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Penguin

Is it ghostwritten? Does it matter?

15 December 2014

There's been quite a lot of talk about ghostwriting this last week.  Read more

The year ends with a surprise

31 December 2012

December ended with a piece of news combining the two big news stories of the year - the continued rise of the ereader market and the efforts of Pearson to work out a future for itself.  Read more

More merger talk

12 November 2012

Things are settling around the idea of Random House and Penguin merging, but there are plenty of dire predictions. Some think it will change the nature of publishing as we know it, others that it will lead to further consolidation.  Read more

Launch of We give books

24 May 2010

The Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation have launched an interesting new charitable venture, designed both to get children reading and to encourage them to become charitable givers. When a child reads a book online, they are able to donate another book to be sent to a reading charity and can choose from four options as to where their this book is sent.  Read more

Penguin to cut 100 jobs

13 July 2009

The London book world was shocked last week by Penguin's announcement of 100 redundancies, 10% of the workforce. The company had seemed to be relatively unscathed by the recession and to lead a charmed life when other large companies in the UK, such as HarperCollins and Random House UKPenguin Random House have more than 50 creative and autonomous imprints, publishing the very best books for all audiences, covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, autobiographies and much more. Click for Random House UK Publishers References listing, were announcing 5% redundancies.  Read more

Decibel Penguin forced to back down

22 January 2007

Following the recent furore relating to the Decibel Penguin Prize, the organisers have been forced to back down. This scheme to encourage writers from an Asian, African or Caribbean background started with the best of intentions.  Read more

China's booming book market

4 September 2006

The Beijing International Book Fair, running from 30 August to 2 September, has provided a fascinating window on a booming book market. China is the largest publisher of books, magazines and newspapers in the world. Its book trade is at last opening up to foreign publishers, presenting significant opportunities which mirror those available in other industries.  Read more

Penguin in trouble

7 March 2005

The Penguin Group worldwide suffered a 41 per cent fall in profits in 2004. Its parent company Pearson saw an improvement in results both for the Financial Times and for its core educational business, fuelling probably unfounded rumours that Pearson might be looking to sell the 70-year-old publisher.  Read more

Will authors threaten legal action?

1 November 2004

As everyone in the British book trade knows, Penguin UK's disastrous move to a new warehouse using the latest software system has already cost the company dear in terms of lost sales.  Read more

InsideSessions Runs into Difficulties

17 June 2002

A recent piece by Katharine Mieszkowski in Salon (www.salom.com) has put the spotlight back on Penguin Putnam's InsideSessions, a joint venture between the US publisher and Universal Music Group. InsideSessions' Internet-based learning programme claimed, for a fee, 'to teach you everything you need to know to transform your passion for writing into a published work'.  Read more

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4 January 2021 - What's new

January 2021
  • ‘The thing I like about novels is that they are a more forgiving form. You can make missteps. It's harder to write a really good short story - I'm more aware of the flaws in my short stories.
  Read more

The 2021 International Book and Pamphlet Competition

Information

Closing date: 
1 March 2021
Entry: 
Open internationally. Entry fee £28, £25 to subscribers to The North
Prize: 
Publication by Smith|Doorstop Books; a share of £2,000 cash; a launch reading; publication in the North magazine; book vouchers from Inpress Books

The 2021 International Book & Pamphlet Competition is now open for entries

Judged by Daljit Nagra & Pascale Petit

DEADLINE: last post on Monday 1st March 2021, or midnight on Monday 1st March 2021 for online entrants.

ENTRY FEE: £28, or £25 for North subscribers, Friends of the Poetry Business and members of the Poetry Society.  Read more

'People have many cruel expectations from writers. People expect novelists to live on a hill with three kids and a spouse, people expect children's story writers to never have sex, and people expect all great poets to be dead. And these are all very difficult expectations to fulfill, I think.'

— C. JoyBell C.

'I have to know where I'm going'

4 January 2021

‘When I'm putting together a novel, I leave all the doors and windows open so the characters can come in and just as easily leave. I don't take notes. Once I start writing things down, I feel like I'm nailing the story in place. When I rely on my faulty memory, the pieces are free to move.  Read more

28 December 2020 - What's new

December 2020
  • ‘No one reads your book as closely as a translator does, which is something you learn very quickly. I'm in such awe of them. They also read beneath it and around it. They make me consider things I thought I knew the meaning of because I use those words in everyday dialect and that's how the characters express themselves.
  Read more