Penguin Books India

Ruchir Sharma’s BREAKOUT NATIONS BREAKS RECORDS!

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:58:29 +0000

Debuts as No 1 in Nielsen Bookscan in India
Penguin Books India is delighted to announce that Ruchir Sharma’s Breakout Nations has debuted straight at No 1 position on all bestseller lists across the country (including the very popular Neilsen Bookscan).
Breakout Nations was released on April 23rd and is already in its 2^nd reprint. The book through fantastic reviews and word of mouth is getting a great response from people across country.
According to Ananth Padmanabhan, Vice President Sales, Penguin Books India, “We are delighted that Breakout Nations shot straight into No#1 in India. It is a path breaking book on emerging markets and the ONLY book you’ll ever need to understand new economies, it’s going to be our biggest nonfiction book this year.”
Ruchir Sharma Management’s Head of Emerging Markets has spent one week each month in a different developing nation. “Breakout Nations” is the fruit of those weekly fact-finding excursions and brings together Ruchir’s thinking about what makes up a “breakout nation.” The new "breakout nations" will probably spring from the margins, even from the shadows and the probability of India continuing its journey as a breakout nation this decade is just 50 percent.
Ruchir Sharma does neither. In Breakout Nations he shows why the economic 'mania' of the twenty-first century, with its unshakeable faith in the power of emerging markets - especially China - to continue growing at the astoundingly rapid and uniform pace of the last decade, is wrong. The next economic success stories will not be where we think they are.
In this provocative new book, Sharma analyses why the basic laws of economic gravity (such as the law of large numbers, which says that the richer you are the harder it is to grow your wealth at a rapid pace) are already pulling China, Russia, Brazil and other vast emerging markets back to earth. To understand which nations will thrive and which will falter in a world reshaped by slower growth, it is time to start looking at the emerging markets as individual cases. Sharma argues that we must abandon our current obsession with global macro trends and the fad for all-embracing theories. He offers instead a more discerning, nuanced view, identifying specific factors - economic, political, social - which will make for slow or fast growth.
Spending much of his professional life travelling in these countries as Head of Emerging Markets at Morgan Stanley, Sharma is uniquely placed to present a first-hand insider's account of these new markets and the changes they are undergoing. As the years of unbelievably swift growth draw to their close, this book shows us how it is time for both investors and economists to halt their blind thrust towards an impossible future.
Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Market Equities and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he manages around $25 billion in emerging market assets. He has been a writer for as long as he has been an investor - a former contributing editor for Newsweek and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and The Economic Times.
For reviews, extracts and interviews please connect with amrita.talwar@in.penguingroup.com
Penguin Books India is delighted to announce that Ruchir Sharma’s Breakout Nations has debuted straight at No 1 position on all bestseller lists across the country (including the very popular Neilsen Bookscan).
Breakout Nations was released on April 23rd and is already in its 2^nd reprint. The book through fantastic reviews and word of mouth is getting a great response from people across country.
According to Ananth Padmanabhan, Vice President Sales, Penguin Books India, “We are delighted that Breakout Nations shot straight into No#1 in India. It is a path breaking book on emerging markets and the ONLY book you’ll ever need to understand new economies, it’s going to be our biggest nonfiction book this year.”
Ruchir Sharma Management’s Head of Emerging Markets has spent one week each month in a different developing nation. “Breakout Nations” is the fruit of those weekly fact-finding excursions and brings together Ruchir’s thinking about what makes up a “breakout nation.” The new "breakout nations" will probably spring from the margins, even from the shadows and the probability of India continuing its journey as a breakout nation this decade is just 50 percent.
Ruchir Sharma does neither. In Breakout Nations he shows why the economic 'mania' of the twenty-first century, with its unshakeable faith in the power of emerging markets - especially China - to continue growing at the astoundingly rapid and uniform pace of the last decade, is wrong. The next economic success stories will not be where we think they are.
In this provocative new book, Sharma analyses why the basic laws of economic gravity (such as the law of large numbers, which says that the richer you are the harder it is to grow your wealth at a rapid pace) are already pulling China, Russia, Brazil and other vast emerging markets back to earth. To understand which nations will thrive and which will falter in a world reshaped by slower growth, it is time to start looking at the emerging markets as individual cases. Sharma argues that we must abandon our current obsession with global macro trends and the fad for all-embracing theories. He offers instead a more discerning, nuanced view, identifying specific factors - economic, political, social - which will make for slow or fast growth.
Spending much of his professional life travelling in these countries as Head of Emerging Markets at Morgan Stanley, Sharma is uniquely placed to present a first-hand insider's account of these new markets and the changes they are undergoing. As the years of unbelievably swift growth draw to their close, this book shows us how it is time for both investors and economists to halt their blind thrust towards an impossible future.
Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Market Equities and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he manages around $25 billion in emerging market assets. He has been a writer for as long as he has been an investor - a former contributing editor for Newsweek and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and The Economic Times.
For reviews, extracts and interviews please connect with amrita.talwar@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Penguin India acquires Rights for Rahul Bhattacharya’s Books

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:48:53 +0000

We are delighted to present The Sly Company of People who Care and Pundits from Pakistan in a brand new look

Both his books, in a very attractive new look, will hit the market soon.

