On November 9, 2021, the Penguin Press will publish AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BOOKS: A Literary Journey. 

Inspired by Jules Verne’s hero Phileas Fogg, author David Damrosch, chair of Harvard University’s department of comparative literature and founder of Harvard’s Institute for World Literature, set out to counter a pandemic’s restrictions on travel by exploring eighty exceptional books from around the globe. Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel Prize–winners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan, and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways in which the world bleeds into literature.

November is Native American Heritage Month. The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges. (NCAI.org)

It’s time for another celebration of the right to read! Join the ongoing and imperative mission by working with booksellers to feature titles whose value has been contested at local and national levels. 

This year’s honorary (and inaugural) chair of Banned Books Week, Jason Reynolds: “To censor a book is to damage the framework in which we live,” adds Reynolds. “Any time we eliminate or wall off certain narratives, we are not getting a whole picture of the world in which we live. And navigating the world in a way that is closed-off, closed-minded, is poisonous. It means that we limit our vocabulary, which complicates how we communicate with one another. We have to celebrate stories and ensure that all books have a space on the shelves and the opportunity to live in the psyches of our children, as they grow into the human beings who will inherit this wonderful place.” 

On Friday, June 11, the Pulitzer Prize Committee announced its 2021 winners. PRH had several finalists, and we repost the PRH Prize-winners from prior years.

Bring on the celebration!

Each June in the USA and around the world, celebrations of LGBTQ Month include parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and Pride Month events attract millions of participants. As ever, PRH and its distributed clients have a multitude of books to recognize the impact that LGBTQ individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally, including Fiction and Non-Fiction.

In May, Americans pay tribute to generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history and are instrumental in its future success. At no time have these Americans needed to see the country acknowledge and celebrate the rich heritages thousands of years old and the people who have shaped United States history. 

Asian-Americans are the nation’s fastest-growing racial group, and for the last year have suffered considerably in an ever-present racist atmosphere. Encourage booksellers to show their support more than ever with a variety of ideas for promotion during this holiday.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, providing readers with a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Here are titles on the Penguin Classics lists by African-American writers.

One of our favorite holiday sales bumps is upon us, and this year we have the usual Mother’s Day classics plus an amazing list of recent and current bestselling titles ideal for promotions. There truly is a gift for every mother on this list. Examples are below and to seethe complete list: On the Backlist

Although many think of St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) as a day of parading and imbibing, St Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of Irish culture. It particularly remembers St Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints, who ministered Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century. To commemorate this holiday, bookstores and libraries may choose to focus on the wealth of exceptional writing by Irish writers, or books set in the country. 

Herewith a highly curated list of Black History titles – classics and contemporary biographies, memoirs, essays, history, even poetry, from a broad spectrum of voices. Speaking to slavery, civil rights, the arts and current events, these books are a great starting point for Black History Month promotions as well as being essential to every bookstore and library inventory year-round.

Explore Penguin Random House’s top-selling short story collections and help accounts inspire their readers’ next Book Club picks. Whether you read one story at a time or all of them at once, these collections are sure to spark interesting conversations!

Celebrate the Windy City with a collection of titles dedicated to either books set in Chicago or written by authors from the area. Local readers are sure to recognize some familiar faces and places!