Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 11/3:

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Penguin Speakers Bureau (PSB) speakers have been receiving praise as they share their messages with audiences across the country. Below are just a few glowing reviews from some recent events.

• Junot Díaz at Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  
  “We’ve had ten years of important, incredible writers,” wrote event coordinator Diane Seuss, but Pulitzer Prize–winner Junot Díaz “was by far the best.” Junot discussed his recent book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and his life as a writer for a crowd of students, faculty, and community members at Kalamazoo College. Diane told us, “He talked to the students in a way that was both challenging and respectful. He was funny and incredibly moving. He provided them with everything they need to think about as they enter college—what books are for, that the end result of critical thinking is compassion,” and the importance of “an awareness of our own history. He was gracious—and he brought the house down.”





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• Dr. Daniel J. Levitin at the Human Link Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
  
  Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, neuroscientist and author of This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs, recently spoke at the Human Link Conference. Dr. Levitin’s lecture on creativity, music, and the brain, “entranced” the crowd, wrote Lynda Hawkins, the Barnes & Noble manager who provided copies of Dr. Levitin’s books for the event. “We sold 101 books today—and would have sold more if we had them … Levitin was a great speaker.” Dr. Levitin has been booked by the Human Link Conference for another event this upcoming weekend in Denver, and we expect to hear even more positive feedback.




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• Jan Crawford Greenberg at The Purnell School, Pottersville, New Jersey
  

  ABC News correspondent and author of the bestselling Supreme Conflict, Jan Crawford Greenberg recently addressed students at The Purnell School in New Jersey. Jan adapted her speech on the struggle between conservatives, moderates, and liberals for control of the Supreme Court for her young audience, effectively engaging the Purnell School crowd. According to event coordinator Donna Martin, “Jan’s talk was warm, full of wonderful stories, the importance of the election and women in the court. Everyone in the audience was enchanted by her... The line for her book was almost out the door of Brook House and we sold all of the books, plus have orders for 17 more.”





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  Krista Tippett at St. John’s University, Queens, New York

  Freshmen at St. John’s University were assigned Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith last summer as a common reading experience, and her speaking event at the university this month was a great success. St. John’s Assistant VP of Student Affairs, Darren Morton, said, “Krista’s visit was wonderful. She had a great message… with some very appropriate challenges for [the] age group.” A number of faculty members have since requested copies of her speech to share with their first-year classes, and many more bought copies of her book.






• John Perkins at Olivet College, Olivet, Michigan

  Days after John Perkins, author of the bestselling Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire, spoke at Olivet College, the PSB was told that students and faculty were still raving about his visit to campus. Event coordinator Shannon Tiernan wrote to tell us that they “packed the house like I’ve never seen before—we even had to open a room for overflow seating. I would say we had 450 students, faculty, staff and community members… The students I talked with really enjoyed his lecture and we sold most of his books!”

PSB speakers continue to tour the nation and beyond. Next month, Sonja Lyubomirsky will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to speak at a MediaCat Forum on The How of Happiness; Dinaw Mengestu will be assisted by a signing interpreter when he visits Gallaudet University, a Washington, D.C. school for the deaf, to talk about his award-winning book, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears; and Greg Mortenson will discuss the #1 New York Times bestselling Three Cups of Tea at Boise State, Washburn, and DePauw Universities, to name just a few.

New York Times-bestselling Dutton Children’s Book author John Green’s 14-city Paper Towns tour recently kicked off at Barnes & Noble (Tribeca). The New York event set the trend for the remainder of the tour. Four-hundred teenagers showed up, including some from as far as England and the Netherlands. The majority of fans at the event were “nerdfighters,” an interactive community of fans that have come from John and Hank Green’s enormously popular YouTube videos.

Fans gave John Green rock star treatment, with about 125 of them arriving hours early to get a seat. The event included a reading by actor Dan John Miller, the voice for the Paper Towns audio edition; music from Liane Graham, a teenage nerdfighter fan that sings songs about John’s books; and Hank Green singing his new Paper Towns song and his well known “Accio Deathly Hallows” song about the end of the Harry Potter series. About half of the audience knew the words and sang along.

