Steig Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
The film, due in theaters in 2011, will also star Daniel Craig and is to be directed by David Fincher.
Mark Logue and Peter Conradi's The King's Speech is coming on November 30
The King's Speech (9780143178545 / Penguin Canada / on sale November 30) is the previously untold story of the extraordinary relationship between the almost unknown, and certainly unqualified, speech therapist Lionel Logue and the haunted young man who became King George VI.
Logue, a commoner and an Australian to boot—dubbed "the quack who saved a king"—single-handedly turned the nervous, tongue-tied Duke of York into the man who became king. Had Logue not saved Bertie (as George VI was always known) from his debilitating stammer and pathological nervousness in front of a crowd or microphone, then it is almost certain that the House of Windsor would have collapsed.
The King's Speech is also the inspiration behind a new major motion picture starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter. The film will premiere, with gala positioning, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and it is scheduled to be released as a major feature film across Canada on December 10.
"Two of the hottest buzz movies getting their premieres at the festival will be The King's Speech and Miral ... serious contenders for awards season honours. There's little doubt that Harvey Weinstein ... will be in full campaign mode for both."
—Toronto Star
Me, a memoir by international superstar Ricky Martin, just added to November 2010
Me (9780451234155 / Celebra / November 2) is an intimate memoir about the very liberating and spiritual journey of one of the most iconic pop stars of our time.
International superstar Ricky Martin, who has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, opens up for the first time about memories of his early childhood, experiences in the famed boy band Menudo, struggles with his identity during the Livin' la Vida Loca phenomenon, reflections on coming to terms with his sexuality, relationships that allowed him to embrace love, and life-changing decisions such as devoting himself to helping children around the world and becoming a father.
The publication of Me was announced in USA Today on August 19. A full-hour appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show has already been confirmed for the on-sale date, and additional national television interviews are also planned.
Eat, Pray, Love opens August 13, 2010
The highly anticipated film release of Elizabeth Gilbert's #1 New York Times bestselling novel, Eat, Pray, Love (9780143118428 / Penguin), starring Julia Roberts, is out in theaters August 13 and everyone is talking about it. ABC World News ran a piece on Gilbert as their "Person of the Week", Julia Roberts appeared on David Letterman (watch Part 1 and 2) and Good Morning America, and Billy Crudup was on Jimmy Fallon. The episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show with Julia Roberts and Elizabeth Gilbert will re-air on August 13.
In addition, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a nice piece on why Eat, Pray, Love is such a phenomenon, and The Home Shopping Network featured a massive array of literary merchandise to support the upcoming adaptation. Last week Entertainment Weekly ran a huge eight-page feature on the book, the film, and its stars. Julia Roberts graced the cover of the magazine, and the spread included a large blow-up of the book and a photo of Gilbert. Read the full article.
Eat, Pray, Love is Penguin Canada's longest running #1 bestseller—with more than 700,000 copies sold in this country and over eight million sold worldwide—and is currently in its 165th week on The Globe and Mail bestseller list.
David Clayton-Thomas to be inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame
David Clayton-Thomas, bestselling singer-songwriter and the author of his upcoming autobiography, Blood, Sweat and Tears (9780670064694 / Viking Canada / on sale September 7), will be inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame this fall. Clayton-Thomas, along with the other inductees, will receive the tribute on October 16 at Toronto's Canon Theatre, and the event will be broadcast on Global and Slice. On October 15, Clayton-Thomas will be interviewed on CTV's Canada AM.
In partnership with the Toronto Star, the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library presents an evening with David Clayton-Thomas on October 20, which will feature a reading from his memoir, an onstage conversation with the Toronto Star's Geoff Pevere, and a special debut performance of a song from his new album, Soul Ballads, accompanied by Brigham Phillips.
