Penguin Random House India is delighted to announce a new Corporate Externship program that takes learning to a completely new level. The program is based on the premise of cross sharing /cross learning and opening up newer avenues for people to gain experience and exposure in their domain area by stepping into the outside world. As a part of the program, Penguin Random House India will partner with companies and arrange a study tour for its employees to gain new experiences, new skills and knowledge to take back with them, that’s most relevant to their domain area and likewise host learners from other companies to provide similar opportunities. The externship involves interactions with key stakeholders, exchange of ideas and perspectives, exposure to different practices and frameworks thereby providing hands on experience to incumbents for a week-long duration.

Penguin Random House India will kickstart this program with Pocket Aces – a leading digital entertainment company – to embark upon this journey for its first externship for the digital and marketing team.

Aditi Kumar, Senior Vice President, People and Innovation, comments “Externship is an incredibly exciting format that would open up array of learning opportunities for our people by providing them a platform to connect with creative partners outside of our company . The program aims at promoting learning through exposure to different facets of work practices and encouraging exchange of ideas and experiences. We are confident that with this opportunity people will get back re-energised, educated and connected and the learning experience will go a long way in enhancing their creative and innovative potential”

Vaishnavi Singh, Senior Executive – Digital, PRH India, states “We’ve had an incredible experience at Pocket Aces, learning about digital content and marketing. Everyone here has been extremely welcoming and willing to teach us what they’re all experts at,”

Sudhanshu Roy, Senior Executive – Marketing & Publicity, PRH India, shared “Filter copy was great and refreshing change. It gave me an opportunity to experience the work environment of a completely different industry in the most fun way. It was an amazing experience.”

Bharat Misra from Pocket Aces added, “I relished my time at Penguin Random House India, having worked in the editing, design and digital departments during my short time here. I especially enjoyed the conversations I had with people, and hope I added some value to their work. ”

About Penguin Random House India
Penguin Random House India is the largest English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, publishing over 250 new titles every year and with an active backlist of over 3000 titles. With a strong fiction and nonfiction list, we publish across every segment including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books and children’s books. The children’s titles are published under the Puffin imprint.

Our illustrious list includes Booker Prize winning novels and virtually every major literary prize, including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Several of our authors are also recipients of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honours.

Penguin Random House India is also the exclusive distribution partner for several leading local and international publishing houses in India.

The six-episode show will see leading business historians and academicians exploring the most fascinating stories from India’s economic past

February 22nd, 2018

India’s premier business and financial news brand Bloomberg|Quint in partnership with Penguin Random House India is taking its coverage of India’s business ecosystem back to the beginning with an exclusive six-part show titled ‘Tales of Trade’, edited by management guru Gurcharan Das. Based on a book series by leading academicians and scholars, ‘Tales of Trade’ will have the authors delve into some of the most fascinating stories in the history of Indian business with an episode every week, starting February 24 with Bibek Debroy. Through the series, Bloomberg|Quint will introduce its audience to the startling and delightful ways in which these historical events are relevant to modern-day institutions and has an impact on the practice of doing business in the country today.

The ‘Indian way of doing business’ – with all its infinite cultural, regional, and linguistic variations – is the product of a rich legacy full of adventure, risk, and romance, tempered by Indian principles and values. The series’ 6 episodes will use provide an immersive, in-depth snapshot of India’s business history with an engaging narrative. The episodes will cover the Indian Railways, the East India Company, Managing Agencies, Mumbai’s 19th century merchants, the Marwari community, and the interplay of dharma and business in medieval India. Gurcharan Das will be joined by Bibek Debroy, Tirthankar Roy, Omkar Goswami, Lakshmi Subramanian, Thomas Timberg, and Donald Davis in his explorations of the rich and complex tapestry of India’s economic history.

