Penguin Group

Penguin Group
Parent company	Pearson PLC
Founded	1935
Founder	George Palmer Putnam & John Wiley
Headquarters location	City of Westminster London, England
Imprints	see below
Revenue	£ 1.05billion (2010)
Official website	www.penguin.com

The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the second largest in the world, after Random House^[1]. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations. Penguin Books has its registered office in City of Westminster, London, England.^[2][3]

Its British division is Penguin Books Ltd. Other separate divisions can be found in the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, India, Australia, Canada, China and South Africa.

History[link]

Penguin Books Ltd. (est. 1935) of the United Kingdom was bought over by Pearson Longman in 1970.

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. was formed in 1996 as a result of the merger between Penguin Books USA and the Putnam Berkley Group. The newly formed company was originally called Penguin Putnam Inc., but in 2003 changed its name to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. to reflect the parent Pearson PLC's grouping of all the Penguin companies worldwide under the supervisory umbrella of Pearson's own Penguin Group division.

The different Penguin companies use many imprints, many of which used to be independent publishers.^[4] Penguin Group (USA) Inc. also operates its own speaker's bureau that books speaking engagements for many of the publisher's authors.

Imprints[link]

Penguin Group imprints include the following:^[5]

See also[link]

• Amazon breakthrough novel award
• Pearson Education
• Pearson PLC
• The Big Six publishing companies:
  • Hachette, Holtzbrinck/Macmillan, HarperCollins, Random House and Simon & Schuster^[6]
• Penguin Group (USA) Inc. v. American Buddha

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• "About Us" on the Penguin Group (USA) website
• Penguin Books (India) website
• Penguin Ireland website
• Penguin Group(NZ) website
• Penguin Group (Canada): Canadian Publishing Programme Announcement
• An open letter to the Penguin Group from David Brock
• Penguin Group (Australia) official website
• Penguin Portfolio official website
• Frederick Warne & Co official website

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Richelle Mead
Richelle Mead - September 2009
Born	(1976-11-12) November 12, 1976 (age 35) Michigan, United States
Occupation	Novelist
Period	2007–Present
Genres	Fantasy, Young adult fiction
Children	1 son (2011)[1]
www.richellemead.com

Richelle Mead (born November 12, 1976) is a bestselling^[2][3] American fantasy author. She is known for the Georgina Kincaid series, Vampire Academy, and the Dark Swan series.

Education and career[link]

Richelle Mead was born in Michigan^[4] and currently lives in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Washington, United States.^[5] She has three degrees: a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan, a Master of Comparative Religion from Western Michigan University, and a Master of Teaching from the University of Washington.^[4] Her teaching degree led her to become an 8th grade teacher in suburban Seattle, where she taught social studies and English. She continued writing in her free time, until she sold her first novel, Succubus Blues. After quitting her job to write full time, her other books quickly followed.^[6]

Bibliography[link]

Novels[link]

Georgina Kincaid series[link]

1. Succubus Blues (27 February 2007)
2. Succubus on Top (18 December 2007) (UK title: Succubus Nights)
3. Succubus Dreams (30 September 2008)
4. Succubus Heat (26 May 2009)
5. Succubus Shadows (30 March 2010)
6. Succubus Revealed (30 August 2011)

Dark Swan series[link]

1. Storm Born (5 August 2008)
2. Thorn Queen (28 July 2009)
3. Iron Crowned (22 February 2011)
4. Shadow Heir (27 December 2011)^[7]

Age of X Series[link]

It is an upcoming Adult Series.

1. Gameboard of the Gods

Young adult novels[link]

Vampire Academy series[link]

1. Vampire Academy (16 August 2007)
2. Frostbite (10 April 2008)
3. Shadow Kiss (13 November 2008)
4. Blood Promise (25 August 2009)
5. Spirit Bound (18 May 2010)
6. Last Sacrifice^[8] (7 December 2010)

Bloodlines series[link]

Mead is writing a six-book spin-off series featuring characters in the Vampire Academy series: Sydney, Jill, Eddie, and Adrian. "Spin off series takes place in the same universe as Vampire Academy. Same rules, same races. What happens here is that the side characters from Vampire Academy are now the main characters. And so the series will be following Sydney, Jill, Adrian, and Eddie".^[9] Mead has confirmed that Bloodlines will be the name of both the series and the first book.