Since it was first published, The Sly Company of People Who Care, Rahul Bhattacharya's first work of fiction, has won the Hindu Literary Prize for Best Fiction 2011, it was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011, and has just been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize 2012.

Pundits from Pakistan, an all-time cricket classic in a stunning new edition will be available with a new preface by the author, and new interesting photographs. Also, winner of the Crossword Award for Popular Books 2005.

Rahul Bhattacharya is the biggest new literary talent to come out of India in recent years. He was born in Bombay in 1979 and now currently stays in Delhi. He won great acclaim as a cricket writer – he has written in the Wisden magazine, Cricinfo etc and then wrote an outstanding first novel, The Sly Company of People Who Care

About the books

The Sly Company of People Who Care

When a young Indian journalist quits his job to take a year off in Guyana, he discovers a country of epic indolence, lush rainforests and decaying houses where an array of alluring characters, Indian and African, have made a new world.
Among the motley crowd of seasoned rogues and Samaritans, people trying to escape or accept their colonial legacies, he falls for Jan, a sexy ‘cooliegal’, who transports him to a new place—within himself and in the world. Acute and lyrical, The Sly Company of People Who Care is a quixotic journey in which dreams, destinies and desires cross and drift apart.

‘Quick, cool, astonishingly assured, it awakens with its landscapes and characters a Conradian sense of wonder’ PANKAJ MISHRA
‘Exuberant and often arresting . . . what a remarkable and exquisite world Bhattacharya has made’ THE NEW YORK TIMES
‘Bhattacharya’s understanding of displacement and drifting comes from a completely original place, and he has all of the humour and sharpness of the young Naipaul . . . This book, and this writer, are here to last’ INDIA TODAY

Pundits from Pakistan

In the spring of 2004, the Indian cricket team headed to Pakistan to play a historic series. The mood was tense with political provocations and security fears. But as the archrivals met on the field to play thrilling cricket, a rare spirit of bonhomie spread through the tour. From the markets of Lahore to the streets of Peshawar, ordinary Indians encountered the small courtesies and deeper friendships that would make the tour unforgettable.
Pundits from Pakistan brings vividly alive the magic of the game—the matches, the players, the cheering crowds—and chronicles an emotional and hopeful time, as witnessed by a young Indian discovering Pakistan. Funny, warm and superbly written, it is a classic of its kind.

‘One of the most entertaining and stylishly written pieces of non-fiction I’ve ever read’ -KAMILA SHAMSIE, NEWSLINE
‘A beautiful and brilliant work, the best cricket book I have encountered in many a long year’ -----PETER ROEBUCK

_____________________________________________________________________________
For an interview with the authors, excerpt requests, exclusive pictures, review copy please contact:
Diksha Wadhwa at +91 11 46131444/ 9811729886 or drop a mail at diksha.wadhwa@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Spring Fever 2012

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:38:04 +0000

Penguin Books India

is delighted to announce

Spring Fever 2012

(in collaboration with Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre)
with an open air library featuring Penguin India books
from 16 to 25 March 2012 between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily
and special events from 7 p.m. onwards every evening
at the Amphitheatre, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

Delhi’s favourite lit fest is back, and this year it’s bigger, better and more fun than ever before!
Penguin India is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, and what better way to celebrate than by sharing the joy of reading with booklovers across the capital?

You can browse through Penguin’s remarkable range of books at the open air library at Spring Fever, and pick up copies of the just published 25 Popular Penguins—the best books ever published by Penguin India—and Penguin’s fabulous new range of collectibles and merchandise as well.

And in the evenings, you can listen to and interact with star authors like Vikram Seth, Gurcharan Das, Gulzar, Shashi Tharoor, Ravinder Singh, Madhuri Banerjee, Amit Chaudhuri, Devdutt Pattanaik, Anupam Kher, Yaana Gupta and many more… or take part in our movie quiz or talent hunt, and enjoy some excellent music.
Now in its third edition, Spring Fever is Delhi’s first-ever literary spring festival, and the only festival of its kind organized by a leading publisher in India.