Rosanne Cash performs on Good Morning America to promote Composed
Composed is a candid and moving memoir from the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and daughter of Johnny Cash. The media are lining up, with pieces confirmed in The Globe and Mail (interview with music critic Robert Everett Green and a review on August 14), the Toronto Star (review on August 15), Sun Media (interview with Liz Braun), Maclean's (review on August 9), and the Winnipeg Free Press (review on August 14), with more to come.
Cash was interviewed on Good Morning America last week and performed a song from her latest album, The List. Recent coverage includes an interview in the Huffington Post, a review and feature in The Washington Post, and a great review in Entertainment Weekly, which gave Composed an "A", saying, "The moving chapters about Roseanne Cash's glorious career—and the moments of great tenderness and tension with her legendary family—are like exquisite album tracks: individually they are great reads, but together they add up to something cohesive and powerful ... Rare is the celebrity memoir that is so full of self-awareness and dignity."
Celebrate Stieg Larsson's birthday with 10 essential cocktail conversation starters
Had he lived to experience the sensation his novels have become, Stieg Larsson would be 56 Sunday, August 15. The author of the bestselling Millennium Trilogy and creator of hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander died of a massive heart attack on November 9, 2004, at 50. In the six years following his death, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest have sold more than 30 million copies, inspiring an international obsession, two film franchises, and this summer's ubiquitous cocktail conversation. As a service to beach readers and sling sippers across the country, Penguin offers 10 surprising Larsson facts:
- Kurdo Baksi, the only character to appear in the Millennium Trilogy under his real name, will publish a biography of Larsson in October.
- Director David Fincher's ideal female lead for the Hollywood film is Yo-Landi Vi$$er, of South Africa's provocative hip-hop trio Die Antwoord.
- The original Swedish title of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was Men Who Hate Women.
- Larsson was a past chairman of the Scandinavian Science Fiction Society.
- The three novels of the Millennium series are Penguin Canada's all-time bestsellers and have sold more than 1,000,000 copies in this country.
- Daniel Craig has signed on to play Blomkvist in the U.S. film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
- Larsson smoked more than 60 cigarettes a day.
- Larsson was the second bestselling author in the world in 2008, following Khaled Hosseini.
- In his early twenties, Stieg Larsson changed his name from Stig, adding an e to avoid confusion with a friend who shared the same name.
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest isn't the end of Lisbeth's story—Larsson left behind an uncompleted manuscript for a fourth novel.
Read more at themillenniumtrilogy.ca
Penguin Group (Canada) to publish Chef Michael Smith
Penguin Group (Canada) announced today that it will be the Canadian publisher of Chef Michael Smith in a two-book deal with world rights. Known as Canada's cuisine ambassador (and Prince Edward Island's official food ambassador), Smith is the host of Food Network Canada's Chef at Home, Chef Abroad, Chef at Large, and The Inn Chef. He's the winner of the James Beard Award for Cooking Show Excellence, and at six-foot-seven, he also carries the distinction of being one of the world's tallest chefs! Smith recently appeared on Iron Chef America and cooked for the athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
"We are absolutely thrilled to have Chef Michael Smith as part of Penguin's Canadian publishing program," said vice president of business development, Andrea Magyar. "Michael is one of Canada's most beloved celebrity chefs, with a huge following of devoted fans."
Penguin Canada will publish the first book, entitled Chef Michael Smith's Kitchen, in fall 2011 and the second book in fall 2012. Read the full press release.
Lords of Finance wins 2010 Arthur Ross Book Award Gold Medal
Earlier this week it was announced that Liaquat Ahamed is the winner of the Arthur Ross Book Award Gold Medal for Lords of Finance (9780143116806 / Penguin). The annual award recognizes books that make an outstanding contribution to the understanding of foreign policy or international relations. It was endowed in 2001 by Arthur Ross to honour non-fiction works, in English or translation, that merit special attention for bringing forth new information that changes our understanding of events or problems, developing analytical approaches that allow new and different insights into critical issues, or providing new ideas that help resolve foreign policy problems.
