We also celebrated World Book Day’s 20th anniversary with over 800 students in 8 schools local to each of our sites. The selected schools were all long-term partners of Penguin Random House UK through our volunteer reading programme, which sees 63 staff across 9 partner schools reading every week with children struggling with their confidence and ability in reading.
And finally, Penguin Random House Presents 2017, our annual celebration of our books, authors and teams, took place this year at London’s iconic Barbican Centre. For two days in March, over a thousand Penguin Random House staff heard from each of our nine publishing houses. From a Q&A session with British astronaut and author of Hello, Is this Planet Earth? Tim Peake, to hearing Arundhati Roy reading from her new novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – each publishing house’s presentation showcased the energy and purpose behind hundreds of Penguin Random House titles to be released throughout 2017.
Summing up the event, Penguin Random House UK’s CEO, Tom Weldon said: “Our purpose has been lit up in bright lights: to connect the world with the stories, ideas and writing that matter.”