Commenting on the show, Gurcharan Das said, “Tales of Trade is a six-part documentary series based on Penguin’s ‘Story of Indian Business’ conceived, edited and curated at my end. It is an exciting tale of adventures in the bazaar and the romance on the high seas beginning from ancient times of trade with the Roman world to today’s most successful business communities. The series takes you on exciting journey through conversations with scholars who reveal forgotten fables and rediscovered texts. With a 5000 mile coastline, the tales cover ancient Tamils who carried Indian culture to greater Asia; the caravans of 20,000 camels on the Silk Route who crossed the Hindu Kush mountains to trade with Central Asia and Russia; of risk taking Marwaris who spread across India in the 19th century with the coming of the railways; of the trail blazing merchants who shaped modern Mumbai; of Gujarati merchants from Kachch who traded along the golden triangle of Mandavi, Muscat, and Zanzibar; and of course, the story of the world’s first and most powerful corporation the East India Company.”

Talking about the partnership, Preeti Chaturvedi, AVP- Marketing and Publicity, Penguin Random House India, said “We are constantly looking for ways to make our books more discoverable and accessible to a wider readership. Tales of Trade is a series we are really proud of and we are confident that the partnership with BloombergQuint will help a relevant audience engage with the stories in an exciting format.”

PRESS RELEASE

BECOMING, THE MEMOIR BY MICHELLE OBAMA, TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE UK, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH AFRICA ON NOVEMBER 13, 2018 BY VIKING, AN IMPRINT OF PENGUIN BOOKS AT PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE UK

SIMULTANEOUS PUBLICATION IN 24 LANGUAGES WORLDWIDE

New Delhi, 27th February, 2018: A global publication date of Tuesday, November 13, 2018, has been set for the highly anticipated memoir by Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States of America. The news was announced today by Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House, which acquired world publishing rights to the book. Titled BECOMING, Mrs. Obama’s book will be released in the UK, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in print and digital formats by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books at Penguin Random House UK.

BECOMING will be published simultaneously in 24 languages around the world.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, BECOMING is an unusually intimate reckoning from a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

Said Mrs. Obama, “Writing BECOMING has been a deeply personal experience. It has allowed me, for the very first time, the space to honestly reflect on the unexpected trajectory of my life. In this book, I talk about my roots and how a little girl from the South Side of Chicago found her voice and developed the strength to use it to empower others. I hope my journey inspires readers to find the courage to become whoever they aspire to be. I can’t wait to share my story.”

At the time of publication, Mrs. Obama will embark on a U.S. and international book tour, with details to be announced at a later date.

The print edition will carry a recommended retail price of Rs799.

In support of the mission of The Obama Foundation and Penguin Random House’s own commitment to social responsibility, the company will donate one million books in the Obama family’s name to First Book, a longstanding Penguin Random House nonprofit partner and the Washington, D.C.–based partner for the 2016 White House digital education initiative, Open eBooks. First Book is dedicated to promoting equal access to education by providing new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need in the U.S. and Canada.

An English-language edition of BECOMING will be published in the U.S. and Canada by the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. The book will be published in translation in 23 other languages, including Spanish (Plaza & Janés/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial); German (Goldmann Verlag/Verlagsgruppe Random House); Portuguese Brazil (Objetiva/Companhia das Letras); Portuguese Portugal (Objectiva/Penguin Random House Portugal); Catalan (Rosa dels Vents/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial); French (Editions Fayard); Albanian (Dudaj Publishing); Arabic (Hachette Antoine/Naufal); Complex Chinese (Business Weekly Group); Czech (Argo); Danish (Lindhardt og Ringhof); Dutch (Hollands Diep); Finnish (Otava Publishing Company); Greek (Athens Bookstore Publications); Hebrew (Yedioth Books); Hungarian (HVG Publishing Co.); Italian (Garzanti); Japanese (Shueisha); Korean (Woongjin Think Big Co., Ltd.); Lithuanian (Alma Littera); Norwegian (Cappelen Damm); Polish (Agora Publishing House); Swedish (Bokförlaget Forum); and Vietnamese (First News – Tri Viet Publishing Co., Ltd.).

For further information, please get in touch with Sudhanshu Roy at sroy@penguinrandomhouse.in

PRESS RELEASE

Penguin Random House India is delighted to announce an exciting digital initiative, the launch of its digital imprint Penguin Petit.

