The Penguin Blog

Mystic Rawnsley?

Another fully sold out event for Andrew Rawnsley on Tuesday night, this time at Daunt's in Marylebone High Street, following his events in Westminster and at Foyle's. I was following Jeremy Vine and Matthew Norman (two serious pro's) in interviewing him, and thought it would be just my luck to get a Whelan-like hostile figure in the audience after Andrew had been given an easy ride by the first two audiences. He talks compellingly, and so clearly has all the material at his fingertips, that people are just won over and totally intrigued by his insider explanations of what the rest of us just glimpse from a distance. But still I feared we might get somebody with an agenda in the audience…

In fact it all went pretty smoothly. We discussed Iraq rather more than had been done at the first two events, just because I find that it is still a burning issue for most people. I kicked myself on the way home though - I meant to ask him whether he thought it could fairly be described as the Suez of our generation - and I forgot.The funniest moment came at the end when I asked him what his predictions were for the forthcoming election. He responded that it was his publisher's job to serve him up dollies to be smashed to the boundary, not to ask impossible questions. The End of the Party is a history book; did we really expect him to be Mystic Meg too? After a lot of humming and hahing, his tip was to follow the bookies rather than the pundits in the run-up to the election. Watch where the money is going.

Tony Lacey, Editorial Director, Penguin

Penguin's 75th - Editor videos- Part 2

It's our 75th Birthday this year, so we're filming our editors talking about life at Penguin Books. In Part 2 of this series, Editorial Director Will Goodlad talks about the Allen Lane Imprint; The Eerie Silence by Paul Davies and The Big Short by Michael Lewis.

Chris Croissant
Marketing Assistant, Penguin Digital

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Keep doing what you've always done and you'll keep getting what you've always got

The title of this post is shamelessly ripped off Buckminster Fuller, who throughout his life sought not simply to adapt or tinker with existing forms but instead tried to reinvent and reimagine things as they could be, starting with a blank sheet and working towards a goal of how, in an ideal world, things should work.

Now I'm not making claims of Buckminster Fuller levels of genius emanating from Penguin Towers but like all publishers we've been taking a fresh look at what we do and how we publish and reimagining the forms that the content we create can take. While we've been tweaking and tinkering with what we have been doing for years to create our existing ebooks - the major changes there are in how they are sold and distributed rather than the structure of the text - the coming iPad and other tablet computers challenge us to think about new ways that people might want to interact with our content and new forms of content that could and should be created for these new interactions.

This is especially true of our children's publishing where a generation is growing up with the swipe learnt before the first steps are taken. The imminent launch of the iPad has galvanized our children's publishing teams to think about how the work they publish can be reinvented for devices where touch and sound and movement can enhance stories and provide a rich engaging experience for children raised as digital natives.

The video below doesn't show real working applications, or even prototypes - more they are imaginings of the things we think we might be able to do and perhaps will be doing. Look out for them in an app store near you soon...

iPad iMagineering from Penguin Books on Vimeo.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

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Penguin's 75th - Pass On A Penguin: Messages from February

As part of our 75th celebrations this year, we're running a monthly giveaway of our most stylish, wonderful and sought-after books. We are also asking readers which Penguin they would pass on and why, and below, for your viewing pleasure, is a random collection of some of the very first messages that have been sent in.

'I would pass on The Great Gatsby. Reminds me of the greatest English teacher possible. Her motivation and passion brought the story to life and gave me a love of the classics. I would love to pass that on.' Nick, Dumfries

'Definitely the Roald Dahl books! As English was not my first language, reading these simple but at the same time adventurous books make the learning more enjoyable!' Renesa, Rome

'The Catcher in the Rye. This was the first book that i read and shared with my boyfriend now husband. It is a phenomenal story, well written and involving, with a wide range of emotion. A very powerful book, that i fell in love with whilst away from home at university 10 years ago. It changed my opinion on American literature and led to a wealth of  new literary experiences. A must read!'  Toni, Manchester

'Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This is an all time English Classic Penguin book. It is so well written and beautifully evocative that it must be passed on the next generation, It is important to preserve the art of reading by sharing in the glory, joy and beauty of this well crafted story, which can be enjoyed by all the family.' James, Northampton

'Ariel, the first Penguin that was published in 1935, because it marks the start of a remarkable series! I am the proud owner of an original copy and will eventually pass it on to my daughter.' Netherlands

'I recently passed on the Roald Dahl book Danny Champion of the World to my eight year old daughter.  She read the book every night and when she had finished the book together we agreed that the story was a fantastic tale of parent/child relationship and how sometimes - just sometimes - its ok to be mischievous.' Zoe, Carrickfergus

'I would pass on my old shabby school Penguin copy of The Aeneid which was clearly made in order to be passd on - it has about 40 different people's notes in it, and is only held together with selotape. This was never a copy to belong to one person...' Rebecca, London

'I'd pass on Twitterature in the hope that it will instil enough curiousity in my children to seek out the originals...' Ceri, Berkshire

By entering the monthly giveaway, entrants are automatically entered into the Grand Prize Draw, which offers all the books featured in the 75th giveaways throughout the year. Find out more about Penguin's 75th here: www.penguinis75.co.uk

Chris Croissant
Marketing Assistant, Penguin Digital

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Remember that by posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use. If you consider any content on this site to be inappropriate, please report it to Penguin Books by emailing reportabuse@penguin.co.uk

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