MMG
has been invited to contribute poems to many anthologies. Early in her career, her work was included in the influential Contemporary British Poetry, edited by Blake Morrison
and Andrew Motion
and published by...
Anthologization
Malorie Blackman
MB
contributed a novella, The Ripple Effect, to Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories, a Penguin Books
anthology intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the science fiction television programme Doctor Who with...
Literary responses
Anna Kavan
Jonathan Lethem revisited Ice in the New York Times fifty years after it appeared, in advance of its anniversary re-issue as a Penguin
classic. His notice opened arrestingly: Anna Kavan's Ice is book like the...
Literary responses
Patricia Highsmith
Despite positive reviews by Lorna Sage
in The Observer Review and Geoffrey Elborn
in Guardian Weekly, Brooks Peters
in Out says that the novel was not well received in England. However, the year...
Literary responses
Rose Macaulay
The book did well in Britain (the Times Literary Supplement called it in many respects a brilliant piece of work),
qtd. in
Lefanu, Sarah. Rose Macaulay. Virago, 2003.
197
but it sank with scarcely a ripple in the USA.
Macaulay, Rose. Letters to a Friend from Rose Macaulay 1950-1952. Editor Babington Smith, Constance, Fontana, 1968.
A female gynaecologist mentioned in the book as uncaring and insensitive successfully sued Greer for damages.
Wallace, Christine. Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew. Richard Cohen Books, 1999.
265-6
The Penguin
paperback which followed the year after publication came garlanded with praise from British feminist writers: Wendy Cope
Literary responses
Germaine Greer
Greer professed herself deeply anxious about the reviews.
Wallace, Christine. Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew. Richard Cohen Books, 1999.
193
The Penguin
paperback edition, however, quoted on its cover Anita Brookner
in the Observer calling this a brave book,Anthony Storr
in the Independent describing it...
Material Conditions of Writing
Naomi Alderman
NA
titled her second novel The Lessons. It was published by Penguin
after a long old slog, which involved cutting 50,000 words,
Alderman, Naomi. Naomi Alderman. Novels and Games. 2016, http://www.naomialderman.com/about/.
the entire original opening.
Shackle, Samira. “The Lessons (review)”. The New Statesman, Vol.
139
, No. 4997, 19 Apr. 2010, p. 55.
139.4997 (19 April 2010): 55
Material Conditions of Writing
Una Marson
In the 1950s, UM
struggled with a long, semi-autobiographical work entitled Everyday Life in Jamaica to be published by Knopf
, but this was never completed. In 1964, the year before she died, she received...
Occupation
Noel Streatfeild
In her professional career, NS
gradually came to accept the role of writer for children as a more prominent part of her identity than that of writer for adults. She answered letters from children who...
Occupation
Carol Ann Duffy
As a schoolgirl CAD
had a Saturday job sweeping the floor at a local hairdresser's. Her pay each week bought her ten cigarettes, a bottle of wine, and a Penguin
collection of some modern poet.
Wroe, Nicholas. “A life in writing”. The Guardian, 26 May 2007, p. Review 11.
11
Occupation
Kamila Shamsie
In 2017 both KS
and Penelope Lively
were approached by Penguin
to select under-appreciated works for inclusion in a series of forgotten classics by female British authors in recognition of the centenary passing of Representation...
Author summary
Patricia Highsmith
PH
, writing from the mid-twentieth century, first in the USA and then in Europe and England, produced short stories and novels, the majority of them variously classifiable as thrillers or suspense fiction, a...
Publishing
Elizabeth Taylor
This novel has appeared in both Penguin
and Virago
editions. The paper cover of an Italian translation was so hideous that ET
tore it up.
Liddell, Robert, and Francis King. Elizabeth and Ivy. Peter Owen, 1986.
52
Publishing
Betty Miller
Six months before publication she visited Freya Stark
to see the Browning house at Asolo.
Miller, Sarah, and Betty Miller. “Introduction”. On the Side of the Angels, Virago, 1985, p. vii - xviii.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
Timeline
30 July 1935: Penguin Books issued its first ten titles:...
Writing climate item
30 July 1935
Penguin Books
issued its first ten titles: sixpenny paperbacks with a characteristic penguin logo.
Penguin UK: About Us: Company History. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/aboutus/history.html.
