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Tarcher’s 2012 Book Authors in Media Spotlight as 2012 Movie Opens Today
Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the Tarcher titles, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Toward 2012, and John Major Jenkins, author of The 2012 Story, which Tarcher just released in hardcover last month, were two of the three experts chosen by Sony Pictures to be part of the Hollywood studio’s press junket to promote the movie 2012, which opens in theaters nationwide today.
In addition to the Sony junket, the authors and their books have generated major media coverage, sharing ideas about 2012 on “ABC Nightline,” “Good Morning America,” “Entertainment Tonight,” CNN and Fox News, while also being featured in a 2012 feature in USA Today this week, plus an Associated Press story and pieces in New York magazine, the Denver Post and Toronto Star, among other publications. In a New York Times review of the film, Manohla Dargis writes, “…the most amusing character, a doomsday prophet and radio broadcaster played by Woody Harrelson, seems in hair, beard and interests to have been drawn along the predictive lines of the real author Daniel Pinchbeck.” Both Pinchbeck and Jenkins have been interviewed extensively about 2012, challenging dramatic apocalyptic theories and presenting opinions about how our planet and consciousness could go through a period of transformation and renewal during or around that year.
National Media Coverage for Patricia Cornwell’s The Scarpetta Factor Continues
Patricia Cornwell did a fabulous live interview Thursday morning on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” with Chris Cuomo. The two discussed The Scarpetta Factor and Cornwell’s expertise in researching and investigating the forensic sciences. Cornwell also acknowledged publicly for the first time that actress Angelina Jolie is her “first choice” to take on the role of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, as Cornwell and Cuomo discussed Jolie’s commitment to play the beloved character in a future major motion picture. Click here to watch the video. GMA also posted an excerpt of the book and the video of the interview was picked up by The Huffington Post.
On Monday, November 9th, Patricia Cornwell made a special appearance at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where she greeted U.S. troops and their families and signed copies of The Scarpetta Factor and Scarpetta, for over two hours. It was a great honor for Cornwell to have the chance to meet her fans living on the base and the troops who do so much for our country. A special thanks to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) for making this such a successful event.
Also this week, Advocate.com and Afterellen.com posted interviews with Cornwell, the sites reaching a combined hundreds of thousands of readers per month. Her interview for PopMatters.com’s 20 Questions (with a unique monthly readership of more than 1.2 million) continues to be picked up in regional newspapers across the country through its syndication on the McClatchy Newswire.
On Thursday morning, Cornwell taped an interview for CNN Radio Network’s “News Feature” to be broadcast later this month to the network’s 6.6 million weekly listeners nationwide; and on Monday, November 16th, Cornwell will be interviewed live on NPR’s “The Takeway” reaching listeners across the globe through WNYC, PRI (Public Radio International), the BBC World Service, The New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Penguin Young Readers Group Launches Major Marketing Campaign for New Alex Rider Adventure, Crocodile Tears
#1 New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz will cross the pond next week for a weeklong US tour to promote Crocodile Tears, the latest installment in the popular Alex Rider Adventures series (Philomel, on sale 11/17). In the new book, teen spy Alex Rider goes head to head with Desmond McCain, the evil mastermind behind a plot to collect millions in charity donations by creating genetically modified crops that have the power to wipe out an entire country with a deadly virus. Tour stops will include: West Caldwell, NJ; Kingston, NY; Wellesley, MA; Cohasset, MA; Ann Arbor, MI; Okemos, MI; St. Louis, MO; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta, GA; Washington, DC and Fairfax, VA.
In addition to Anthony Horowitz’s tour, Penguin Young Readers Group is sponsoring “Be Alex Rider” authorless photo events at stores in Seattle, Austin, Cleveland, Omaha, Minneapolis and Lexington, KY, and at this year’s NCTE conference in Philadelphia. Using advanced green screen technology, fans will be able to get photos taken dangling over a pit of crocodiles just like Alex Rider does in his new book. Participating kids will receive an “Alex Rider library card” featuring a secret code allowing them to access their photo online, where they can save, print or share the exciting photo with their friends.
Stores not hosting Anthony on tour or a green screen event have received Alex Rider authorless event kits shipped in poster tubes, including reproducible spy-themed activities, a double-sided Alex Rider banner, and a limited edition MI6 t-shirt for raffle.
MAKE Magazine, a publication and website dedicated to gadget-making, is partnering with Penguin on an “Alex Rider Dream Gadget” contest, wherein kids are asked to design a dream Alex Rider gadget inspired by an everyday object (i.e. an iPod, toothpaste, a pen). The winning gadget will be built in the MAKE labs and demonstrated in a video on the MAKE blog. The grand prize winner will receive a new iPod Nano with video and voice recording capabilities, a signed hardcover collection of Alex Rider novels and a backpack filled with gadgets from the MakerShed (makershed.com). The contest will officially launch on November 17th.
Media highlights for Crocodile Tears include: USA Today, Washington Post “Style section”, Washington Post “Kids Post”, Family Fun Magazine, NPR’s “Here and Now,” “PRI’s “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” Scripps-Howard News Service, Scholastic Scope, Junior Scholastic, Detroit Free Press, “Good Day St. Louis” and BoingBoing.
