Happy Birthday Penguin!

We’ve been celebrating all year, but today is in fact our official birthday. So a very Happy 75th Birthday to us! We've partied like it's 1999, but we've also managed to do a lot of fun work around our 75th, as well as continuing to publish many great books that we're tremendously proud of.

As part of our celebrations, we’ve interviewed our Editors talking about life at Penguin Books; they’ve responded to questions from our Twitter followers, they’ve talked about some of the highlights of their careers, and they’ve also given us sneak previews of the books they're most excited about.

Publishing the beautiful Penguin Decades series has been the main 75th event of the year. The novels were picked for how they helped define the decades from the 50s through to the 80s and feature cover art by Peter Blake, Allen Jones, Zandra Rhodes and John Squire.

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.

And here are some of the bespoke 75th products we’ve made: 

   

We have also been running 75th competitions all year [you can still enter!], celebrating some of our most beautiful, best-selling and award-winning books. The prize for the winner is to win all the books that we’ve featured in these competitions throughout the year.

'Cold Comfort Farm - amazingly funny and sweet, yet in many ways startlingly relevant, despite the obvious 'old-fashioned' aspects.'
Susanna, Leamington Spa

'I would pass on Peter Pan as my mum used to read Peter Pan to me when I was a child and the magical story still has a special place in my heart.'
Caroline, Carnwell

'Jamie's Ministry of Food! I know its not traditional or any sort of classic read but it has such amazing recpies I think they should be passed on for generations to come!'
Claire, Sheffield

'A Christmas Carol as it shows how we lived in those times but could still give the same heart-warming message to any generation.'
Gary, Dicot

'Orwell's 1984 is the no-brainer.'
James, Kingston Upon Thames

'The Spy by Clive Cussler - there is no one to beat him for sheer adventure - real page turner.'
Christina, King's Lynn

'Wuthering Heights because it will always be a classic and it taught me the value of love and the fierce passion related to it. I feel everyone should read this book because it opens your eyes to the past and present.'
Lucy, Lincoln

'White Teeth was a really affecting book and totally relevant to the modern age -- more people need to read it, so I'd happily pass it on to the next generation for them to see how things used to be.'
Jennifer, Paisley

'Is it going to be the generation of the e-reader, I think not. There is nothing to beat cuddling up with a good book in traditional format & this is why I would pass on ALL my Penguin books to my grandchildren in hopes they would enjoy them as much as me.'
Jennie, Portsmouth

You can find out more about Penguin’s 75th at: www.penguinis75.co.uk.

We’ve also been celebrating Puffin’s 70th Birthday, and you can join that party here: www.happybirthdaypuffin.co.uk

Chris Croissant
Marketing Assistant, Penguin Digital

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Comments

[Megan Burke]

Congrats guys! Here's to another great 75 years!

What fantastic achievements in such a short space of time. You all should be so proud!

ps I want that bag :P

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