Past Penguin Group winners include Ahmed Rashid, the 2009 recipient of the silver medal for Descent into Chaos (Viking/Penguin); Tony Judt, the 2006 gold medal recipient for Postwar (Penguin); and Steve Coll, the 2005 gold medal recipient for Ghost Wars (Penguin).
Ahamed's Lords of Finance is also the 2010 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History and the 2009 winner of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
John Farndon asks you to vote for The World's Greatest Idea
What do you think is the greatest idea ever? Where would humanity be now without fire, the alphabet, contraception, God? Weaving has provided us with historical tapestries, blankets, and clothes; electric light enables us to illuminate our cities; sewerage systems allows those cities to grow. The internet, feminism, banking—which is the best idea ever?
John Farndon, bestselling author of Do You Think You're Clever?, along with a panel of experts, has created a shortlist of 50 of the greatest ideas, and the public is encouraged to vote at theworldsgreatestidea.com for the ideas you think are best. The final book, The World's Greatest Idea: 50 Greatest Ideas That Have Changed the World (9781848311961 / Icon / November 2010), will be shaped by the poll, and Farndon will present the most compelling arguments for each idea and then reveal their final order of greatness.
The World's Greatest Idea is both an eye-opening journey for the mind and a primer for the armchair intellectual.
David Davidar leads the Penguin Group (Canada) Contingent as Penguin employees walk around the world in support of World Environment Day
David Davidar lead the Penguin Group (Canada) Canadian contingent along the Don Valley Ravine today as part of the 2010 Penguin Global Walk. Starting in Auckland, New Zealand, Penguin Group people will walk around the clock, in Melbourne, Australia; Beijing, China; Delhi, India; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, England; Dublin, Ireland; New York, New York; and Toronto. Penguin locations around the world are walking in support of World Environment Day and to demonstrate Penguin's ongoing commitment to being "green." Here in Canada, we walked in support of WWF Canada.
Robert Sawyer's Wake wins Canada's top science fiction award
Wake (9780143056300 / Penguin Canada) by Robert Sawyer, the first volume in the WWW trilogy, has won the Aurora Award—Canada's top science fiction award—for Best English Language Novel of the Year. It was presented on the Victoria Day weekend at a gala banquet in Winnipeg at the conclusion of Keycon, this year's Canadian National Science Fiction Convention.
The Auroras have been presented annually since 1980, with the exception of 1984. The name Aurora has been used officially since 1991. There are six professional awards (three English and three French), three fan awards, and the artistic achievement award. On a per-capita basis, the Aurora Awards have the largest voter turnout of any national science fiction award in the world, exceeding that of the American-dominated Hugos, the Japanese Seiuns, the British Arthur C. Clarke Awards, and the Australian Ditmars.
Wake, also currently a Hugo Award finalist, tells the story of Caitlin Decter, a blind 15-year-old math genius in Waterloo, Ontario, who discovers a nascent intelligence lurking on the world wide web. The novel was published in April 2009 by Penguin/Viking in Canada, Ace Science Fiction in the U.S., and by Gollancz in the U.K. and Australia. Prior to that, it was serialized in Analog, the world's top-selling English-language science fiction magazine. The novel was a Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club.
Last month, the paperback came out in Canada and the U.S., and the Canadian edition became a Globe and Mail bestseller. The National Post says, "Sawyer has marshalled a daunting quantity of fact and theory from across scientific disciplines and applied them to a contemporary landscape—with due regard to cultural and political differences, pop culture, history, economics, adolescent yearnings, personal ambition, and human frailty." Sawyer is currently in the middle of a cross-Canada 14-city book tour to promote the release of Watch, the sequel to Wake. Wonder, the third and final volume in the WWW trilogy, is due to be released next April.
Lisbeth rules the lists: The top 3 fiction books in Canada
"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is a superior page-turner" wrote Peter Robinson in The Globe and Mail about the third volume in the international phenomenon known as The Millennium Trilogy, which commanded a 100,000 initial print run in Canada.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (9780670069033 / Viking Canada) is #1 on bestseller lists across Canada, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire are #1 and #2 in paperback (with 40 combined weeks on the list). Read the reviews thus far and other additional coverage for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Calgary Herald, CBC.ca, the National Post, and the Ottawa Citizen.