Fans in the signing line brought nerdfighter items for John and came in custom nerdfighter t-shirts. Many had “DFTBA” written on their shirts, hands, and backpacks (DFTBA stands for John and Hank’s nerdfighter mantra ‘Don’t forget to be awesome.’) One father walked up to the signing line with his son and commented to John that he wished that there was a community like this when he was growing up. He was happy his son had a place to communicate with other kids like him. John commented, “That is why Hank and I created the nerdfighter community—because we didn’t have a place to go.” A mother from Connecticut commented how many of these kids just need a voice and John and Hank have given them one.

John signed books (along with arms, t-shirts, backpacks and cameras) for 1 ½ hours. The rest of John Green’s tour was very similar to the kick off. Hundreds of nerdfighters arrive at the events dressed in homemade nerdfighter t-shirts with nerdfighter lingo written all over their bodies. Fans have posted their own YouTube videos and have blogged about how spectacular John’s events have been. John ended his book tour today at the Santa Monica Library, where nerdfighters have dubbed the last event a Halloween party. Beginning in November, John and his brother Hank will hit the road for a nerdfighter road trip visiting libraries across the country.

6th Annual Jan Brett Bus Tour Hits the Road Tomorrow

Coverage of Jan’s tour will be included in outlets such as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Dallas Morning News, Omaha World Herald, and Iowa City Press Citizen. In Minot, ND, Jan will host a sit-down meal on the tour bus with the winner (and three of her lucky friends) of her annual “Lunch on the Bus” contest.

For more on Jan Brett and her beloved children’s books, click here.

Elizabeth Gilbert Featured in O Magazine

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin), was featured in the November issue of O Magazine, with an original essay entitled “What I Know For Sure About Certainty.”

To read the full piece, click here.

When you’re done reading the essay, click here to read an excerpt and an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, watch a trailer and listen to a podcast with the author.

Catch Berkley Author Rhonda Saunders on NBC’s “Access Hollywood”

Rhonda Saunders will talk about Whisper of Fear: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Stalks the Stalkers (Berkley Hardcover, on-sale November 4th), on NBC's “Access Hollywood” on November 7th. Rhonda is the preeminent stalking expert in the country: the prosecutor for Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, and countless other celebrity stalking cases. In Whisper of Fear, Rhonda takes readers on a journey through her career, as she dealt with bizarre, highly dangerous criminals and their victims.

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of November 9th

Three new debuts for Penguin Group (USA) on The New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 9th: Rough Weather by Robert B. Parker (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) hits at #6 on the hardcover fiction list; The Way I Am by Eminem, with Sacha Jenkins (Dutton) appears at #11 on the hardcover nonfiction list; and by John Hodgman (Dutton) is #7 on the hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous list. More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman (Dutton) is #7 on the hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous list. Goodnight Goon, written and illustrated by Michael Rex (Putnam), rises to the #1 slot on the children’s picture book list.

Here are more bestseller highlights for the week of November 9th:

Heat Lightning by John Sandford (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) is #13 in its fifth week on the hardcover fiction list.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor (Viking) returns to the list at #4 in its eleventh week; Tried by War by James M. McPherson (The Penguin Press) is #12 in its third week; and The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (Riverhead) is #13, also in its third week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin) is #2 in its 121st week; World Without End by Ken Follett (NAL) is #3 in its third week; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead) is #4 in its eighth week; Second Chance by Jane Green (Plume) is #16 in its 22nd week; and The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright (Berkley) is #17 in its fourth week.

On the mass market paperback list, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #3 in its seventh week; Dark of the Moon by John Sandford (Berkley) is #6 in its fourth week; Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #7 in its seventh week; Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris (Ace) is #10 in its sixth week; Dead to the World and Dead As A Doornail both by Charlaine Harris (Ace) are at #12 and #14 respectively in their fourth week; Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) is #15 in its eighth week; Definitely Dead and All Together Dead again both by Charlaine Harris (Ace), are at #17 and #18 respectively in their third week; and Now and Then by Robert B. Parker (Berkley) is #19 in its second week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) holds at #1 in its 91st week; Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is in the #4 slot in its 92nd week; The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) is #13 in its 58th week; and A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink (Riverhead) returns to the list at #17 in its 23rd week.

I Can Has Cheezburger? by Professor Happycat and icanhascheezburger.com (Gotham) holds at #5 on the advice, how-to and miscellaneous paperback list in its third week, while A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) is at #7 on the same list in its 39th week.

New This Week

Brava Strega Nona! A Heartwarming Pop-Up Book by Tomie dePaola, with paper engineering by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 10/30)

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