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Putnam Launches Major Publicity Campaign for Sue Grafton’s U is for Undertow

Putnam will launch one of the biggest publicity campaigns Sue Grafton has ever had for her latest book, U is for Undertow, due out on December 1st. National media includes features in USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Readers Digest, Time.com, AARP Magazine and Costco Connection. Coverage is also confirmed in People, Washington Post, Portland Oregonian, Tampa Tribune, Southern Living Magazine, Kansas City Star, Louisville Courier-Journal, and the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Sue will be on the road the first two weeks of December doing major talks and book signings in eight cities, including New York, Louisville, Atlanta, Kansas City, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, with radio and print interviews in every market.

Grafton has been interviewed for Barnes & Noble's prestigious video series “Tagged!” She has also been interviewed as part of Borders author feature series, Borders Presents.

Over the past 25 years Sue Grafton, one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed mystery writers of the 21st Century and #1 New York Times bestselling alphabet mystery series, has become iconic…notably, her one-of-a-kind female private investigator Kinsey Millhone has become a cultural phenomenon. Grafton’s novels have earned her numerous awards, critical raves, and editions in twenty-six languages and twenty-eight countries. This year, Sue was also named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

In U is for Undertow, Kinsey investigates the disappearance of a little girl in the California coastal town of Santa Teresa. When a fragile young man shows up at Kinsey’s door in 1988, claiming that he saw two men burying a suspicious bundle twenty-one years earlier, she doesn’t know whether to believe him or not. Using multiple points of view, shifting between the booming ’80s and the freewheeling ’60s, Grafton has crafted an adult boy-who-cried-wolf story that is guaranteed to keep readers up late.
 

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Tarcher’s 2012 Book Authors in Media Spotlight as 2012 Movie Opens Today

Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the Tarcher titles, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Toward 2012, and John Major Jenkins, author of The 2012 Story, which Tarcher just released in hardcover last month, were two of the three experts chosen by Sony Pictures to be part of the Hollywood studio’s press junket to promote the movie 2012, which opens in theaters nationwide today.

In addition to the Sony junket, the authors and their books have generated major media coverage, sharing ideas about 2012 on “ABC Nightline,” “Good Morning America,” “Entertainment Tonight,” CNN and Fox News, while also being featured in a 2012 feature in USA Today this week, plus an Associated Press story and pieces in New York magazine, the Denver Post and Toronto Star, among other publications. In a New York Times review of the film, Manohla Dargis writes, “…the most amusing character, a doomsday prophet and radio broadcaster played by Woody Harrelson, seems in hair, beard and interests to have been drawn along the predictive lines of the real author Daniel Pinchbeck.” Both Pinchbeck and Jenkins have been interviewed extensively about 2012, challenging dramatic apocalyptic theories and presenting opinions about how our planet and consciousness could go through a period of transformation and renewal during or around that year.

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Fifteen Books from Penguin Group (USA) Are Amazon's Editors Picks for 2009 

Penguin Group (USA) books are prominently featured on Amazon's annual list of Editors Picks for 2009, securing fifteen titles on the Top 100. In addition to the Editors Picks, Amazon also ranked the Top 100 Customer Favorites (according to customer orders through October); twelve books from Penguin Group (USA) were included on this list.

The Penguin Group (USA) titles among the Top 100 Amazon Editors Picks are:

• #11 The Gamble by Thomas Rick (The Penguin Press)
• #14 This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper (Dutton)
• #19 The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn/Putnam)
• #24 Both Ways Is The Only Way I Like It by Maile Meloy (Riverhead)
• #28 Born Round by Frank Bruni (The Penguin Press)
• #39 The Defector by Daniel Silva (Putnam)
• #40 The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Riverhead)
• #43 Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press)
• #52 The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Viking)
• #63 Everything Matters by Ron Currie (Viking)
• #71 Green Metropolis by David Owen (Riverhead)
• #74 Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (Riverhead)
• #86 Rapt by Winifred Gallagher (The Penguin Press)
• #90 D-Day by Antony Beevor (Viking)
• #94 Inherent Vice by Thoman Pynchon (The Penguin Press)
• #97 Imperial by William T. Vollmann (Viking)

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Author-turned-DJ Steven R. Boyett had a fantastic launch party event at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego this week on Tuesday, November 3, where he signed copies of both Ariel and Elegy Beach.

Fans lined up to have their favorite post-apocalyptic novel signed, along with the sequel fans have waited 26 years to read. Some even brought their original copies of Ariel, first published by Ace in 1983!
 
Boyett was thrilled to be in such good company--he'll be seeing some familiar faces at the LaJolla Writers Conference this weekend, where Mysterious Galaxy is selling books. Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore is beloved by both readers and authors who gather there to talk about the books, music, and everything in between, and once Steve got to talking about writing fantasy and DJ-ing Burning Man, there was no stopping him!

Check out some of the pictures from the event below:

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Sentinel’s Mike Huckabee Hits the Road on a 60-Bookstore Tour through 21 States

On November 3rd, Sentinel will publish former Governor Mike Huckabee's new book, A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories That Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit.

Unlike his previous New York Times bestseller, Do The Right Thing, this one has nothing to do with politics. It's a collection of true stories from his own life, ranging from childhood to the present -- all taking place at Christmas time. Some of these memories will bring a smile, some may bring a tear, but all will help readers reconnect with the things that really matter -- faith, family, love, and hope.