In addition to her recent appearance on CBC's The National, Penguin Group (Canada) Publisher Nicole Winstanley will appear on CTV's Canada AM in the coming weeks to discuss the Stieg Larsson phenomenon. A full-page, full-colour ad for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest ran in The Globe and Mail on May 29, and transit-shelter and subway advertising will run in Toronto throughout June. For more on the books and the films, visit themillenniumtrilogy.ca.
A new book on tween sensation Justin Bieber from Penguin Canada
Fresh-faced, stylish, and impossibly cute, Justin Bieber is a homemade singing sensation from Stratford, Ontario, who is rocking the music world. Born on March 1, 1994, Bieber got his first taste of fame at 13, when his mother began posting YouTube videos of him singing covers of his favourite songs. As word of the new singing sensation spread and the YouTube hits skyrocketed, he soon attracted millions of fans of all ages worldwide. In 2008, he signed with Island Records and was on his way to stardom.
In Justin Bieber (on sale August 20), author Chas Newkey-Burden gets up close and personal with this multi-talented young idol, providing insight into Bieber's day-to-day world and the chance to learn what really makes him tick. His gorgeous looks, incredible voice, and sweet personality are driving "Biebettes" wild, and his inspirational story is a must-have for his legions of fans the world over.
Newkey-Burden is the author of a number of acclaimed biographies of such subjects as Simon Cowell, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Alexandra Burke, and Paris Hilton. His work has been translated into nine languages. He is the co-author, with Julie Burchill, of Not in My Name: A Compendium of Modern Hypocrisy.
The BIG Puffin birthday! Celebrating 70 spectacular years of Puffin
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Puffin Books, the world's leading and best-loved children's publisher. Today the Puffin list carries some of the biggest names in a stellar lineup of classic and current children's publishing, including Roald Dahl, Allan Ahlberg, Charlie Higson, Cathy Cassidy, Mike Lupica, Jacqueline Woodson, Jeff Corwin, Anthony Horowitz, Eric Walters, Seán Cullen, Hiromi Goto, Alison Goodman, Teresa Toten, Robert Paul Weston, and Annabel Lyon.
To celebrate 70 spectacular years, Puffin is marking its anniversary with a huge celebration of reading and books in an exciting year-long program of publishing and events, including:
- National Window Display Contest:
Bookstores across Canada are invited to submit photographs of their window displays of Puffin books and characters during May, and the winning entry will receive $500 from Penguin Canada. - The launch of www.puffinbooks.ca, which features a unique treasure trove of exclusive excerpts, teacher's guides, activities, and contests that highlight the best of Puffin.
- A relaunch of Puffin's most exciting digital project to date, www.wemakestories.com, a suite of onlinetools for children to inspire literacy, creativity, and storytelling.
- PLUS an extensive anniversary publishing program of new stories from Puffin's favourite authors, along with reissues of some of the much-loved classics.
Bestselling author Will Ferguson wins his third Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Walk across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet by Will Ferguson has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Ferguson, who wrote the script for the closing ceremony at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, is now a three-time winner, earning the prize in 2002 for HappinessTM (originally titled Generica) and in 2005 for Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw. This year's award was presented on April 29 at the Stephen Leacock Museum.
Named a Globe and Mail Best Book for 2009 and praised by that paper as "funny, intelligent and well worth hearing, "Beyond Belfast records Ferguson's misguided attempt to walk the entire Ulster Way, a 560-mile path that circles Northern Ireland from the city walls of Derry to the moorland heights of the Sperrins, from the green glens of Antrim to the Mountains of Mourne.
Beyond Belfast has also been nominated for the Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non-Fiction, which recognizes excellence in writing by Alberta authors and is evaluated on originality, creativity, and quality. Winners will be announced on May 14 at the Alberta Book Awards gala at Edmonton's Delta South Hotel.
