Viking Penguin

Penguin Viking

Overview

Viking Penguin is comprised of Viking Books, Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, Pamela Dorman Books, Penguin Life, and The Open Field.

Viking Books is a legendary imprint, founded in New York City in 1925, with a distinguished list of extraordinary writers. Viking’s name and its logo, a ship drawn by Rockwell Kent, were chosen as symbols of enterprise, adventure, and exploration in publishing, which are the guiding principles of the imprint. The founders had an openness both to tradition and to innovation in the arts, something we continue to see at Viking today, where we excel in bringing strong voices and big ideas to the largest possible audience. The Viking fiction list includes Geraldine Brooks, NoViolet Bulawayo, Tana French, Lev Grossman, Matt Haig, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Makkai, Ruth Ozeki, and Amor Towles. Viking’s nonfiction authors—academics and intellectuals, journalists and experts—include Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Daniel James Brown, Adam Grant, Mikki Kendall, Chanel Miller, Nathaniel Philbrick, Steven Pinker, Sonia Purnell, Jen Sincero, Rebecca Solnit, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Adam Tooze, Bessel van der Kolk, and Elaine Welteroth. The Viking logotype continues to inspire its staff, its writers, and its audience with its call to be bold and fearless in our publishing.

Penguin Books is the industry leader in paperback publishing across the board: in its curation of its backlist catalog of almost 2,500 active titles; as the home of Viking’s paperback reprints; and as the publisher of a select list of paperback originals, distinguished most recently by numerous bestsellers by Johanna Basford and Mari Andrew, Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny, Paul Hawken’s Drawdown, Kassia St. Clair’s The Secret Lives of Color, and Halle Butler’s The New Me.

Penguin is also a notable publisher of poetry. The distinguished Penguin Poetry list is headlined by Terrance Hayes, Paul Tran, and Joshua Bennett, and brings out five volumes of poetry every year.

Viking Penguin editors also acquire for Penguin Life. Penguin Classics and Penguin Life editors also acquire for Viking Penguin.

Meet the Team

Brian Tart, President and Publisher

Brian Tart was named president and publisher of Viking in January 2015, and Penguin Books in 2020. He started his career as an editorial assistant at Bantam Books before moving to Dutton in 1998 and eventually becoming the president and publisher of Dutton for nine years. Brian continues to edit both fiction and nonfiction, working with Ken Follett, John le Carré, Elizabeth George, Craig Johnson, Andrew Roberts, and Timothy Keller, among others.

Andrea Schulz, Vice President and Editor in Chief

Andrea Schulz joined Viking as editor in chief in January 2015. She oversees the list of Viking hardcovers and Penguin trade paperback originals, and acquires literary fiction, mysteries, and narrative nonfiction. Among the bestselling authors she edits are the novelist Tana French and the writer and artist Chanel Miller, whose memoir Know My Name was a New York Times Notable Book, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, and winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She also edits Susannah Cahalan, Tracy Chevalier, Timothy Egan, Robert Greene, Danielle Henderson, A. M. Homes, and Wayétu Moore, among others. She began her career as a bookseller.

Patrick Nolan, Vice President and Publisher, Penguin Books

Patrick Nolan joined the company in 2000 as sales director and is now the book-publishing right hand to Viking, overseeing their paperback reprints and a select list of Penguin trade paperback originals as well as the backlist. As an editor he is interested in a wide variety of literary and commercial nonfiction and fiction. He has published numerous titles by Matt Haig, including The Midnight Library and The Comfort Book; Here We Are by Benjamin Taylor; Twilight Man by Liz Brown; The Night Singer by Johanna Mo; Coming Out to Play by Robbie Rogers; Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie; as well as forthcoming publications from Keyu Jin, Rio Cortez, Farah Karim-Cooper, and Richard Deming..

Kate Stark, Senior Vice President, Associate Publisher

Kate Stark is Senior Vice President, Associate Publisher for Viking and Penguin, Penguin Classics and their imprints. She joined Viking in January of 2015, overseeing the marketing and publicity departments. Prior to joining Viking Kate had been the Marketing Director for Putnam Books. Kate was also  Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing for Riverhead Books. She has overseen the campaigns of many bestselling authors including Amor Towles, Sue Monk Kidd,  Ruth Ozeki, Rebecca Makkai, Jojo Moyes, Adam Grant, Elaine Welteroth, Maria Shriver, as well as Khaled Hosseini, Paula Hawkins, Brit Bennet, Lauren Groff, Dan Pink, Meg Wolitzer, and Emma Straub.

Wendy Wolf, Vice President and Associate Publisher

Wendy Wolf has been an editor at Viking since 1994. Her list includes a wide range of nonfiction titles in history, science, psychology, biography, politics, current affairs, and popular culture. Her authors include Daniel James Brown, John Barry, Nathaniel Philbrick, Steven Pinker, Anita Hill, Nancy Isenberg, Adam Tooze, and Manning Marable.