Huckabee is going on another massive national bus tour (his bus is pictured) - 60 bookstore signings in 21 states in 3 weeks. The events will cross-promote the paperback of Do The Right Thing. In addition, he is scheduled to make several national TV, radio, and print appearances, starting with his own talk show ("Huckabee") on Fox News Channel this weekend. In December, after the tour, he will wrap up with mainstream media including “The Daily Show” and “The View.”

For more information, click here.

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Patricia Cornwell Launches the Seventeenth Novel in her Internationally Bestselling Kay Scarpetta Series 

Patricia Cornwell, the world’s #1 bestselling crime writer, launched the seventeenth novel in her bestselling Kay Scarpetta series this week, The Scarpetta Factor. Cornwell was interviewed on ABC Radio’s “Imus in the Morning” on the morning of publication, which was simulcast on the FOX Business network; click here to watch a clip of the interview. She was interviewed on almost 40 different programs across the country during her national television and radio satellite tours. Yesterday, Cornwell taped an interview for CNN.com’s "Book Report", which reaches millions of viewers online, and was interviewed live on WOR-AM’s “Joan Hamburg Show.. Parade magazine interviewed Cornwell for last Sunday’s issue, and her Q&A for “Pop Matters 20 Questions” went up this week on Popmatters.com and was syndicated nationwide on the McClatchy Newswire.
 

George Putnam, Grandson of Putnam Founder and Husband of Amelia Earhart, Featured in a New Movie

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Actor Mario Lopez Garners Major Media for New Celebra Picture Book, Mud Tacos!

Actor and “Extra” Host Mario Lopez has written his first children’s book with his sister Marissa Lopez Wong titled Mud Tacos!, which was published this week by Celebra children's books, simultaneously in English and Spanish. Mud Tacos! is a loving tale about their family and the nurturing bond between a brother and sister. The story follows Mario and Marissa and their cousins Chico and Rosie playing in their nana’s backyard and using their imagination to have fun.

Mario Lopez was on "Live with Regis and Kelly" yesterday morning and also did a cooking segment on “The Today Show” where he made tacos. Mario has been talking about his book all week on “Extra” and will also be featured on “Ellen” and the “Wendy Williams Show.” People, OK!, amNewYork, Hartford Courant, San Diego Tribune, WNBC, and News12 Long Island, among many others, will all feature Mud Tacos! and Mario Lopez.
 

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar Author Eric Carle Appears on “The Today Show” to Celebrate Jumpstart’s Fourth Annual Read for the Record Campaign

Acclaimed Penguin Young Readers author Eric Carle appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” yesterday in celebration of Jumpstart’s fourth annual Read for the Record campaign. Jumpstart was aiming to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to one million children in one day. They now estimate that they far surpassed that target, and expected that the book will have been read to close to 1.6 million children during the course of yesterday.

Celebrities joined Eric Carle on “The Today Show” plaza to lend their names to this important cause. Among them were actress Mary Louise Parker, actor Vince Vaughn, Disney actresses Madison Pettis and Jennifer Stone, and celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis who made Very Hungry Caterpillar-inspired cookies on the show.

Following “The Today Show,” Mr. Carle appeared at a press conference at the New York Public Library alongside actresses Mary Louise Parker and Stephanie March ("Law and Order SVU"), New York City’s Deputy Mayor, Jumpstart officials, and Bill Barke, CEO of Pearson's Higher Education Arts & Science Group. At the conference, it was announced that Mayor Bloomberg had officially declared October 8, 2009 Read for the Record Day.

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The 2009 National Book Festival Draws Record Crowd

The 2009 National Book Festival, which took place last weekend in Washington DC, was a major success, drawing a record number of attendees, with over 130,000 booklovers making it out to the National Mall, despite rainy weather.

Fifteen authors from Penguin Group (USA) participated this year, and all drew packed crowds for their presentations in the various pavilions on the National Mall on Saturday. Haynes Johnson/ Dan Balz (Viking/Penguin); Sue Monk Kidd/ Ann Kidd Taylor (Viking/Penguin); Junot Diaz (Riverhead); Daniel Silva (Putnam); Walter Mosley (Riverhead); Mark Kurlansky (Riverhead); Margaret Coel (Berkley); Craig Johnson (Viking/Penguin); and Ricky Minor (Gotham), as well as Penguin Young Readers Group authors Jon Sciezka; Jacqueline Woodson; Stephen Kellogg; and Nikki Grimes, all greeted hundreds of fans who braved the rain to hear their talks. In addition, Junot Diaz was a big hit as a featured headlining author at the festival's kick-off breakfast, hosted by the Washington Post, on Saturday morning, prior to the festival.

The Penguin Group (USA) booth area was constantly busy with readers of all ages who turned out to take photos with the Penguin and the Very Hungry Caterpillar, grab free Penguin Young Readers books and participate in a variety of book-related arts-and-crafts projects. Pictured here is Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, who stopped by the booth for an impromptu dance party with the Penguin.

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Thirteen Penguin Group (USA) Authors Featured at 2009 National Book Festival

The 2009 National Book Festival, an annual event organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Sept. 26th, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the festival features more than 70 award-winning authors, illustrators and poets appearing in "Fiction & Fantasy," "Mysteries & Thrillers," "History & Biography," "Children," "Teens & Children," "Poetry," and "Home & Family" pavilions. In addition, fun activities that promote reading will be set up for children in the popular "Let's Read America" pavilion. Individual 30-minute author presentations and one-hour book signings by the participating authors are the heart of the National Book Festival, which is designed to bring readers together with their favorite writers and illustrators.