Debut novelist Cathleen With wins The BC Book Prize for Fiction
Having Faith in the Polar Girl's Prison, Cathleen With's haunting tale of a 15-year-old girl's life in a Northern Canadian prison, has won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize at the 2010 BC Book Prizes. The Vancouver writer's first novel beat out four other books, including Annabel Lyon's celebrated The Golden Mean.
Harrowing and intense, Cathleen With's Having Faith in the Polar Girls' Prison is an extraordinary, unforgettable story of the lives lived amidst the clash of culture in Canada's Northwest Territories. Jarring in its harsh portrayal of poverty and prison life, this brilliant first novel is told in the mesmerizing voice of a teenage girl in the far north.
"I would be lying if I didn't tell you right off that this was sometimes difficult to write," said With. "Because, though fiction, the girls that I taught up north—their hardships, their daily battles, their tragedies—swarmed up in my eyes and clouded me ... But living up there, within the sadness, is a beauty that is undeniable. And there are people trying their damndest to change the cycle of abuse and addiction."
The BC Book Prizes, established in 1985, celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers. Awarded to the author of the best work of fiction, the Ethel Wilson Prize was awarded to Cathleen on 24 April.
Carrie Mac's The Gryphon Project wins the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize
Carrie Mac is no stranger to awards. Her first novel, The Beckoners, won the Arthur Ellis YA Award and the Stellar Award, and is a CLA Honour book. The Droughtlanders, the first book in the Triskelia series, was shortlisted for the Sunburst and the White Pine awards, and was a nominee for the Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Book. It was also shortlisted, along with Retribution, for the CLA Young Adult Book Award.
The Gryphon Project has already been named an Honour Book for the 2010 CLA Young Adult Book Award. And on Saturday, April 24, at the Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes Gala, The Gryphon Project won the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize, beating out titles by Sylvia Olsen, Robin Stevenson, Kristin Butcher, and Rachelle Delaney.
Full of mystery and suspense, The Gryphon Project is a science fiction thriller that will keep readers turning the pages to the very end.
Of her win at the BC Book Prizes, Carrie Mac says, "What an incredible honour. It was prize enough to be at the gala in the company of some of Canada's greatest writers and amongst a fabulous group of nominees, and then a dream come true to hear my name called as the winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. I truly loved bringing The Gryphon Project to life, and I'm thrilled that other people are enjoying it too."
Penguin to launch an international business imprint, Portfolio Penguin, with MacroWikinomics
Penguin will launch a global business book imprint by rolling out its Portfolio imprint this autumn in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. Portfolio is a market-leading business imprint in the U.S. and has expanded to India in the last few years.
In Canada, the imprint will launch with MacroWikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams in September.
"The market for business books is very strong in Canada, which positions us well for building the Portfolio Penguin imprint," said Andrea Magyar, vice president, Business Development. "Launching the imprint in Canada with MacroWikinomics sets the bar high for a list of top tier Canadian and international business books."
Wikinomics (published in January 2007) was a national bestseller in Canada and a finalist for the Financial Times / Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. It was also named one of the best business books of 2007 by the Financial Times, The Economist, and Amazon.com, and was praised by CEOs and other influential leaders such as Al Gore, who called Tapscott "one of the world's leading cyber-gurus".
Un bestseller mondial exaltant!
Penguin Group (Canada) will begin a new era in 2010 with the publication of its first ever French language title, Greg Mortenson's #1 bestselling Stones into Schools. Sur ces pierres, tu bâtiras des écoles: l'éducation pour la paix en Afghanistan et au Pakistan will be released in September. View the French catalogue presentation.
"French and English Canada are often referred to in Canada as 'the two solitudes,' so the publication of Sur ces pierres, tu bâtiras des écoles is truly a landmark publishing event. We are the first major international publisher to publish in French in Canada and are delighted to be Greg Mortenson's French publisher in Canada," said Yvonne Hunter, vice president, Publicity and Marketing.