Ibrahim Ahmad, Executive Editor

Ibrahim Ahmad joined Viking as executive editor in 2021. He acquires an eclectic range of literary fiction and crime fiction, with a particular focus on incendiary, urgent voices that subvert and expand the existing literature; his nonfiction interests include current affairs, politics, memoir, and pop culture. As editorial director at Akashic Books, where he worked for two decades, Ahmad published a list that included extraordinary writers from around the world, including Maaza Mengiste, Chris Abani, Lee Child, Tayari Jones, Marlon James, Amiri Baraka, Rivers Solomon, China Miéville, Jessica Hagedorn, Kwame Dawes, Randall Robinson, Lydia Millet, Bernardine Evaristo, Nelson George, Bernice L. McFadden, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Adrian McKinty, Patricia Smith, Etgar Keret, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Joyce Carol Oates, Ben Okri, Edwidge Danticat, Ralph Nader, Ron Kovic, Michael Stipe, Marc Ribot, Lydia Lunch, Ziggy Marley, Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Melvin Van Peebles, Michael Imperioli, and #1 international best-seller Adam Mansbach.

Rick Kot, Executive Editor

Rick Kot began his career at Harper & Row and worked at The Dial Press, Hyperion, and Little, Brown before coming to Viking in 2000. He edits a broad range of nonfiction in areas ranging from current affairs to science, business, history, biography, the arts, and popular culture. His authors include Andrew Ross Sorkin, Paul Hawken, Colin Woodard, Spencer Ackerman, Ray Kurzweil, John Dean, James Clapper, Renée Fleming, Barbra Streisand, Rosanne Cash, and Ani DiFranco.

Allison Lorentzen, Executive Editor

Allison Lorentzen joined Viking in 2012. She edits idea-driven narrative nonfiction, with a focus on social issues, popular culture, and reportage. She also edits literary fiction and the occasional mystery, and is often drawn to novels with memorable voices, a sense of humor, and settings that span the globe. She has worked with writers Erica C. Barnett, Zinzi Clemmons, Leopoldine Core, Caleb Crain, Jasper Fforde, Keith Gessen, Felix Gillette and John Koblin, Lev Grossman, Hanna Halperin, Rajia Hassib, Jean Chen Ho, Jolie Kerr, Elizabeth Little, Karan Mahajan, M. H. Miller, Andrew Ridker, Rebecca Scherm, and Stephen Witt. Prior to joining Viking, Lorentzen was an editor at Penguin Books and HarperCollins. A graduate of Wesleyan University, she is a founding editor of n+1.

Paul Slovak, Vice President and Executive Editor

Paul Slovak joined Viking Penguin in 1983 and was Viking’s publicity director before transitioning to editorial twenty-five years ago. Slovak edits a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, including memoir, cultural history, science, and natural history. Novelists he has worked with include T.C. Boyle, Geraldine Brooks, Susan Choi, Roddy Doyle, Sue Monk Kidd, William Kennedy, Ruth Ozeki, Amor Towles, and William T. Vollmann. In nonfiction, Slovak has edited memoirs by Elizabeth Gilbert, David Byrne, and Leslie Marmon Silko, and works of natural and cultural history by Robert Macfarlane, David George Haskell, and Rebecca Solnit. Slovak also edits six works of poetry every year under the Penguin Poets imprint. His poets include Joshua Bennett, Heid E. Erdrich, Amy Gerstler, Terrance Hayes, Ann Lauterbach, J. Michael Martinez, Adrian Matejka, Alice Notley, Willie Perdomo, sam sax, Paul Tran,  Anne Waldman, and Phillip B. Williams.

Laura Tisdel, Executive Editor

Laura Tisdel (she/her) began her career as a publicist at Viking and returned as an executive editor in 2015 after five years at Little, Brown. She acquires voice-driven fiction and nonfiction in categories ranging from domestic suspense, literary, and genre-bending novels to prescriptive nonfiction and memoir. She devours books with a strong sense of place, that tackle thorny issues through a personal lens, and address science, medical history, and personal growth through storytelling. She has published bestselling, prize-winning, and acclaimed works by authors including NoViolet Bulawayo, Abigail Dean, Jamil Jan Kochai, Deborah Harkness, Dr. Sunita Puri, and Jen Sincero. 

Penguin Viking

Lindsey Schwoeri, Senior Editor

Lindsey Schwoeri joined Viking Penguin in 2013 after six years at the Random House imprint. She acquires literary and upmarket commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, and memoir. She loves fiction that is transporting, tense, and exquisitely written; in nonfiction, she is looking for books with the power to both inform and move us. She has edited multiple New York Times bestsellers, a Reese’s Book Club pick, and an Edgar Award winner, and her authors have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, and the Giller Prize. They include Flynn Berry, Bianca Bosker, Halle Butler, Susan Fowler, Blaine Harden, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Rebecca Makkai, Sarah Thankam Mathews, Kate Reed Petty, Sunjeev Sahota, Melissa Segura, Vivek Shanbhag, and Alejandro Zambra.