By day, the open air library at Spring Fever features a complete range of Penguin India books, from landmark fiction and non-fiction titles first published over a decade ago to the latest bestsellers and books that are creating news today, and including the entire collection of Penguin Classics and children’s books. With a spacious layout in a quiet corner away from the bustle of crowds, the open air library is sure to be a browser’s paradise.

What’s new this year is a special corner featuring the 25 Popular Penguins just published for Penguin India’s 25^th anniversary, comprising some of the best loved titles published by Penguin India in its twenty-five years—from Mahatma Gandhi’s and R.K. Narayan’s The Guide to Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Shobhaa De’s Starry Nights—these have been given the classic Penguin branding with orange and white striped covers and are made available at a very accessible price. And for Penguin enthusiasts there is also a whole new range of Penguin collectibles and merchandise—with an exciting collection of branded mugs, notebooks, cloth bags, baggage tags, key rings and much more—all featuring the unique Penguin book design.

But that’s just the beginning. Over each of the ten days of Spring Fever, there will be special literary evenings featuring key authors, new books and previews of forthcoming attractions as well as some musical performances.

On the opening evening, Friday 16 March, you can hear Vikram Seth on his new book The Rivered Earth. On Saturday the 17^th, model and actor Yaana Gupta speaks on How to Love Your Body and Get the Body You Love. Sunday the 18^th features Anupam Kher on The Best Thing about You—Is You. On Monday the 19^th, three key commentators and analysts—Devdutt Pattanaik, Rama Bijapurkar and V. Raghunathan—discuss the New Indian Consumer in the session Ganesha on the Dashboard. There’s a fun filled movie quiz titled Mind It!—Indian Cinema Turns 100 on Tuesday the 20^th, with a special round on the ultimate superstar Rajinikanth and loads of audience questions, prizes and music. On Wednesday the 21^st, we present three outstanding new literary talents—Rahul Bhattacharya, Anjum Hasan and Anjan Sundaram—in the session The Stories within My Head. Thursday the 22^nd’s session is The Great Indian Story, with previews of three eagerly anticipated non-fiction works by Amit Chaudhuri, Gurcharan Das and Shashi Tharoor. On Friday the 23^rd, four hot young writers—Madhuri Banerjee, Nistula Hebbar, Chanchaldeep Singh and Ravinder Singh—discuss sex outside the bedroom in Kiss and Tell. On Saturday the 24^th, Penguin hunts for new literary talent in the open session Delhi’s Got Talent, with bestselling author Ravinder Singh and the Penguin editorial team as judges. And Spring Fever closes on Sunday the 25^th with a wonderful jugalbandi reading of poetry by Gulzar and Pavan K. Varma in Lamhon Par Baithi Nazmein—Poems Perched on a Moment, followed by a scintillating qawwali performance.

For ten days this March, Delhi is going to have a time to remember.

Hemali Sodhi, VP Marketing and Corporate Communications at Penguin India says, ‘In our 25^th year, we’re looking forward to presenting the best Spring Fever yet. The open air library at Spring Fever is one of a kind and the programming this year is spectacular. It’s going to be a lot of fun and there will be something for everyone—keeping with the unifying theme of Spring Fever which is to celebrate the joy of reading.’

Come be a part of Spring Fever. Browse through your favourite Penguin books, take part in special events, join us for readings, music, poetry and much more…

Post Date:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Penguin India turns 25!

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:57:28 +0000

Penguin India turns 25!

India’s number one publisher announces a year-long celebration of the joy of reading in its silver jubilee year

New Delhi, 18^th January 2012: 2012 is a very special year for Penguin India—for this is the year that everyone’s favourite publisher turns 25! Penguin India will celebrate its 25th year with a series of exciting events, activities and initiatives throughout the year and a unique Penguin 25^th Year Logo. The theme behind all of these is a celebration of the joy of reading.

Penguin India’s 25^th year celebrations will start at the Jaipur Literature Festival which kicks off on 20 January. Members of the global Penguin board including Penguin’s global Chairman will be in Jaipur to be part of the anniversary celebrations, along with key authors and leading opinion makers. The celebrations will continue around the year, with a series of very special promotions and activities, including the launch of an exciting range of titles, collectibles and merchandise.

For twenty-five years, Penguin India has been renowned for publishing the very best writing from the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Over two and a half decades, Penguin India has built a publishing brand like no other—one that is always associated with quality and substance, and is instantly recognized and respected across the country, and indeed around the world.

