PRH Semi-Finalists: WHERE REASONS END by Yiyun Li (Random House) WE CAST A SHADOW by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (One World/Random House) ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press) PRHPS Client Semi-Finalist: THE NIGHT SWIMMERS by Peter Rock (Soho Press) To view the complete 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction longlist, click here. Congratulations and good luck to our authors, their editors and publishers.

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction THE WATER DANCER by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World) RED AT THE BONE by Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead) Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction STONY THE ROAD: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Penguin Press) THE SOURCE OF SELF-REGARD: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison (Alfred A. Knopf) Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author [caption id="attachment_151782" align="alignright" width="105"] Kiley Reid[/caption] THE FARM by Joanne Ramos (Random House) SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) AMERICAN SPY by Lauren Wilkinson (Random House) Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography FINDING MY VOICE: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward by Valerie Jarrett (Viking) THE BEAUTIFUL ONES by Prince (Spiegel & Grau/Random House) MORE THAN ENOUGH: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say) by Elaine Welteroth (Viking) Outstanding Literary Work – Children HAIR LOVE by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison (Kokila) Additionally,  two Penguin Random House Publisher Services client publisher titles were recognized with nominations:  BREATHE: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry (Beacon Press), in Nonfiction, and  A PLACE TO LAND: Martin King, Jr. and a Speech That Inspired a Nation by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pickney (Neil Porter Books /Holiday House) in the Children category. NAACP Image Awards are also bestowed in the categories of music, television, and film.  In the latter, JUST MERCY, based on Bryan Stevenson’s Spiegel & Grau/Random House #1 bestseller, is nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture, and has four nominations in the acting categories. TONI MORRISON: The Pieces I Am and TRUE JUSTICE: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality are nominated for Outstanding Documentary (Film). Random House author Trevor Noah earned a “Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series” nomination for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – “Steve King's Comments Meet Trevor Noah: Racism Detective” (Comedy Central). This year’s winners will be revealed in the two-hour live telecast of the ceremony on February 22 on BET Networks. To view the complete list of NAACP Image Awards nominees, click here. Congratulations and best of luck to our finalist authors and their publishers.  

In accepting his Oscar, Cherry said, “HAIR LOVE was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation; we wanted to normalize black hair … This award is dedicated to Kobe Bryant.  May we all have a second act as great as his was.” The late Los Angeles Lakers legend was the first African American and only other former professional athlete to win a Best Animated Short Film Oscar, which Bryant received in 2018 for Dear Basketball. HAIR LOVE was directed by Cherry and produced by Karen Rupert Toliver.  The film’s team of animators included Everett Downing Jr. (Up, WALL-E) and Bruce W. Smith (The Proud Family), Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Frank Abney (Toy Story 4). Our congratulations to Mr. Cherry, our colleagues at Kokila and Penguin Young Readers, and everyone involved with the creation of HAIR LOVE.

Penguin Random House Canada, the country’s largest book publisher, is headquartered in downtown Toronto, where it employs over 200 people, with additional locations in Mississauga and Vancouver. Under the leadership of Kristin Cochrane, who became CEO in July 2018, the company is committed to being the best home for publishing talent through a comprehensive range of employee-centric policies and programs. Among the highlights of Penguin Random House Canada’s notable offerings are a defined benefit plan and registered retirement savings plan matching program, a student loan repayment program, an industry-leading mental health and social work annual benefit, and an annual wellness reimbursement to encourage physical fitness. Development programs including a mentor-match system, in-house training opportunities, and a generous educational assistance program for job-related learning are also available to support employees in advancing their careers and enhancing their contributions to the company story. Another notable benefit of working at Penguin Random House Canada—paid volunteer days—reveals a central theme: giving back. Employees have numerous opportunities to use their volunteer days with the company’s community partners across Canada, including the Indigenous Voices Awards, the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), and First Book Canada, in partnership with whom Penguin Random House Canada has donated over 150,000 books to children from low-income families in Canada this year alone (and over 1.4 million books over the past seven years). On receiving news of the award, Cochrane said: “We are extremely honoured to be recognized as a GTA Top Employer for 2020. We’re committed to putting employees at the centre of our decision-making and I’m proud of our ongoing commitment to our communities with both the books we publish and the social impact work we do in important areas such as Indigenous writing and children’s literacy.” Adds Anika Holder, Vice President and Director, Human Resources: “A culture of inclusion is essential to safeguarding community, and community is a big part of who we are. It’s rewarding to have our workplace recognized for the support we have in place for our employees, and to have their contributions to a strong company culture recognized in this manner.” More information about the award can be found here. Penguin Random House Canada on publication day for THE TESTAMENTS and celebrating the Toronto Raptors NBA championship (2019).

THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood U.S.: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday Canada: McClelland & Stewart UK: Chatto & Windus   QUICHOTTE by Salman Rushdie U.S.: Random House Canada: Knopf Canada UK: Jonathan Cape   GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER by Bernardine Evaristo UK:  Hamish Hamilton 10 MINUTES 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE WORLD by Elif Shafak UK:  Viking UK Click here for the complete 2019 Booker Prize short list. Hearty congratulations to   Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Atwood as well as Ms. Evaristo and Ms. Shafak, and their publishing teams across our companies. On to the awards dinner in London on Monday, October 14.