1. Bloodlines (23 August 2011, ISBN 1-59514-317-3)
2. The Golden Lily (12 June 2012, ISBN 1-59514-318-1)^[10]

Anthologies[link]

• “Brushstrokes,” Dreams & Desires Vol. 1 (Freya’s Bower, February 2007) (featuring characters from the Georgina Kincaid series)
• “City of Demons,” Eternal Lover (Kensington, April 2008) (featuring characters from the Georgina Kincaid series)
• “Blue Moon,” Immortal: Love Stories With Bite (BenBella Books, August 2008)
• “Sunshine,” Kisses From Hell (HarperTeen, August 2010) (featuring characters from the Vampire Academy series)

Awards and recognitions[link]

• Nominee - 2007 Reviewers' Choice Awards - Best Urban Fantasy Novel - Succubus Blues^[11]
• Nominee - 2008 Reviewers' Choice Awards - Best Urban Fantasy Novel - Storm Born^[12]
• Library Association: 2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Vampire Academy^[13]
• Library Association: 2009 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers - Frostbite^[14]
• Honorable Mention - 2009 P.E.A.R.L. Awards - Best Romantic Fantasy - Thorn Queen^[15]
• Finalist - 2009 Children's Choice Book Awards - Teen Choice Book of the Year - Blood Promise^[16]
• Nominee - 2009 Goodreads Choice Awards - Young Adult Series - Blood Promise^[17]
• Winner - 2010 Teen Read Awards - Best Teen Series - Vampire Academy series^[18]
• Nominee - 2010 Teen Read Awards - Best Hottie - Vampire Academy series^[19]
• Winner - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Goodreads Author - Richelle Mead^[20]
• Nominee - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Favorite Book of 2010 - Spirit Bound^[21]
• Nominee - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Young Adult Fantasy - Last Sacrifice^[22]
• Nominee - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Favorite Heroine - Rose Hathaway^[23]
• Nominee - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Favorite Hero - Dimitri Belikov^[24]
• Nominee - 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards - Paranormal Fantasy - Succubus Shadows^[25]
• Nominee - 2011 Kids' Choice Awards - Favorite Book - Vampire Academy series^[26]
• Nominee - 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards - Teen Choice Book of the Year - Spirit Bound^[27]
• Winner - 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Graphic Novels and Comics - Vampire Academy^[28]
• Nominee - 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Favorite Book of 2011 - Bloodlines^[29]
• Nominee - 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Paranormal Fantasy - Succubus Revealed^[30]
• Nominee - 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction - Bloodlines^[31]
• Nominee - 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Goodreads Author^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Richelle Mead's official website
• Richelle Mead at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Works by Richelle Mead on Open Library at the Internet Archive

v t e Works by Richelle Mead Vampire Academy series Vampire Academy Frostbite Shadow Kiss Blood Promise Spirit Bound Last Sacrifice Bloodlines series Bloodlines The Golden Lily Georgina Kincaid series Succubus Blues Succubus on Top Succubus Dreams Succubus Heat Succubus Shadows Succubus Revealed Dark Swan series Storm Born Thorn Queen Iron Crowned Shadow Heir

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Ken Follett
Born	(1949-06-05) 5 June 1949 (age 63) Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Thriller, Historical Fiction
Notable work(s)	Eye of the Needle, The Key to Rebecca, Pillars of the Earth, Whiteout
Spouse(s)	Barbara Follett
www.ken-follett.com

Ken Follett (born 5 June 1949) is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels. He has sold more than 100 million copies of his works. Four of his books have reached the number 1 ranking on the New York Times best-seller list: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, and World Without End.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Follett was born on 5 June 1949 in Cardiff, Wales. He was the first child of Martin Follett, a tax inspector, and Lavinia (Veenie) Follett, who went on to have three more children.^[2][3] Barred from watching movies and television by his Plymouth Brethren parents, he developed an early interest in reading but remained an indifferent student until he entered his teens.^[2][3] His family moved to London when he was ten years old and he began applying himself to his studies at Harrow Weald Grammar School and Poole Technical College, and won admission in 1967 to University College London, where he studied philosophy and became involved in centre-left politics.