On this special occasion Andrew Phillips, CEO, Penguin Books India said, "Over two and a half decades we've built a publishing brand in India that is instantly recognized and respected across the country. We are extremely excited about our 25th Year Anniversary Celebrations and we will celebrate this year with a series of exciting events, activities and initiatives throughout the year—in the process, we’re going to celebrate the joy of reading, which is the theme behind our 25th year celebrations. The celebrations start at the Jaipur Literature Festival which kicks off on 20 January. We have a host of very innovative initiatives planned for the year – and our mega plans will be unveiled at Jaipur!"

We begin by launching a very special list: the 25 Popular Penguins. Comprising some of the best loved titles published by Penguin India in its 25 years—from Mahatma Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth and RK Narayan’s The Guide to Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Shobhaa De’s Starry Nights—these are given the classic Penguin branding with orange and white striped covers (for the first time in India) and made available at a very accessible price.

In January this year, Penguin India will launch a whole range of Penguin collectibles and merchandise – with an exciting collection of mugs, notebooks, cloth bags, baggage tags and much more. The Penguin merchandise will for the very first time be available across retail stores throughout India, and the range of merchandise available will expand in the course of the year.

Penguin India will also, in the course of the year be launching the ‘Give Back’ campaign, the highlight of which would be a major CSR initiative through the year, starting with the first quarter of 2012—when Rs 25 from the sale of each Popular Penguin will go to a charity fund.

As publishers, Penguin India is very much a part of the digital age. With the strongest online presence of any Indian publisher, and a very strong following on social networking sites, its website and a robust book club, Penguin India is at the forefront of the digital space. The Penguin APP for smartphones that was launched in 2011 will have fabulous new features unique to the publishing industry. There will be an all new Penguin India website for booklovers to connect to as well.

There are a whole lot of other promotions and activities to look forward to throughout Penguin India’s 25^th year, including very special editions of the immensely popular Penguin Lecture and Spring fever, which will travel to other Indian cities, reaching out to whole new audiences.

And finally, there’s the Penguin car, which will be unveiled in Jaipur. More details will be available soon!

About Penguin Books in India – 25 Years Story

Twenty-five years of Penguin India

Penguin Books India is the largest English language trade publisher in the subcontinent. Founded in 1985, Penguin India began publishing in October 1987 with six books. The company now publishes more than 250 new titles every year and has an active backlist of over 3000 titles. Known for its strong fiction and narrative non-fiction list, Penguin India publishes across virtually every segment including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books and children’s books.

Apart from English, Penguin India also publishes in Hindi, and its books are available in several Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Urdu from local language publishers.

Penguin India is also the exclusive distributor partner in the region for books published by several leading publishing houses, including the Penguin Group, A&C Black, Atlantic Books, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber, Granta, Hay House, Icon, Kyle Cathie, Marshall Cavendish, Mira, Quercus, Sterling, Constable & Robinson, Oneworld and Zubaan.

Penguin India’s author list reads like a who’s who of Indian writing. Penguin India has published no less than three Booker Prize winning novels (The God of Small Things, The Inheritance of Loss and Life of Pi) and its authors have won virtually every major literary prize, including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize; several of Penguin’s authors are also recipients of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honours.

Penguin India’s biggest publishing initiatives in the recent past include the launch of its Indian Language Publishing programme in 2005. Portfolio, Penguin’s dedicated business books imprint, was launched in 2006. In 2008 Penguin launched the prestigious non-fiction imprint Allen Lane—the imprint of ideas—in India, as well as the Penguin Studio imprint which publishes high-quality illustrated books. This was followed by the launch of Penguin’s cutting-edge literary imprint Hamish Hamilton in 2009, of Ananda, its MindBodySpirit imprint, in 2010, and its mass market fiction imprint Metro Reads and its Young Adult imprint in 2011. Penguin India publishes its children’s titles under the Puffin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird imprints; it was the first Penguin Group company to publish Ladybird books outside the UK.

Penguin India has the highest recall value among readers and booklovers in India; its books outnumber all others consistently in the weekly bestseller list published by AC Nielsen.

Penguin India also organizes the prestigious Penguin Annual Lecture (the only lecture of its kind sponsored by a publisher in India) and hosts a ten-day-long open air library and literary festival called Spring Fever every year.

You can find out more about Penguin India’s 25^th Anniversary celebration at www.penguinindia25.com.