Featuring a carefully curated selection from Penguin Random House India’s extensive list of titles, Penguin Petit are short reads, approximately 50 pages each, designed for ease of reading across digital devices. Readers will now be able to enjoy the writings by some of their favourite authors in short, low priced and highly accessible digital formats, including works by Premchand, Gulzar, Devdutt Pattanaik, Ramachandra Guha, Sudha Murty and Anita Nair to begin with.

Penguin Petit will provide great, quality content to suit a broad range of interests, from fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, mythology to self-help, history and current affairs, and will be available in an e-book format.

Rukun Kaul, Associate Vice President -Digital and Initiatives, Penguin Random House India, said ‘With Penguin Petit, Penguin Random House India makes a foray into the world of accessible short-form reading. It’s designed for an increasingly mobile India that might want to be able to read anywhere and at any time.

With its easy downloadability, wide range of content and accessible pricing, Penguin Petit should appeal to many readers. Our books and authors will also benefit from the easy discoverability and increased visibility that comes with making great reads available in a shorter and more affordable format.’

With the launch of Penguin Petit, Penguin Random House India reaffirms its commitment to spread the joy of reading – to an ever-expanding readership

About Penguin Random House India:
Penguin Random House India is the largest English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, publishing over 250 new titles every year and with an active backlist of over 3000 titles. With a strong fiction and nonfiction list, we publish across every segment including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books and children’s books. The children’s titles are published under the Puffin and Ladybird imprints.

Our illustrious list includes Booker Prize winning novels and virtually every major literary prize, including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Several of our authors are also recipients of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honours.

Penguin Random House India is also the exclusive distribution partner for several leading local and international publishing houses in India.

PRESS RELEASE

Exam Warriors is an inspiring book for the youth. Written in a fun and interactive style, with illustrations, activities and yoga exercises, this book is a friend for students. It seeks to help spread smiles during examinations, viewing them as occasions to celebrate learning with festive joy.

The book seeks to add to the debate and discourse around the importance of stress-free examinations by encouraging a focus on knowledge rather than purely on marks. It aims to be a catalyst that will trigger discussions whose ultimate beneficiaries will not only be our Exam Warriors but also our society as a whole, including teachers, parents and the larger community. In the spirit of continuing dialogue, this book contains activities that are fun and thought-provoking. A series of asanas and breathing exercises are also included in this book for students to overcome stress.

Non-preachy, practical and thought-provoking, Exam Warriors is a handy guide for students in India and across the world.

BlueKraft Digital Foundation is the Technology and Knowledge Partner for the book.

The book will be released in a function on 3rd February 2018 by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.

About the author:
Narendra Modi serves as the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy. He has been Prime Minister since May 2014, after leading his party to the first full parliamentary majority government in India in three decades. His victory was propelled by historic support from India’s youth, particularly first-time voters.

As Prime Minister, Modi has presided over transformative economic and social sector reforms, which have given a strong boost to India’s development journey.

The education sector has been particularly close to Modi’s heart. He is an inspirational leader for the youth. His monthly radio programme, ‘Mann Ki Baat’, is extremely popular among all sections of society. It was in this programme that he addressed Exam Warriors, first in 2015 and then subsequently in 2016 and 2017.

Previously, Modi served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. He has also held key organizational responsibilities in the Bharatiya Janata Party, including that of the General Secretary (Organization). Modi enjoys reading, writing and interacting with people. He is among the most followed leaders on social media, which he uses regularly. He also connects with people across the world through his own app, the Narendra Modi Mobile App.

PRESS RELEASE

Penguin Random House India today announced a major initiative to move to printing books on environment-friendly paper that is certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This move is part of the publisher’s continuing commitment to be environmentally responsible in its products and operations.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an organization that works to promote the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide by setting standards for forest products like wood and paper and certifying that these standards have been met; an FSC certification lets consumers know that the paper they are using has been sourced in an environment-friendly and socially responsible manner.

Several leading publishers worldwide have moved to using FSC-certified paper for all their printed books. Penguin Random House India will move to using FSC-certified paper for a significant part of its printed books and will gradually move to printing all single-colour books on FSC-certified paper.

Penguin Random House India will become the very first trade publisher in the country to adhere to FSC standards.

