Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau (U.S.) The Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau is a full-service lecture agency. It works with a wide range of organizations in the U.S. and throughout the world to identify preeminent speakers for important events. At present, the Bureau represents over 300 Penguin Random House authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners Ron Chernow (pictured above), Colson Whitehead, and Isabel Wilkerson, and bestselling authors Gillian Flynn, John Green, and R.J. Palacio. From historians and creative innovators to experts in international politics and heroic activists, its roster comprises a who’s-who of thought leaders shaping critical cultural conversations. As others have put it: [caption id="attachment_10209" align="alignright" width="300"] Bryan Stevenson[/caption] “Bryan (Stevenson) was simply astonishing. What an amazing man, and an incredible speaker. No notes, no PowerPoint, just stood up there and talked for over an hour, so brilliant! We had 1,250 people, sold out of books and the surveys are all glowing. Huge standing ovation.”—Lonnie Stonitsch, Executive Director, Family Action Network “Linda’s (Kaplan Thaler) passion and message was a hit with our audience of entrepreneurs – it connected at a deep personal level.  She inspired and energized our Forum kick-off which elevated the energy for the rest of the program.  Many commented it was one of the best keynotes we’ve had at a Virtuoso event, and given our who’s who line-up, that’s saying a lot.”—Matthew Upchurch, Chairman & CEO, Virtuoso, Ltd. In an increasingly competitive market place, the PRH Speakers Bureau has grown into a thriving business, more than doubling its annual gross income over the last four years. Close to 500,000 people—at Fortune 500 companies, universities, libraries, conferences, and trade associations, in 23 countries—attended events in 2017 alone, and over 190,000 books were sold directly at these events. [caption id="attachment_10210" align="alignright" width="300"] Cheryl Strayed[/caption] The Speakers Bureau continues to grow its prestigious list of clients, which includes Deloitte, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Merrill Lynch, and YouTube. Its talent pool continues to grow as well.  In the last year alone,  it signed 39 new top lecturers, among them award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates, American political commentator Robert Reich, bestselling suspense author Lisa Gardner, world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, and Tara Westover, author of EDUCATED, already one of the most talked about memoirs of the year. “The Speakers Bureau has flourished since the merger, which brought two already successful lecture agencies together under one roof and allowed us to capitalize on our strong speaker and agent talent to great advantage for all our stakeholders. Our goal is to provide a first-rate experience for every single client and for each individual event. And happily, the breadth of our speaker roster is so great that if a prospective client’s first choice is unavailable, our team works together collaboratively and cross-divisionally to provide them with an equally appealing alternative who can deliver a top-notch lecture.” says Tiffany Tomlin, Vice President and Executive Director of the Speakers Bureau. [caption id="attachment_10186" align="alignright" width="300"] Colson Whitehead[/caption] New initiatives for the bureau in 2018 include “Company Reads,” which applies the community read and first year experience concept to corporations by bringing employees together around a common book. Launching in June with a website and presence at the Society for Human Resources conference, the initiative will connect organizations with speakers, books, e-courses, and other unique programming opportunities that best fit their employee’s needs. Penguin Live (UK) In the UK, Penguin Random House takes a different approach to organizing speaking events for their authors. Over the past few years, Penguin Random House UK has developed its own event production department, Penguin Live, which now produces over 50 ticketed events and tours per year, providing best-in-class opportunities for readers to enjoy live experiences with the writers they love. [caption id="attachment_10195" align="alignleft" width="300"] Tom Hanks[/caption] These range from intimate gatherings to extensive tours, featuring comedians and novelists, chefs and big thinkers: Ruby Wax, Simon Sinek, Caitlin Moran, and Irvine Welsh, to name a few. Penguin Live has also been creating show-stopping productions featuring household names like Tom Hanks, Margaret Atwood, and Tim Peake, and developing experiences manifesting our brand, such as the hugely successful Penguin Pride @ Proud – a key showcase at the heart of the Penguin Pride campaign, which celebrates the important role literature plays in the fight for LGBT rights. And because every Penguin Live event is organized around books, each not only drives book sales, but fosters communities connected by a shared passion for long-form reading.

“We’ve successfully extended the Wonder brand into new product categories including apparel, accessories, stationery and classroom materials,” said Rachel Bader, director of licensing for Random House Children’s Books. “These products help grow Wonder’s equity beyond books—by introducing the brand to new audiences and reaching existing fans through new retail channels.” A new stationery line developed by Clarkson Potter supports a cross-divisional collaboration within Penguin Random House and offers our sales team fresh opportunities to approach retail with an array of new Wonder-branded merchandise. Potter’s line includes a set of four Wonder notebooks (Draw, Dream, Doodle and Write), a Choose Kind Journal: Do One Wonderful Thing Every Day, and a Wonder Note Cube. Next summer, the publisher will be launching a Wonder School Planner just in time for back-to-school.     More high profile brand exposure is tied to the eagerly awaited film adaption of WONDER starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay. The film was produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman and debuts in theaters on November 17, 2017. Lionsgate has also been an enthusiastic partner supporting a number of #ChooseKind activities as well as becoming part of the curriculum in many schools across the country in advance of the film’s premiere. On September 26, 2017, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers published the special movie tie-in edition of WONDER which shares fun anecdotes from the cast and crew and features an eight-page full-color insert with photos from the film. The book also has a foreword by the director Stephen Chbosky, an afterword by R.J. Palacio and a family discussion guide. In addition, Hot Topic, a retail outlet that specializes in pop culture-inspired fashion, is selling WONDER t-shirts in-store and online in the run-up to the expected blockbuster box office opening of the movie nationwide.   To stay up-to-date on US publishing news, visit: www.global.penguinrandomhouse.com

