Penguin, India’s leading publishing house, pioneered a trendsetting initiative – Penguin Palooza, an exclusive event that showcased the transformative power of collaboration between creators and literature. Organized in association with The Lalit Mumbai, an enterprise of Bharat Hotels Limited, the spectacle was held on Saturday, 6 April, at their luxury property in the city and attended by close to 100 content creators and many prominent personalities from Mumbai’s cultural milieu.
Penguin Palooza, a first-of-its-kind event and concept in Indian publishing, is appropriately themed as Connect. Create. Collaborate. We designed the event around each element of the theme:
CONNECT: Penguin Palooza fostered a dynamic and inclusive environment that brought together individuals passionate about reading, love for books, and all things literature to engage with key components of the publishing world – the books and the authors. This diverse group of bloggers and creators from across genres had the opportunity to interact with industry insiders, publishers, and authors, enhancing their own brand and expanding their communities. Essentially, Penguin Palooza was instrumental in cultivating a strong and supportive literary community that promotes growth and collaboration.
CREATE: Penguin Palooza established dedicated interactive pods for direct content creation with authors, where innovation met inspiration. These spaces generated hundreds of interesting pieces of content inspired by the authors. High-quality installations and interactive displays kept the audience captivated with every element of books and literature.
COLLABORATE: Penguin Palooza invited a broad spectrum of brands to join the event. The Lalit Mumbai, as the associate partner, opened its doors to host the event, offering guests a delectable F&B spread and world-class hospitality. Anand Prakash, a luxurious artisanal stationery brand, designed exclusive bookmarks and notebooks as special gifts for the invitees. Crossword, India’s largest book retailer, was the retail partner and provided special welcome hampers with bestselling books and merchandise. Bookscape, the top online bookshop and the online book partner for the event presented their range of offerings to literary enthusiasts and introduced their affiliate programme. Lastly, the Himalayan dry gin brand Hapusa, celebrated for its finest premium craft gin, delighted attendees with a tantalizing array of signature cocktails, demonstrating the versatility of gin through classic concoctions and innovative blends, offering a sensory journey that captivated all who attended.
Aastha Verma, General Manager- Digital Marketing, Penguin Random House India commented, “We’re proud to lead the way in bringing creators together, making books and authors the center of inspiration and connection. This initiative sparked amazing bonds, ensuring the right book reaches the right reader.”
With this event, Penguin embarked on a new mission to build a community of content creators inspired by books, authors, and the literary world. It boasted a thrilling program with exclusive first looks and launches. We witnessed the launch of Penguin Select, a brand-new division by Penguin in India that spotlights early learning, classics, global literature, fiction and non-fiction, bestselling books, and works of translations from the world over to readers all across the globe and reveals brand-new books with their attractive covers and accessible content. The Lalit Mumbai also took this opportunity to announce the launch of The Lalit Readers Club. Deeksha Suri – Executive Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group shared her thoughts on the launch saying, ‘We are delighted to partner with Penguin India for the launch of The Lalit Readers Club. It marks the beginning of a new chapter in our journey—a journey fuelled by the love of literature, stories and the power of words. At our Readers Club, we invite you to embark on a literary adventure with us, where every story shared is a bridge between minds and every book cherished opens doors to the endless possibilities of imagination. We are excited to create an all-inclusive safe space where book lovers can have meaningful discussions, exchange book recommendations, and cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation for diverse genres and perspectives.’
As part of the program, Penguin invited some of their most popular, bestselling authors who are also influencers in their respective fields for a discussion on ‘Books Reimagined for Tomorrow’s Content’. This session was sponsored by The Lalit Readers Club and had an eclectic panel consisting of Ankur Warikoo, a bestselling self-help author who recently released ‘Make Epic Money; Durjoy Datta the OG author-influencer with over 20 books under his name and lakhs of fans of his writing; Dr Cuterus a.k.a. Dr Tanaya Narendra, a pathbreaking myth-busting influencer of sexual wellness. The panel was moderated by the up-and-coming bookstagrammer and author Nona Uppal. The riveting chat between them covered many relevant points, one of the key ones being the importance of being true to oneself and always keeping at it. The panelists agreed that there is enough room and sufficient demand for good content and that the number of followers and views should not be the only qualifiers for good content. The discussion was full of anecdotes, authors sharing their experiences as and with content creators which were amusing and had the audience in splits.
The attendees also had the chance to witness the first look of Naga Warriors the latest masterpiece by bestselling author Akshat Gupta. Adding to the star power, award-winning actor turned author and beloved social media personality Neena Gupta was in a candid conversation with RJ Stutee Ghosh and shared many endearing Sach Kahun Toh moments with the audience.
Pallavi Narayan, General Manager- Corporate Communications, Penguin Random House India says, “The fantastic response to Penguin Palooza shows how much our brand is loved. What started as an experiment in collaborative content creation has become a key focus for us, sparking a ripple effect that makes literary content more accessible. Our mission is simple: to demonstrate how content inspires more content.”