Mezei, Kathy, and Chiara Briganti. “’She must be a very good novelist’: Rereading E. H. Young (1880-1949)”. English Studies in Canada, Vol.
27
, No. 3, Sept. 2001, pp. 303-31.
308 and n12
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
380
1937: The two-year-old Penguin Books launched its...
Writing climate item
1937
The two-year-old Penguin Books
launched its Pelican imprint: a non-fiction series (mostly history, sociology, economics, or politics) which, unlike Penguin fiction, were new works not reprints.
Penguin UK: About Us: Company History. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/aboutus/history.html.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
30 July 2009
1941: Puffin, a subsidiary of Penguin designed...
Writing climate item
1941
Puffin
, a subsidiary of Penguin
designed to publish (initially) picture books for children in paperback, issued its first four titles.
Campbell, Peter. “At the V & A”. London Review of Books, 2 June 2005, p. 33.
33
1951: Nikolaus Pevsner published the first three...
Building item
1951
Nikolaus Pevsner
published the first three titles in his Buildings of England series, an immensely knowledgeable gazetteer, county by county, of historic and other noteworthy structures.
Darley, Gillian. “Down with Cosmopolitanism”. London Review of Books, 18 May 2000, pp. 21-2.
21
Hill, Rosemary. “Positively Spaced Out”. London Review of Books, 6 Sept. 2001, pp. 30-1.
30-1
29 July 1959: The Obscene Publications Act (England), 1959,...
Writing climate item
29 July 1959
The Obscene Publications Act (England), 1959, replacing a predecessor of 1857, substantially modified its elements; it newly provided the defence of public good (which was held to include literary merit), and the use...
1963: E. P. Thompson published his influential...
Writing climate item
1963
E. P. Thompson
published his influential history The Making of the English Working Class.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
Windschuttle, Keith. The Killing of History: How Literary Critics and Social Theorists are Murdering our Past. Encounter Books, 2000.
276
1972: Designer Richard Hollis produced a revolutionary...
Writing climate item
1972
Designer Richard Hollis
produced a revolutionary look for John Berger
's Ways of Seeing in Penguin
paperback: the work's text begins on the cover, incorporating (as pages do throughout the book) a cover-like visual.
Campbell, Peter. “At the V & A”. London Review of Books, 2 June 2005, p. 33.
33
1974: Erin Pizzey published with Penguin her book...
Women writers item
1974
Erin Pizzey
published with Penguin
her book on marital violence, Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear.
Brownmiller, Susan. In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution. Dial, 1999.
262
May 1978: Virago Press issued its first Virago Modern...
Women writers item
May 1978
Virago Press
issued its first Virago Modern Classics, a historically important series most though not all of which were novels.
Callil, Carmen. “The stories of our lives”. Guardian Unlimited, 26 Apr. 2008.
1979: The cover of M. M. Kaye's The Far Pavilions...
Writing climate item
1979
The cover of M. M. Kaye
's The Far Pavilions in Penguin
paperback (the year after its original publication) shocked Penguin's established constituency with its picture of a couple (the man with bare torso) kissing.
Campbell, Peter. “At the V & A”. London Review of Books, 2 June 2005, p. 33.
33
By 20 June 2000: Jane Nissen, a former editor at Penguin,...
Writing climate item
By 20 June 2000
Jane Nissen
, a former editor at Penguin
, published the first four titles by Jane Nissen Books
, reprints of much-loved children's books of the twentieth century.
Carey, Joanna. “Classic Revival”. Guardian Unlimited Books, 20 June 2000.
8 June 2005: An exhibition at the Victoria and Albert...
Writing climate item
8 June 2005
An exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London entitled Penguin
by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005 provided useful insight into its immediate topic, but also into twentieth-century book design in general.
Campbell, Peter. “At the V & A”. London Review of Books, 2 June 2005, p. 33.
33
By the end of July 2010: Sales of the three novels in the Millennium...
Writing climate item
By the end of July 2010
Sales of the three novels in the Millennium series by the Swedish writer Stieg Larsson
(of which the first was published in England on 10 January 2008) broke records with worldwide sales estimated at between...
Early November 2012: A merger was proposed between the publishers...
Writing climate item
Early November 2012
A merger was proposed between the publishers Penguin
and Random House
, that would create a mega-company with worldwide revenues of 4.1 billion dollars US.
