Penguin Children’s will launch a new imprint this fall, Penguin Workshop, run by president and publisher of Grosset & Dunlap and Warne, Francesco Sedita. The new line will publish “new voices and established brands for readers ages birth to 12.” He says in the announcement, “Penguin Workshop is a laboratory for cultivating unique, new ideas. This has been my dream since I started at Penguin. I was an extremely reluctant reader as a child, and it’s my goal to make books that make readers. To make books that make readers smile. And sometimes, to make readers hug their books.”
The launch lists includes the start of a Girls Who Code middle grade series, and Muppets Meet the Classics: The Phantom of the Opera, the first in a new mash-up series. Some existing Penguin series, including Here’s Hank by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver and Who HQ will be published by Penguin Workshop going forward.