September 22:  “Victoria & Abdul” The extraordinary friendship between an elderly, ailing Queen Victoria and her young Indian companion, Abdul Karim, is chronicled in Shrabani Basu’s book, VICTORIA & ABDUL: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant (Vintage). Lonely in the wake of the deaths of her beloved Prince Albert and John Brown, and increasingly isolated from the cocooning royal entourage, Victoria and Abdul formed a platonic bond, and to the dismay of her staff and son Bertie he became an empowered figure in her court and a friend close to her heart.  In the film, directed by Stephen Frears, Dame Judith Dench portrays Queen Victoria and Ali Fazal plays Abdul Karim.  Michael Gambon and Eddie Izzard are also part of the cast. Watch the trailer:   October 6: “The Mountain Between Us” Charles Martin’s THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US (Broadway) is a life-affirming tale of love and survival.  Following a plane crash, a pair of strangers – one a doctor, the other a writer – are stranded in the remote wilderness of Utah. With winter closing in, no food or water, and only meager supplies, the pair is forced to rely on one another.  As the days in the mountains become weeks, their mutual survival becomes increasingly perilous.  The film, starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, was directed by Hany Abu-Assad and written by Chris Weitz and J. Mills Goodloe, based on Martin’s book. Watch the trailer:    October 20: “The Snowman” Jo Nesbo’s THE SNOWMAN (Vintage), the eighth Harry Hole novel, revolves around a bizarre missing-person’s investigation that sets Hole on the trail of an elusive and brutal serial killer. One night, after the first snowfall of the year, a boy wakes up and discovers that his mother has disappeared. Only one trace of her remains: a pink scarf, his Christmas gift to her, now worn by the snowman that inexplicably appeared in their yard earlier that day.  Inspector Hole suspects a link between the missing woman and a suspicious letter he has received. The case deepens when a pattern emerges: over the past decade, eleven women have vanished—all on the day of the first snow.  In the film, directed by Tomas Alfredson and written by Hossein Amini and Peter Straughan, based on Nesbo’s novel, Michael Fassbender plays Hole, with the cast also including Rebecca Ferguson, Val Kilmer, Chloe Sevigny, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and J. K. Simmons. Watch the trailer:   November 17:  “Wonder” R. J. Palacio’s WONDER (Knopf Books for Young Readers), a multi-year #1 bestseller, with more than 6 million copies sold, and inspiration for the #ChooseKind movement, is the story of Auggie Pullman, an ordinary kid with an extraordinary face.  Born with a facial difference that for the first several years of his life prevents him from attending school, Auggie is finally allowed to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep – but is the school ready for him?  In this long-awaited film, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson star as the parents of Auggie, portrayed by Jacob Tremblay.  Stephen Chbosky directed and Steve Conrad wrote the screenplay, based on Palacio’s book. Watch the trailer:   December 15:  “Ferdinand” The Grosset & Dunlap classic children’s book, THE STORY OF FERDINAND by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson, originally published in 1936, tells the story of the world’s most peaceful and beloved bull, one that prefers smelling flowers to chasing red capes held by matadors in the bullfighting arenas of Spain.  FERDINAND, the movie, based on Leaf’s book and directed by Carlos Saldanha, is a timeless tale of pacifism and nonviolence for all ages, and proves “you can’t judge a bull by its cover.”  Kate McKinnon, John Cena, Bobby Cannavale, and Gina Rodriguez are among the actors who give voice to the characters in the animated film. Watch the trailer:   

   Watch the new trailer from Lionsgate for #WonderTheMovie, starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay, coming to theaters nationwide on November 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngiK1gQKgK8&feature=youtu.be

With over five million copies sold around the world, Palacio’s WONDER, with its message to Choose Kind, has inspired global kindness and anti-bullying campaigns and has become part curricula in schools across the country. WONDER has demonstrated the power of a book to spark a cultural dialogue, and to inspire children and adults to think differently about the world around them. Random House Children’s Books encourages everyone at Penguin Random House to take part in this initiative by spreading kindness around your own community beginning this Valentine’s Day. It can be as simple as:

• Write a friend or family member a nice note to tell them something you love about them.

 

• Treat a stranger in the coffee line to a free beverage.

 

• Shovel a neighbor’s snow, clear their car, or leave a basket of treats at their door.

 

• Leave a nice note or gift for your mail carrier as a token of gratitude.

  Then post your act of kindness on social media with #ChooseKindValentine. Tag someone, and continue the kindness chain. Happy Valentine’s Day! Yours in Wonder, Random House Children’s Books