Advertising highlights include: An Alex Rider villain campaign on the Cartoon Network and movie theater advertising in seven major cities nationwide.
Watch Anthony Horowitz describe the Alex Rider series on the official website.
Nine Penguin Group (USA) Titles Chosen as Choice Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009
Choice, the leading publication from the ALA, has announced their list of Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009 to be included in their January issue, in print and online, and PGI has nine titles on the list:
- The Liberal Hour by Mackenzie, G. Calvin and Robert Weisbrot (The Penguin Press)
- The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson (The Penguin Press)
- Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs (The Penguin Press)
- The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson (Riverhead)
- Normal at Any Cost by Susan Cohen (Tarcher)
- Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid (Viking/Penguin)
- Napoleon’s Wars by Charles Esdaile (Viking/Penguin)
- Spent by Geoffrey Miller (Viking/Penguin)
- Birds of North America by Nancy Ellwood and Francois Vuilleumier (DK)
Penguin’s Elda Rotor Moderates Discussion with Ruben and Isabel Toledo at FIT
Last month, Penguin Classics Director Elda Rotor moderated a discussion with Ruben and Isabel Toledo at the Fashion Institute of Technology (pictured here). Ruben discussed his career as a fashion illustrator, from his days drawing illustrations for the back page of Details magazine to his recent coloration with Penguin Classics. He described the process of reimagining the iconic titles (Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and The Scarlet Letter), finding inspiration in sources as diverse as his native Cuba, a childhood horror obsession, and Isabel’s eye for color.
The event was attended by about 250 people comprised of both FIT students and the general public. After the talk, Rotor facilitated a lively question-and-answer session, in which Ruben spoke about the future of both fashion illustration and cover art (prognosis: optimistic). Attendees waited over two hours for a chat and personal sketch from Ruben, and several blogs covered the talk—find the Fashion Informer’s take here.
Ruben Toledo’s work has appeared in the pages of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New Yorker and in campaigns for Tiffany & Co., Estée Lauder, and Nordstrom’s. His wife, Isabel, designed the dress and coat worn by Michelle Obama to the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. The couple was the subject of the recent exhibition “Toledo/Toledo: A Marriage of Art and Fashion.”
Viking’s Churchill Garners Great Media Coverage
In Churchill (Viking), renowned historian Paul Johnson begins by asking the question: how did one man do so much, for so long, and so effectively? Like no previous biography, Johnson’s narration illustrates Winston Churchill’s humor, resilience, courage, eccentricity, tenacity, and love for his family and country.
Johnson will be profiled in an upcoming Weekend Arts feature for the Wall Street Journal and interviewed live on NPR's “Weekend Edition” on 11/21. "Head Butler" Jesse Kornbluth called it the “Best Nonfiction Book of 2009” in his Huffington Post review and we've also seen raves from Washington Times, New York Post, Truthdig.com, and American Journal. Further reviews for the book are planned in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, and Newark Star-Ledger among others.
Great Media Buzz for Perigee’s The Naked Pint
Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune share their beer knowledge and debunk common myths about craft beers in their new book The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer, out last week from Perigee. The media is buzzing already and upcoming media includes features in The Oregonian, Imbibe Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, interviews on ABCNews.com's "IdealBite," WNBC's "LX NY," WHYY (NPR) "A Chef's Table," KCRW (NPR) "Good Food," and regional media in their tour cities of Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Portland.
In addition, the ladies are in NY this weekend for two events:
Saturday, November 14, 6 PM
Brewery tasting with Sixpoint Craft Ales on tap at Spuyten Duvyil in Brooklyn
No cover, pay as you go
Sunday November 15, 1-3 PM
Beer pairing brunch at Jimmy's No. 43 in the East Village
$55/person, reservations required.
Menu and details here.
The Naked Pint includes everything from the history of brewing to food pairings, from beer and food recipes to hosting a beer tasting party, and is an informative guide for those just learning about craft beer, as well as the seasoned drinker. A well-made brew can be just as nuanced as an expensive glass of wine, and The Naked Pint explores this and more! Support your local brewer and join the craft beer revolution!
Read Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune's recent posts on the Penguin Blog.
Jam-Packed Event Line-Up for the American Tour of There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, Russia’s preeminent fiction writer, has been busy on her American tour to promote There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby (Penguin Books Original). Friday night, she performed a cabaret act at the Russian Samovar which The New Yorker covered. On Monday night, she did a joint reading with Keith Gessen, her translator and author of All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking/Penguin), in English and Russian at McNally Jackson, read about it here. And she spoke at Columbia University on Tuesday night. The author will be at Yale University tonight, and then has events at Boston University and the Pierre Menard galley in Boston this weekend. Read about them here.
Plume’s Top Secret Recipes Unlocked Featured in Entertainment Weekly
Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur will be featured in next week’s Entertainment Weekly. The kitchen clone recipe king is back with a new book in his Top Secret Restaurant Recipes collection. The book is due out right before Thanksgiving and features 115 new recipes including Krispy Kreme’s original glazed donuts and Popeye’s Buttermilk Biscuits, earning a “B” in its Entertainment Weekly review.
Author Events and Media Authors Books Penguin Radio Television Tour Movies 2012