Speaking on this initiative, Sanjiv Gupta, Chief Operating Officer Penguin Random House India said: “We are delighted to announce that our single colour books will now be printed on FSC paper. The chain of custody (CoC) is a virtual “paper-trail” that can be followed from the forest to the paper mill to the paper merchant all the way to the finished product to ensure that the paper we print has come from responsibly managed forestlands. As the leading publisher we are proud to take this step to contribute towards the environment.’’

For more information contact Hemali Sodhi at hsodhi@penguinrandomhouse.in or call 9810008455

PRESS RELEASE

The adult novel, tentatively titled, Tara, is possibly the world’s first love triangle. A story of unrequited love, jealousy and betrayal, the story is about one beautiful woman and two brothers who would do anything to win her.

The children’s book will be an illustrated book about birds and animals of Indian mythology.

Anand Neelakantan states, ‘It has been my childhood dream to write for Penguin and I am delighted to be able to publish two books with Penguin Random House India.’

Milee Ashwarya, Editor-in-Chief (Commercial and Business) at PRH, comments; ‘Anand is one of the best writers of mythology in the country today and it has been my dream to publish him. I welcome him to the Penguin Random House family and hope we delight the readers with many more valuable works.’

Hemali Sodhi, Publisher (Children’s) at PRH, says, ‘We are tremendously excited at Anand Neelakantan’s foray into children’s writing with Puffin. He is an incredible storyteller and we’re delighted he will also be writing for a younger audience. We’re sure the young readers will be enthralled by his unique and exciting narrative style. The idea for the children’s book is fantastic, and we cannot wait to publish him in Puffin!’

About the author:
Anand Neelakantan is the author of the Bahubali trilogy, the official prequel to S S Rajamouli’s prequel. The first book in the series, Rise of Sivagami, was released on March 15th, 2017 and continues to be the best-seller number 1, across charts. The book is in top 5 of Amazon best-sellers of 2017.

He is also the best-selling author of Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, which told the Ramayan from Ravan’s point of view. Anand followed it up with the tremendously successful Ajaya series which told Duryodhana’s Mahabharata. Both Asura and Ajaya were shortlisted for Crossword award in 2013 and 2014 respectively. All the books of Anand have been translated to more than 9 languages including Indonesian. Asura is 6th among the 100 books to be read in a lifetime list of Amazon.

S S Rajamouli has announced a mini-series on Anand’s books in the lines of Game of Thrones in an international channel.

Anand has also written script/screenplays for hugely popular TV series like ‘Siya Ke Ram’, ‘Ashoka’, ‘Mahabali Hanuman’, etc. He writes columns in The Hindu, Indian Express, The Pioneer, Washington Post, etc. and writes a fortnightly column called ‘Acute Angle’ in Sunday Express. He has upcoming series in Discovery channel, Star TV, Netflix and Amazon to be aired in 2018.

Anand is also a prolific writer in Malayalam and regularly publishes his stories in prestigious literary Malayalam Magazine. Anand is a cartoonist too who has many of his works published.

He lives in Mumbai with his wife Aparna, daughter Ananya, son Abhinav and pet dog, Jackie the Blackie

Facebook; Twitter; Instagram: @itsanandneel

PRESS RELEASE

Penguin Random House India is pleased to announce that two of our bestselling authors have been nominated by the National Book Critics Circle for the 2017 Awards. Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West are two among the five nominees in the competitive category of fiction.

Both books, which were published to critical acclaim in 2017, are competing against Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour, Joan Silber’s Improvement and Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing for the coveted prize.

The National Book Critics Circle Awards, begun in 1975, are the sole prizes bestowed by a jury of over 1000 working critics and book-review editors. The awards will be presented on 15 March, 2018 at the New School in New York City.

In a world that’s seemingly without borders, in which information often travels faster than the truth – it’s a privilege to bring to life the true account of India’s Surgical Strikes on terror launch pads across the LOC in September 2016.

Sameer Nair, CEO Applause Entertainment, is keen to produce content that’s not just great storytelling but also deeply rooted in history & reality. It’s this endeavor that’s led them to buy the rights of the 1st chapter of Shiv Aroor & Rahul Singh’s bestselling book – “India’s Most Fearless”, published by Penguin Random House India.