For media queries, please contact:

Subhashish Bharuka
PR Consultant
Penguin Books India
+91-98188-05342 / subhashish@gmail.com

Amrita Talwar
Publicity Manager
Penguin India
amrita.talwar@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

"Growing up Bin Laden" - The Explosive Biography of the Most Wanted Man of the Decade

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:12:54 +0000

For the first time, and in their own words, Osama bin Laden’s wife and son tell the astonishing story of the man they knew—or thought they knew—before September 11, 2001

With unprecedented access and insight, best-selling author Jean Sasson takes us inside the secret world of Osama bin Laden.

Growing Up bin Laden tells the story of a young girl who married her gentle and kindly first-cousin, enjoying a happy early marriage with the groom of her choice. But as world events thrust her husband into a frenzy of militant activities, his once pleasing behaviour is altered; and Najwa and her innocent children’s lives become a maze of escaping from one country to another. Osama’s fourth-born son, Omar—who wanted nothing but his father’s love, describes his early years, life with his father in Afghanistan and his eventual escape to Saudi Arabia.

Both Najwa and Omar share an extraordinary view of a man hated by so many, yet both loved and feared by his family, including:

Osama’s disapproval of modern conveniences, including electricity and medicine

Osama’s plan to toughen up his sons by taking them into the desert without food or water

Transporting his wives and children to the rough terrain of Sudan, where he claimed to be preparing them for attacks from Western powers, commanding them to dig holes to sleep in and allowing nothing more than sand and twigs for cover

Omar’s horror at the murder of a boy his own age by members of a jihadist group living among them in the Sudan

What happened in the bin Laden home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the morning of September 11, 2001; Omar’s surprise phone call from his mother who escaped from Afghanistan only two days before the New York terrorist attacks

Najwa Ghanem bin Laden, who married her cousin Osama bin Laden at the age of 15, is his first wife and the mother to seven of his sons and four of his daughters. She currently lives with relatives in Syria.

Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of Osama bin Laden, has publicly called for his father to ‘change his ways’. Both Omar and his mother left Afghanistan before September 11th, 2001, and neither has been in contact with Osama bin Laden since.

Jean Sasson, author of the New York Times bestselling Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, has studied Middle Eastern culture for more than thirty years.

Published by OneWorld Publication/ Rs 399/ 320 pp

For reviews copies, excerpts please contact Amrita Talwar at amrita.talwar@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Friday, June 3, 2011

Penguin Books India is proud to publish "River of Smoke" - The second book in Amitav Ghoshs Ibis Trilogy

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:10:29 +0000

In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured labourers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. When the seas settle, five men have disappeared—two lascars, two convicts and one of the passengers. Did the same storm upend the fortunes of those aboard the Anahita, an opium carrier heading towards Canton? And what fate befell those aboard the Redruth, a sturdy two-masted brig heading East out of Cornwall? Was it the storm that altered their course or were the destinies of these passengers at the mercy of even more powerful forces?

On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbours of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes of tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Bombay merchant, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned amateur botanist Paulette and a motley collection of others in pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower. All struggle to cope with their losses—and, for some, unimaginable freedoms—in the alleys and crowded waterways of nineteenth-century Canton.

As transporting and mesmerizing as an opiate induced dream, River of Smoke, the second book in Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy, will be heralded as a masterpiece of twenty-first century literature.

River of Smoke will be published nationwide on 15 June 2011 and will be launched with a multi-city author tour.

About the author

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford, and has taught at a number of institutions. River of Smoke is the second in the Ibis Trilogy, the first of which, the best-selling Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2008. Ghosh’s other works include The Circle of Reason, which won the Prix Médicis Étranger Award, The Shadow Lines (Sahitya Akademi Award), In an Antique Land, The Calcutta Chromosome (Arthur C. Clarke Award), Dancing in Cambodia and Other Essays, Countdown, The Glass Palace (Grand Prize for Fiction at the Frankfurt International e-books Awards), The Imam and the Indian and The Hungry Tide (Best work in English Fiction, Hutch Crossword Book Award). In 2007 he was awarded the Grinzane Cavour Prize and in 2010 the Dan David Prize. Amitav Ghosh currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn.

For an interview with Amitav Ghosh, excerpt requests

and information on the tour please contact:

Hemali Sodhi at +91 11 46131415/ 98100 08455 or at hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

Smriti Khanna Mehra at 0 99990 03025 or at smriti.khanna@in.penguingroup.com

Alankrita Srivastava at 0 99537 92550 or at alankrita.srivastava@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Friday, June 10, 2011

Penguin Books India launches The Ibis Trilogy Website: www.theibistrilogy.com

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:05:36 +0000

The Ibis Trilogy website is an entirely animated, painting-like rendition of elements from the trilogy. As you navigate across the homepage, you are visually transported to the mesmerizing, opiate induced dreamland of the first two novels.