Emily Wunderlich, Senior Editor

Emily Wunderlich joined Viking in 2015. She acquires nonfiction in a range of categories, including narrative nonfiction, history and journalism, big idea, inspiration, business, and literary nonfiction. She is particularly drawn to strong voices, fresh takes, and new arguments that recast our understanding of the world around us or even help us live better, women’s issues, and social justice. She is focused on publishing a multitude of underrepresented voices, perspectives, and experiences. She has been proud to publish books by Sonia Purnell, Erika Sánchez, Danica Roem, Paco de Leon, Yancey Strickler, Camilla Pang, Mike Bayer, Richard Overy, Charlotte Alter, Nick Pyenson, and Colin Dickey. She ran a nonfiction literary reading series in Manhattan called Big Umbrella, and prior to Viking, she worked at Gotham Books and Macmillan. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri and began her publishing career at The Missouri Review.

Terezia Cicel, Editor

Terezia Cicel joined Viking in 2018, after several years at Knopf and Blue Rider Press. She acquires serious and narrative nonfiction in a wide range of topics, including history, science, cultural criticism, true crime, language, and more. She likes books with a strong point of view and history with a fresh relevance to the present day. Her authors include Daisy Dunn, Valerie Fridland, Susan Jonusas, Jonathan Kaufman, Vaclav Smil, and Vincent Schilling. She hails from Slovakia by way of Massachusetts and is a graduate of New York University.

Matt Klise, Editor

Matt Klise (he/him) joined Penguin Books in 2015 after working as a bookseller. He has edited a range of nonfiction, including memoir, environmental and science writing, psychology, philosophy, business, and food and drink, among others; and has worked with a wide array of authors, including Matt Haig, Benjamin Taylor, George Monbiot, Camper English, Phil Gaimon, and Ed Slott. He is looking for narratives that engage critically with the world and that expand our understanding of our lives and one another, and for books that teach skills that can be applied to both business and everyday life. He is also the movie and TV tie-in coordinator for Viking Penguin.

Nidhi Pugalia, Associate Editor

Nidhi Pugalia joined Viking Penguin in 2019, after beginning her editorial career at Grand Central Publishing. She assists Andrea Schulz on fiction and nonfiction. In fiction, she is drawn to lyrical writing in the science fiction/fantasy, magical realism, or speculative spaces, as well as to complex and propulsive mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. She is also looking for narrative nonfiction from smart, passionate writers who offer a fresh or niche perspective. In all areas she’s especially looking to fill her list with books that celebrate BIPOC cultures and perspectives. More details can be found on her Manuscript Wish List (MSWL) page. Among the authors she has worked with are Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Tana French, Chanel Miller, Tracy Chevalier, Timothy Egan, Robert Greene, Colin Dickey, Charlotte Alter, Jessica Goudeau, David Baldacci, Sara Blaedel, Flea, Abbi Jacobson, and more. 

Marissa Davis, Editorial Assistant

Marissa Davis (she/her) joined Viking, Penguin Books, and Penguin Classics in 2021 as an assistant to John Siciliano and Ibrahim Ahmad. Originally from Kentucky, she graduated from Vanderbilt University before pursuing her MFA in poetry from New York University. Prior to joining Viking Penguin, she interned at Frances Goldin Literary Agency, served as a translations editor for Washington Square Review, and was a judge for the 2021 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. She is drawn to character-driven narratives, international and multicultural voices, and writing that pays attention to the musicality of language.

Camille LeBlanc, Assistant Editor

Camille LeBlanc works with Rick Kot and Allison Lorentzen. She is drawn to fiction and nonfiction that explore timeless questions in contemporary contexts; character-driven stories that illuminate geopolitical tensions; and books that are funny, perspective-altering, and have an element of suspense. She joined Viking Penguin in 2020 after working as an editorial fellow at Lit Hub and as an assistant to a bestselling crime writer.

Allie Merola, Assistant Editor

Allie Merola joined Viking Penguin in 2018. She assists Paul Slovak and Lindsey Schwoeri on fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles. She is drawn to narrative nonfiction and essays, particularly fresh, genre-bending explorations of pop-culture phenomena and subcultures; fiction with a suspenseful or satirical streak; and poetry that is intimate and disarming. At Viking Penguin, she has worked with New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Patricia Lockwood, Ruth Ozeki, Amor Towles, Rebecca Solnit, Alejandro Zambra, Flynn Berry, Sunjeev Sahota, You-Jeong Jeong, and more, as well as poets across the Penguin list, including Garous Abdolmalekian, Paul Tran, Phillip B. Williams, Carrie Fountain, Rio Cortez, and Zeina Hashem Beck. Raised in Ohio (but mainly on the internet), she is a former editorial intern at Yale University Press, Words Without Borders, and David R. Godine, Publisher.

Jenn Houghton, Editorial Assistant

Jenn Houghton (she/her) joined Viking Penguin in October 2021 assisting both Laura Tisdel and Brian Tart. She graduated with a Creative Writing B.A. from William Paterson University, which she earned while managing a retail business in Montclair, New Jersey. Moving on from small business, she entered the world of publishing with a passion for absurdist fiction, introspective narratives, and multicultural perspectives.