Marriage and early success[link]

He married his first wife, Mary, in 1968, and their son Emanuele was born in the same year.^[2] After graduation in the autumn of 1970 Follett took a three-month post-graduate course in journalism and went to work as a trainee reporter in Cardiff on the South Wales Echo.^[2] After three years in Cardiff he returned to London as a general-assignment reporter for the Evening News.^[2] Finding the work unchallenging he eventually left journalism for publishing and became, by the late 1970s, deputy managing director of the small London publisher Everest Books.^[2] He also began writing fiction during evenings and weekends as a hobby. Later he said he began writing books when he needed extra money to fix his car, and the publisher's advance a fellow journalist had been paid for a thriller was the sum required for the repairs.^[4] Success came gradually at first but the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978 made him both wealthy and internationally famous. Each of Follett's subsequent novels has also become a best-seller, ranking high on the New York Times Best Seller list; a number have been adapted for the screen. He is also featured in Making Music Magazine.

Follett became involved, during the late 1970s, in the activities of Britain's Labour Party. In the course of his political activities he met the former Barbara Broer, a Labour official, who became his second wife in 1984. She was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997, representing Stevenage. She was re-elected in both 2001 and in 2005, but did not run in the 2010 general election after becoming embroiled in the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal, where she was among the MPs found to have overclaimed the highest amount of expenses.^[5] Follett himself remains a prominent Labour supporter and fundraiser as well as a prominent Blairite. In 2010 he was the largest donor to Ed Balls' campaign to become leader of the Labour Party, saying "Ed Balls is the only Labour leadership candidate who offers a path to economic growth; his time at the treasury, with low borrowing and high growth, shows he is the true candidate of the centre in this leadership election. Only Ed offers a broad appeal to all voters and is not afraid to stand up to the left wing of the party, much like Tony Blair."^{[citation needed]}

Public life[link]

On 15 September 2010, Follett, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.^[6]

Bibliography[link]

• The Big Needle (1974) (as Simon Myles) (apa The Big Apple - U.S.)^[7]
• The Big Black (1974) (as Simon Myles)^[7]
• The Big Hit (1975) (as Simon Myles)^[7]
• The Shakeout (1975)^[8]
• The Bear Raid (1976)^[8]
• Amok: King of Legend (1976) (as Bernard L. Ross)
• The Modigliani Scandal (1976) (as Zachary Stone)
• The Mystery Hideout (1976) (as Martin Martinsen) (apa The Secret of Kellerman's Studio)
• The Power Twins (1976) (as Martin Martinsen)
• Paper Money (1977) (as Zachary Stone)
• Capricorn One (1978) (as Bernard L. Ross) (based on screenplay by Peter Hyams)
• Eye of the Needle (1978) (apa Storm Island) (Edgar Award, 1979, Best Novel)
• Heist of the Century (1978) (with Rene Louis Maurice, others) (apa The Gentleman of 16 July - U.S.) (apa Under the Streets of Nice) (apa Robbery Under the Streets of Nice)^[9][10]
• Triple (1979)
• The Key to Rebecca (1980)
• The Man from St. Petersburg (1982)
• On Wings of Eagles (1983)
• Lie Down with Lions (1986)
• The Pillars of the Earth (1989)
• Night Over Water (1991)
• A Dangerous Fortune (1993)
• A Place Called Freedom (1995)
• The Third Twin (1996)
• The Hammer of Eden (1998)
• Code to Zero (2000)
• Jackdaws (2001)
• Hornet Flight (2002)
• Whiteout (2004)
• World Without End (2007)
• Fall of Giants (2010)
• Winter of the World (2012)^[11]

References and notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ken Follett: The Transformation of a Writer (ISBN 978-0879727987), written by Carlos Ramet. Popular Press, November 1990.

External links[link]

• Ken Follett's Website
• Works by or about Ken Follett in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Example Article Directory
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KenFollettAuthor
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kenfollettauthor
• Twitter: @KMFollett
• IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284336/