Moving from left to right with the bottom tabs, the weather changes from the calm Ganges waters of the Sea of Poppies, to the stormy scene that announces the arrival of River of Smoke. In addition to the visual enchantment, the website also serves as a one-stop reference resource centre for both the books. The Ibis Trilogy section opens with a unique essay by the author, sharing his journey of writing the two books in the epic series. There is also insight into the historical landscape that shaped the backdrop of the trilogy, a fully updated section on the launch events of River of Smoke, audio-visual promos and materials. The website is richly populated with two exclusive sections: Chrestomathy, an in-depth explanation and insight into the lascari language used by the characters of the trilogy. And a delightful Painted Tour: a unique collection of paintings and pictures from the author’s desk that inspired and influenced River of Smoke.

The website is a first of its kind in design, dimension and research by any Indian publisher. Penguin Books India is proud to celebrate its launch along with the launch of the long-awaited second book in the spellbinding Ibis Trilogy: River of Smoke(Hamish Hamilton).

The Ibis Trilogy website will be live for readers to browse through from 16 June

About River of Smoke

Three years after the internationally acclaimed beginning to his masterful epic, the Ibis Trilogy with the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh returns with a spectacular novel depicting the further adventures of those aboard the Ibis. As the action moves to Canton in China in a fascinating build-up to the Opium Wars, the stories of known faces as well as a host of new characters are weaved together into what is one of the greatest works of historical fiction published in recent times.

About the author

For an interview with Amitav Ghosh, excerpt requests

and information on the tour please contact:

Hemali Sodhi at +91 11 46131400/ 98100 08455 or at hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

Smriti Khanna Mehra at 0 99990 03025 or at smriti.khanna@in.penguingroup.com

Alankrita Srivastava at 0 99537 92550 or at alankrita.srivastava@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Monday, June 13, 2011

Amitav Ghosh's 'River of Smoke' is the No.1 Bestseller!

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:00:31 +0000

Penguin Books India is delighted to announce that River of Smoke, the magnificent new novel by Amitav Ghosh, the second book in the masterful Ibis Trilogy, has topped the fiction bestseller charts in India immediately on publication.

Incidentally, Amitav Ghosh’s previous book Sea of Poppies, the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel which constituted the first part of the Ibis Trilogy, was also a major bestseller in India and abroad.

Amitav Ghosh is currently on a nationwide author tour promoting his new book.

River of Smoke, on Amitav Ghosh and on the Ibis Trilogy, visit www.theibistrilogy.com and embark on a fascinating journey!

*Nielsen BookScan is the most accurate and scientific mechanism in place for tracking actual sales of books across India; its numbers, calculated on a weekly basis, are based on real-time inputs from distributors and retailers across the country.

On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbours of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes of tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Bombay merchant, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned amateur botanist Paulette and a motley collection of others in pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower. All struggle to cope with their losses—and, for some, unimaginable freedoms—in the alleys and crowded waterways of nineteenth-century Canton.

About the author

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford, and has taught at a number of institutions. River of Smoke is the second in the Ibis Trilogy, the first of which, the best-selling Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2008. Ghosh’s other works include The Circle of Reason, which won the Prix Médicis Étranger Award, The Shadow Lines (Sahitya Akademi Award), In an Antique Land, The Calcutta Chromosome (Arthur C. Clarke Award), Dancing in Cambodia and Other Essays, Countdown, The Glass Palace (Grand Prize for Fiction at the Frankfurt International e-books Awards), The Imam and the Indian and The Hungry Tide (Best work in English Fiction, Hutch Crossword Book Award). In 2007 he was awarded the Grinzane Cavour Prize and in 2010 the Dan David Prize. Amitav Ghosh currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn.

______________________________________________________________

For an interview with Amitav Ghosh, excerpt requests

and information on the tour please contact:

Hemali Sodhi at hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

Alankrita Srivastava at alankrita.srivastava@in.penguingroup.com

For more information on

River of Smoke, which was published in India on 15 June, went straight into No.1 position only four days after publication, for the week ending 18 June, dislodging all other titles Indian or imported, according to Nielsen BookScan*.

Post Date:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Penguin Books India launches The Penguin Mobile App

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:57:20 +0000

Now you don’t have to walk into a bookstore to browse through the new arrivals section— all the latest from the world of Penguin is now available at one click on your mobile phone screen!

