Q: What has 75 helium balloons and waddles?

A:  Penguin Books celebrating the 75th anniversary of the imprint!

That’s right, today, July 30, marks 75 years since the launch of Penguin Books – and they’re celebrating in several very big ways:

• The Penguin Mobile is touring with Penguin authors.  They ride in style in this special Mini Cooper in Penguin orange, emblazoned with the Penguin logo.  At each stop, 75 Penguin books are donated to local libraries or literacy groups, raising awareness of The Nature Conservancy (a co-sponsor of the tour), and promoting literacy.  The Follow the Car blog chronicles the journey, and lists the schedule of remaining tour stops.  The car was a highlight in the atrium of the Javits Center during BEA – I’d love to see it on the road!
• A Penguin Books anniversary website includes a historyof the little waddler, a listing of the major literary awards won by dozens of Penguin authors over the years, and a fascinating collection of photos from the archives.
• Did you know that in the first year after Penguin Books was founded by Allen Lane, they had sold over 3 million books?!  (I’d be doing a little penguin cheer here, if I could.  Wonder what that would sound like?  Click here to listen to clips of penguin ‘meeps’)
•  The Orignal 10 are shown on the site … any guesses?  Fun fact:  Penguin Books covers were originally color-coded according to genre.  Take a look!
• Hey, maybe those penguins are ‘all shook up!’  To put 75 years into perspective … Elvis Presley was born in 1935.  That’s right, The King and Penguin Books … now that’s a lot of waddling!
• Penguin Books is sponsoring a giveaway of one of their great titles, to get the details, head over to my Giveaways page.

Happy Anniversary, Penguin Books!