Stones into Schools is a #1 national bestseller in English Canada, and Three Cups of Tea continues to hold the #1 spot in paperback after 107 weeks on The Globe and Mail's bestseller list.
The Penguin Press' Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed wins the Pulitzer Prize for History
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (9780143116806), edited by Ann Godoff, president and publisher of The Penguin Press, has won the Pulitzer Prize "for a distinguished and appropriately documented book on the history of the United States." The 94th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama, and Music were announced earlier today by Columbia University in New York. The Pulitzer board praised Lords of Finance as "a compelling account of how four powerful bankers played crucial roles in triggering the Great Depression and ultimately transforming the United States into the world's financial leader." Each Pulitzer Prize-winner is awarded $10,000.
Lords of Finance was a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, published by The Penguin Press in hardcover in January 2009 and by Penguin Books in paperback in December 2009. Ahamed, a professional investment manager for 25 years, offers a bold, insightful analysis of the world economic collapse of the late 1920s. He reveals that it was, in fact, the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, the effects of which set the stage for World War II and reverberated for decades to follow.
Other recent Penguin Group Pulitzer Prize-winners include The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead Books, 2008) and March by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin, 2006), both in the fiction category.
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell takes home two Atlantic Book Awards
Shandi Mitchell's debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky (9780670068081 / Viking Canada), has won both the Atlantic Book Awards for which it was shortlisted: The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (worth $1,500) and the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize (worth $15,000). The following quote is from the Atlantic Book Awards website:
"Nova Scotia's Shandi Mitchell was arguably the biggest winner of the evening, taking home both the prestigious Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and the 20th anniversary Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize for her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky (Penguin Canada), a devastating but beautifully evocative story of Ukrainian immigrant farmers on the Canadian prairies in the 1930s. Mitchell had just stepped off the plane from New Delhi, where she was celebrated as a regional winner (Canada and Caribbean) of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. She received her two awards Wednesday night with grace and charm, explaining that she shortened her stay in India because she felt it was important to be part of the celebration in Nova Scotia, where her novel began with support from the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia and the province." (read the full article)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (9781933372600 / Europa Editions, distributed by Penguin Group Canada) is one of eight novels shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the single largest prize awarded for a book published in English, worth Œ100,000 ($136,000). The winner will be announced on June 17.
Since its publication in English in 2008, The Elegance of the Hedgehog has become a critically acclaimed, word-of-mouth sensation, winning the hearts of readers and selling more than 50,000 copies in Canada. Click here to see all the fantastic praise for The Elegance of the Hedgehog. A New York Times bestseller, the novel has been published in more than 20 languages. Barbery, a French novelist, was born in 1969 in Casablanca. She studied philosophy at the École normale supérieure and worked for many years as a philosophy teacher in France. She currently lives in Japan and is working on a third novel.
Gourmet Rhapsody, Barbery's sensuous first novel, was released in North America after the phenomenal success of The Elegance of the Hedgehog. As reported in Publishers Weekly, it "encompasses a series of witty reflections on the life and career of famous, unlovable French food critic Pierre Arthen, as he lies on his death bed desperate to recapture a forgotten flavor."
Both books are available in Canada from Penguin. For further information, visit penguinbookclub.ca.
Carrie Mac's The Gryphon Project has been named a 2010 CLA Young Adult Book Award Honour Book
More great award news for The Gryphon Project by Carrie Mac (9780143168140 / Puffin Canada). Yesterday it was named an Honour Book for the 2010 CLA Young Adult Book Award. The novel is a heart-pumping and innovative adventure from the award-winning author of the Triskelia trilogy.
It was also nominated for a BC Book Award—the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. The winners will be announced at the Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes gala on April 24 at Government House, Victoria, hosted by broadcaster Shelagh Rogers. Also nominated for BC Book Prizes are Having Faith in the Polar Girls' Prison by Cathleen With (9780143169079) and Vanishing and Other Stories by Deborah Willis.
