Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 5/12

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Berkley Holds #1 Trade Fiction and Mass Market Fiction Slots on The New York Times Bestseller List; Penguin Group (USA) Overall Occupies Four Paperback #1 Positions

Berkley owns the top of The New York Times paperback fiction bestseller lists. For the week of May 18th, Berkley scores both the #1 trade fiction paperback, and the #1 mass market paperback: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) climbs to #1 on the trade fiction list in its eighteenth week; while Invisible Prey by John Sandford (Berkley) is at #1 in its second week on the mass market list.

In addition, Three Cups of Tea by David Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) holds at #1 on the paperback nonfiction list in its 66th week; and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) stays in the #1 position on the paperback advice, how-to and miscellaneous list in its fourteenth week, marking four simultaneous #1's in one week.

This is the seventh time this year that Penguin Group (USA) has owned four or more #1 slots in a single week, an industry best in 2008.

In a competitive auction, Viking has acquired My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., which will be published this coming Monday, May 12th.

Jill Bolte Taylor, recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind deteriorate - she lost the ability to walk, talk, read, write or recall any of her life. Slowly, Jill fought her way to complete recovery aided by her understanding of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and an amazing mother. In My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., shares the insight she gained from having this ironic and unusual voyage into, and back out of, the silent abyss of the wounded brain.

Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., is a neuroanatomist who is affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is the National Spokesperson for the Mentally Ill for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Brain Bank) and the Consulting Neuroanatomist for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI). Since 1993 she has been an active member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Jill Bolte Taylor will participate in Oprah Winfrey's "Soul Series" on "Oprah & Friends" Radio starting May 12th.

You can watch Jill Bolte Taylor tell her amazing personal story in this video on TED.com here.

Three Penguin Group (USA) books took home Edgar awards at the 62nd Annual Edgar Allen Poe Awards Banquet held on Thursday, May 1st, in New York, which honors the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, television and film published or produced in 2007.

Tana French won for Best First Novel by an American Author for In the Woods (Viking/Penguin); Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley claimed the Best Critical/Biographical award for Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (The Penguin Press) and Tedd Arnold received the Best Young Adult award for Rat Life (Dial Books for Young Readers).

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (the "Edgars") are named after Mystery Writers of America's patron saint, Edgar Allan Poe, and are awarded to authors of distinguished work in various categories of the genre.

In this week's issue of Time magazine, five Penguin Group (USA) authors are included in the annual Time 100, the publication's fifth annual list of the world's most influential people: leaders, thinkers, heroes, artists, scientists and more. This year, Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead), Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking/Penguin), Tyler Perry (Riverhead), Craig Venter (Viking) and Jill Bolte Taylor (Viking, see item above), are all listed among Time's 100 most influential people in the world for 2008, acknowledging their outstanding presence in their respective fields.

They are joined on the list by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Robert Downey Jr., Bruce Springsteen, George Clooney, Rupert Murdoch, and Steve Jobs, among the many other men and women whose power, talent or moral example are transforming the world today.

To check out the full list of recipients and their write-ups, click here.

Viking/Penguin author Dava Sobel has been awarded a Klumpke-Roberts Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) for contributing to the public understanding of astronomy. Sobel's successful and highly regarded books on astronomical themes and figures have drawn worldwide acclaim.

The awards will be presented at the ASP awards banquet on June 3rd in St. Louis, Missouri, where the ASP will be meeting in conjunction with the American Astronomical Society at its summer meeting.

Founded in 1889 in San Francisco, the ASP's mission is to increase public understanding and appreciation of astronomy through scientists, educators, enthusiasts and the public as a vehicle for advancing science literacy and exchange. For more information about this year's winners, click here.

The American Place Theatre's 2008 "Literature to Life" Gala on Tuesday, April 29th honored Frank McCourt's Teacher Man, and also featured past Penguin Group (USA) "Literature to Life" winners, including The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin) and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead). Over 500 teachers attended the event, which was held at NYU's Skirball Theatre - a great opportunity to promote the upcoming October 17th release of The Secret Life of Bees.

"Literature to Life," the American Place Theatre's performance-based literacy program, presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of significant American literary works. This educational program gives students a new form of access to literature by bringing to life the world of books with performances that create an atmosphere of discovery and spark the imagination.

The Secret Life of Bees continues to be a perennial favorite. The book has just been chosen for a new "one read" program, this time for the women at the Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility.

A detailed, informational Associated Press review of the first book in Rough Guides' new budget guidebook series, The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget, has now reached over 4.4 million newspaper subscribers (including the 2.3 who read USA Today) across the country, over the course of the last four weeks.

Most reviews point out how "the new The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget will help you plan a trip without going broke" and how the guide includes "itineraries, adventure-travel options, cheap lodging, arts and culture, top attractions, and daily budget estimates." To read the review, click here.

Penguin Classics' Promotional Campaign Boosts Plant a Billion Trees Effort

Penguin Classics continues to support the Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign with major marketing, publicity, and in-store promotions that are increasing public awareness and participation in this timely campaign. Penguin Books President and Publisher Kathryn Court's recent satellite radio tour involved 20 interviews and reached an audience of more than 371,000 listeners. Since the campaign launched on April 4th, more than 157,000 trees have been planted/donated, bringing the overall tree count to 288,111. You can learn more about Plant a Billion Trees on the campaign's web site, www.plantabillion.org.

Check out the manga-animated trailer for Daniel H Pink's The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. Choose the perfect gift for the grad in your life from our great selection of trusted career and life guides, in our Graduation 2008 feature page.

This week, tune into a special Penguin Podcast on the first of the Summer 2008 Viking Flights of Fiction titles where David Benioff, author of City of Thieves, discusses his latest novel, and reads an excerpt from the book.

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of May 18th

Two new debuts for Penguin Group (USA) on The New York Times mass market fiction bestseller list for the week of May 18th: The Double Agents by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Jove) hits at #6; and The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton (Jove) debuts at #15.

In addition, Penguin Group (USA) holds four of the seven #1 slots, the 7th time in 2008! The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) climbs to #1 on the trade fiction list in its eighteenth week; Invisible Prey by John Sandford (Berkley) is #1 in its second week on the mass market list; Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) holds at #1 on the paperback nonfiction list in its 66th week; and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) stays in the #1 position on the paperback advice, how-to and miscellaneous list in its fourteenth week.

Here are more New York Times bestseller highlights for the week of May 18th:

On the hardcover fiction list, Hold Tight by Harlan Coben (Dutton) is at #4 in its third week; Santa Fe Dead by Stuart Woods (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is #14 in its second week; and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead) returns to the list at #15 for a fifth week.

On the hardcover nonfiction list, Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is at #14 in its fifth week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin) is #3 in its 98th week; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) holds at #4 in its 165th week; The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (NAL) is #9 in its 25th week; and Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (Plume) is #16 in its tenth week.

On the mass market paperback fiction list, The Woods by Harlan Coben (Signet) is #7 in its fifth week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is at #2 position in its 67th week; The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Penguin) rises to #9 in its 36th week; and I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley (Riverhead) is at #20 in its fifth week.

In the young readers sector, Ladybug Girl is #6 on the children's picture book list in its seventh week and on the children's paperback list, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Speak) is #7 in its tenth week. On the children's chapter books list, Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (Viking) is at #3 in its second week, while Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (Razorbill) returns to that same list, at #7 in its fourth week.

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