“We are most excited to be telling this story. A 10 part drama series will bring to life India’s most audacious military action in recent times, taking the battle deep into the enemy camp. I believe that the stories about homeland security and unsung heroes help make us appreciate their sacrifices and sensitize us as an audience to the enemy within and outside. We are looking forward to working with the authors of the book, and Samar Khan who is leading this project for us “

Speaking on the new partnership, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM said “This tremendous tale of bravery is one that
every Indian should be familiar with and be inspired by”

The authors, Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh, are excited about this collaboration, which according to them, will set the bar high for Indian content – “We’re very excited about this next phase in the journey of India’s Most Fearless. Our sole access to the Army officer who led the 2016 surgical strikes offers the only authentic first-hand account of what really happened. It’s going to be terrific seeing this true story jump off the pages we wrote and onto screens “

The publishers Penguin Random House India are also looking forward to the series. “We are extremely thrilled about this partnership. Stories of supreme courage like these highlight the conviction with which the Army works and its important that they are made known” said Vaishali Mathur – Executive Editor and Head Rights and Language Publishing, Penguin Random House India

This is the only official and real account of what happened during the September 2016 Surgical Strikes by India, on terror launch pads across the LOC. The chapter in the book gives a true account of the extraordinary courage, fearlessness, and the heroism, our soldiers displayed in unthinkably hostile conditions and in enemy territory. Major Mike Tango of the Special Forces led the historical Surgical Strikes, and the story in the book is told in his own words detailing the extreme planning it took to carry out this audacious mission.

Being produced by Irada Entertainment LLP for Applause Entertainment, the series is being planned for a 2018 launch.

PRESS RELEASE

DOUBLE BILL: PARO-PRIYA
Namita Gokhale
Paperback | 328pp | Rs 399
January 2018

Delhi, 8th January 2018: Penguin Random House India is pleased to publish Double Bill: Paro-Priya by Namita Gokhale, one classic volume that brings together two critically-acclaimed novels Paro: Dreams of Passion and Priya: Take Two for the first time. Specially designed as a flip-flop double bill edition, with gorgeous new covers, this book is a celebration of all that it has meant to be a woman in ‘Incredible Indyaa’.

Namita Gokhale, at the time of publication of Paro

Namita Gokhale’s pioneering debut and its sequel span a generation and an era, moving from the eighties to the post-millennial Indian society.

First published in 1984, to both notoriety and critical acclaim, Paro remains a social comedy without parallel in contemporary Indian writing. Paro, heroic temptress, glides like an exotic bird of prey through the world of privilege and Scotch that the rich of Bombay and Delhi inhabit. She is observed closely by the acid Priya, voyeur and obsessive diarist. An unforgettable cast of characters bring a glittering, toxic world of power, money and greed to life, with the scandalous cult classic Paro: Dreams of Passion.

Cut to 2011 – Priya: Take Two continues this ride through a world best viewed through a glass of Scotch, as Priya battles social vertigo and learns lessons in survival on her spirited journey to the top.
Wickedly funny, occasionally tender, and utterly unforgettable, Paro and Priya have been game-changers in the landscape of women’s writing of the Indian subcontinent. This volume takes the liberated, brazen and all-too human Paro and her natural counterpart, the more cautious Priya to new readers and old.

Namita Gokhale is the author of sixteen books, including nine works of fiction and seven works of non-fiction. She is the founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and of Mountain Echoes, the Bhutan literary festival. Namita Gokhale is on the long list for the 2018 Dublin Literary Award.

On the occasion of the publication, she says, “My debut novel ‘Paro: Dreams of Passion’ has reached out to generations of readers since it first came out, almost a quarter century ago. I picked up the story of some of the memorable characters from ‘Paro’ in the sequel, ‘Priya’ , which was published in 2011. It’s delightful to have them in a single flip edition, with an elegant and evocative cover that summons the mood and texture of those times.”

For more information, please contact Smit Zaveri at szaveri@penguinrandomhouse.in