Penguin Random House South East Asia will launch in Singapore in 2019, to “discover and publish local and international voices across English-language adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction formats for Singapore and Malaysia, as well as from Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Myanmar.” Gaurav Shrinagesh, ceo of Penguin Random House India and South East Asia, will oversee the company, with Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar joining as executive editor in November and reporting to Shrinagesh. Most recently Bakar was acquisitions manager at Marshall Cavendish Education. The company will do business as Penguin Books Singapore for now, with a formal new name to be announced next year.
Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle said, “This new trade publishing program with original books written by local authors is a natural extension and complement to the longstanding business we have selling adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction by our international authors into this vibrant market and community.” In early 2017, PRH had sold the Penguin Singapore and Penguin Malaysia distribution units to Times Publishing, a subsidiary of Fraser and Neave, for approximately $5.5 million.
Forthcoming
Paperback publication of Nadia Murad‘s The Last Girl has been moved up to October 16, after she was named one of two Nobel Peace Prize honorees last week.
Distribution
Hachette Livre Distribution will distribute titles from academic publisher Peter Lang‘s Belgian office across French-speaking regions, using Lightning Source France. Hachette will also distribute all French-language titles from Peter Lang’s other four offices — in Bern, New York, Oxford and Berlin — in the same regions.
Harassment Files
Ian Buruma, the former editor of the New York Review of Books, spoke to a US audience for the first time since his resignation from the magazine on September 19. Appearing on a panel in the Berkshires on Saturday, Buruma commented on his decision to publish the controversial essay by Jian Ghomeshi that led to his stepping down. He said, “I took a risk. I was supported very much by the publisher by The New York Review, until I wasn’t.” He also addressed the #MeToo movement, noting that it “would be ridiculous” to be against it, but it has caused people to be “fearful of saying what they think.” He added, “If #MeToo goes too far sometimes, you don’t really want to join the other side either, the sort of conservative backlash. For anyone who finds nuance, you find yourself squeezed from both sides.”