Published Quarterly | Volume 7 | December 2009
The Best of Penguin 2009

Penguin Canada

Hamish Hamilton Launches in Canada, with Allen Lane to Follow in 2010

Hamish Hamilton Canada Penguin Canada launched Hamish Hamilton Canada in March. As the first new literary fiction imprint to launch in the country in nearly twenty years, HHC quickly established itself as the most sought after international fiction imprint in Canada, with a list of stellar acquisitions, including Vikram Seth and new novels from Joseph Boyden, Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, and Man Asian Prize literary prize winner Miguel Syjuco (his book, Ilustrado, has sold in 14 countries.) Also published under the Hamish Hamilton Canada imprint are Reif Larsen, Phillip Roth, Ali Smith, Nadine Gordimer, Claudio Magris, and the late Roberto Bolaño.

Did You Know?

Jack Whyte, bestselling author of Skystone and the Templar Trilogy, hit the one million copies sold mark in Canada this year with the release of Order in Chaos. The milestone made for a full page front of section feature in Globe and Mail Review, with the headline "One Pen, One Sword, One Million Sold". Penguin Canada will launch a new trilogy by Whyte in 2010. The Guardian Trilogy, an epic history of Scotland, will feature legendary patriots William Wallace (Braveheart), Robert the Bruce and The Black Douglas.

In September 2010, Penguin will launch Allen Lane Canada, an imprint dedicated to the publishing of award-winning and thought provoking non-fiction built on the spirit of excellence of Penguin's founder. Under the direction of Publishing Director Diane Turbide, the Canadian imprint will launch with the release of a highly anticipated memoir by Henry Kissinger (to be published by Penguin around the world) and the new The History of Canada series, edited by award-winning historian Margaret MacMillan and Penguin History of Canada author Robert Bothwell.

Penguin Canada's 2009 Bestseller Performance Led by Steig Larsson

The Girl With the Dragon TattooThe blockbuster sales performer of the year for Penguin Canada was Steig Larsson, with not one, but two blockbusters — the first two books in his Millennium Trilogy. Penguin Canada snapped up rights to the Trilogy as it began taking off around the world, and this year shipped over 100,000 copies in paperback of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and over 30,000 hardcovers of The Girl Who Played with Fire. The buzz continues to grow, most recently with a feature by Christopher Hitchens in the November edition of Vanity Fair. The Millennium Trilogy has sold over 15 million copies worldwide in over 30 languages.

Penguin Canada Book Picks for the New Year

The Long Song by Andrea Levy, Hamish Hamilton Canada, May 2010. The new novel from the author of the international bestseller Small Island is the story of July, a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation whose tumultuous life ends in blessed freedom. Small Island, first published in the UK five years, won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Whitbread Novel Award and the Commonwealth Writer's Prize. It has been published in more than 22 countries. A two-part adaptation will be telecast on BBC 1 this fall.

Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco, Hamish Hamilton Canada, May 2010. Miguel Syjuco, from Manila, is the author of Ilustrado, an exciting debut novel which won the Man Asian Literary Prize and Palanca Award, the Philippines' highest literary honour. Born into a political family, Miguel Syjuco is part of the peripatetic millions-strong Filipino diaspora and has temporarily alighted in Montreal. Sold in 14 countries, Ilustrado begins with Crispin Salvador, lion of Philippine letters, dead in the Hudson River. His acolyte Miguel investigates the author's demise and the disappearance of a manuscript about the corruption of Filipino ruling families, charting Salvador's trajectory via his poetry, stories, interviews, novels, polemics and memoirs. The literary fragments illuminate a family saga of four generations tracing 150 years of Philippine history forged under the Spanish, Americans and Filipinos themselves. In the end, the story twists, belonging to young Miguel as much as his lost mentor.

Joseph Boyden's Giller-winning Through Black Spruce was also a hardcover star, selling 50,000 copies in 2009 and advancing over 50,000 in paperback since its September release.

From Joseph Boyden to Deborah Wills: Penguin Canada Authors Recognized with Literary Honors

The first two Canadian authors published under Penguin Canada's new Hamish Hamilton Canada literary imprint were short-listed for Canada's prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize for fiction: The Disappeared by Kim Echlin and Fall by Colin McAdam. The Disappeared is an unforgettable story of love and loss set against the haunting backdrop of Cambodia's savage killing fields. Released in Canada in March 2009, rights to the novel have now sold in 20 countries. Fall is the second novel by Colin McAdam, whose debut novel Some Great Thing won the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

The brilliant debut short story collection by Victoria's Deborah Willis was nominated for the Governor General Literary Award for Fiction. Vanishing and Other Stories is now picking up the interest of agents worldwide and Willis' collection received acclaim from International Man Booker Prize Winner Alice Munro, who was also nominated for the Governor General's Award for Too Much Happiness. Munro herself (My Best Stories released in paperback this fall) was feted at both the Vancouver International Writers' Festival and the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, after winning the International Man Booker Prize earlier this year. Penguin Canada proudly publishes all of Munro's books in paperback.

Tim Cook, author of the critically acclaimed Canadians in the Great War series, won the prestigious Charles Taylor Prize for non-fiction for Shock Troops, the second book in the series.

Lee Henderson's novel The Man Game won both the BC Book Prize and the 2009 City of Vancouver Book Award.

Once again, Joseph Boyden triumphed in 2009, taking home the Author of the Year and Fiction Book of the Year awards from the Canadian Booksellers' Association, for Through Black Spruce.