The Penguin App is your one stop access to Penguin books on-the-go. It is an easy-to-navigate, mobile portal with information on all books published and represented by Penguin Books India.

The Penguin App is the very first App offered by a leading Indian publisher in the world. It’s a free application aimed at enhancing the reading pleasure and helping the reader find everything he might want to know about Penguin books. Available on NOKIA and APPLE devices, and easily viewable on any size mobile screen, the App has a ‘Just Published’ and ‘Bestsellers’ section with the latest books. You can get a sneak-peak into the forthcoming Penguin books as you click on the “Coming Soon” tab. Read up on latest publishing gossip in the NEWS section and sign up for events in your city with a single click on the EVENTS page. And if you want to watch a video, recommend or discuss a book, click on “Stay Connected” and you will be redirected to the ongoing discussions on the Penguin India Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages.

The most exciting feature, exclusive to the Penguin App, is an opportunity to read exclusive excerpts from all our forthcoming books.

“As our society grows more mobile, readers are clamoring for information to be delivered to them in new and creative ways,” says Andrew Phillips, CEO & President, Penguin Books India. “This is only the beginning of our long-term strategy to provide readers with all the information on their favourite books and authors in exciting new formats, wherever they are and whenever they want it” he adds.

The Penguin App showcases the best books from Penguin including its top fiction and non-fiction bestsellers, covering a wide range from classics and best-loved books to the newest books written by the freshest talent, from books on business and management, politics and current affairs and memoirs to the fun, feisty Metro Reads, MindBodySpirit books, books for children and young adults, and Penguin’s Hindi books.

The amazing world of Penguin’s books, authors, events and its newest developments in publishing are now readily available to you with a single click on your mobile phone.

Happy browsing and happy reading!

About Penguin Books India

Founded in 1985, Penguin Books India is the largest English language trade publisher in the subcontinent. Headquartered in New Delhi, the company’s commercial activity includes the publishing of its own books in the English language as well as in Hindi, and the distribution of books of publishers including the Penguin Group, A&C Black, Atlantic Books, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber, Granta, Hay House, Icon, Kyle Cathie, Marshall Cavendish, Mira, Quercus, Sterling Publishing and Zubaan. Known for its strong fiction and narrative non-fiction list, Penguin India publishes across virtually every segment.

Penguin’s biggest publishing initiatives in the recent past include the launch of its Indian Language Publishing programme in 2005; Portfolio, its business books imprint, in 2006; Allen Lane, the imprint of ideas, and Penguin Studio, a dedicated imprint for visual books, in 2008; Hamish Hamilton, the imprint for literary fiction and non-fiction, in 2009; Metro Reads and Penguin Ananda, the MindBodySpirit imprint, in 2010; and Puffin Young Adult in 2011. Penguin publishes its children’s titles under the Puffin imprint. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

For media queries, reviews and more information on the Penguin App please contact:

Hemali Sodhi at +91 11 4613 1400 or at hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

Ananth Padmanabhan at +91 11 4613 1452 or at ananth@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Over 150000 Copies of Subroto Bagchis The Professional sold!

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:54:31 +0000

With cumulative sales of his books clocking well over 150,000 copies, Subroto Bagchi has clearly earned the distinction of being named India's best-selling business author.
His publishers Penguin Books India celebrates this achievement and looks forward to the continued success of Subroto's books.

Udayan Mitra, Publisher or Portfolio, the business books imprint at Penguin under which Subroto's books have been published, says, 'We launched the Portfolio imprint in India in 2006 with Subroto's The High-Performance Entrepreneur, which remains a steady seller even today. His subsequent books Go Kiss the World (2008) and The Professional (2009) have done phenomenally well, and we're delighted to celebrate the 150,000 copies milestone. Subroto's books have also been published in Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam and Korean. The revised international edition of The Professional, which has just been published, has been received extremely well, and we look forward to publishing Subroto's new book for young adults, I Did My MBA at 16, next year. Here's wishing Subroto all success with his published books and his future projects. His many readers know that they can always expect only the best from him, and they won't be disappointed.'

Subroto Bagchi added, 'Knowing that 150,000 copies of my books have been sold so far is a humbling feeling. Reader interest in my kind of books is an indication of a different India in the making. The entrepreneur and the professional are beginning to define what it means to be an Indian. That is the reason the three books have been so successful. I am looking forward to the release of my business book for the sixteen-year-old of today and I thank Penguin for a wonderful collaborative relationship.'

About the books
The High-Performance Entrepreneur
Difficult though setting up a business is, becoming a high-performance entrepreneur is harder still. And yet, of the many thousands who try, there are those who go on to become successful; some even graduate to setting up companies that hold their own against the toughest competition, becoming icons of achievement. In The High-performance Entrepreneur, Subroto Bagchi draws upon his own highly successful experience to offer guidance from the idea stage to the IPO level. This includes how to decide when one is ready to launch an enterprise, selecting a team, defining the values and objectives of the company and writing the business plan to choosing the right investors, managing adversity and building the brand. Additionally, in an especially illuminating chapter, Bagchi recounts the systems and values which have made Indian IT companies on a par with the best in the world. High-performance entrepreneurs create great wealth, for themselves as well as for others. They prov ide jobs, crucial for an expanding workforce such as India's, and drive innovation. In India as elsewhere, governments have become much more entrepreneur-friendly than ever before and the rewards of being a successful entrepreneur are many. More than just a guide, this is a book that will tap the entrepreneurial energy within you.

Go Kiss the World
'Go, kiss the world' were Subroto Bagchi's blind mother's last words to him. These words became the guiding principle of his life. Subroto Bagchi grew up amidst what he calls the 'material simplicity' of rural and small-town Orissa, imbibing from his family a sense of contentment, constant wonder, connectedness to a larger whole and learning from unusual sources. From humble beginnings, he went on to achieve extraordinary professional success, eventually co-founding MindTree, one of India's most admired software services companies. Through personal anecdotes and simple words of wisdom, Subroto Bagchi brings to the young professional lessons in working and living, energizing ordinary people to lead extraordinary lives. Go Kiss the World will be an inspiration to 'young India', and to those who come from small-town India, urging them to recognize and develop their inner strengths, thereby helping them realize their own, unique potential. (Published in Hindi as Choom Lo Jahan Ko)

The Professional
'In the new era, where every person's actions have the potential to have a global impact, we must redefine what it means to be a true professional.'
By common definition, a professional is someone who possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to do a job—whether it's a top degree from a prestigious university or simply years of on-the-job training. For centuries, we have relied on this definition to help us determine who is capable and who is not, often assuming that the person with the most professional characteristics is the best one for the job.
But every day we see examples of so-called professionals who do more harm than good: a few irresponsible bankers whose get-rich-quick schemes led to a global financial meltdown; a once-respected hedge fund manager charged with running the world's largest Ponzi scheme and robbing his clients of billions; a team of executives siphoning funds from their employees pension plans...the list goes on. All of these people had the qualities necessary to do their jobs well, but instead they chose to abuse and corrupt their professions for their own personal gain.
So how can we weed out the best from the worst when the accepted standards are no longer enough, and when even the most powerful and respected among us cannot be trusted to behave responsibly or ethically? According to businessman and bestselling author Subroto Bagchi, the first step is to redefine what it means to be a professional. Today, it takes more than just aptitude—it takes a commitment to doing what's right, not only for your business, but for society as a whole. In a world where patients, clients, and customers can no longer completely trust the advice given to them, The Professional outlines the explicit and implicit code of conduct.
The Professional is a must read for anyone looking for a little clarity in an increasingly blurry world.

About the author
Subroto Bagchi is Vice Chairman and co-founder of MindTree Ltd. Subroto is married to writer Susmita Bagchi and they have two daughters, Neha and Niti.
For more details visit www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi

About Portfolio
Portfolio, Penguin's dedicated imprint for business books, was founded in September 2001 in the USA. The idea behind Portfolio was to find a space somewhere between the dry academic-looking tomes and the rather pedestrian 'how to' books that tend to crowd the shelf in the business segment in bookstores. Portfolio titles are insightful, practical and story-driven, and aimed towards a general readership that might be interested in books on business and management.

Penguin India was the second Penguin Group company to launch the Portfolio imprint, in October 2006. After four years, Portfolio in India has a select list of over thirty titles in print, written by some of India's biggest-selling business authors like Subroto Bagchi, S. Ramadorai, Rama Bijapurkar, Ram Charan, P. Chidambaram, Sumantra Ghoshal, R. Gopalakrishnan, R.M. Lala, Gita Piramal, C.K. Prahalad and V. Raghunathan, and including books on key brands and institutions like Tata, Infosys and the State Bank of India.
In October 2010, Portfolio Penguin was launched as a global business books imprint. Portfolio Penguin is now home to Penguin's business publishing worldwide, of which Portfolio's Indian publishing list forms a significant part.

For an interview with the author or more information, please contact Varun Chaudhary at varun.chaudhary@in.penguingroup.com

Post Date:

Thursday, September 1, 2011