Keep Reading and Keep Tweeting, these are the slogans coined by the country’s largest English book publisher to promote reading and writing as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations in India. Penguin, which began its India operations in 1987 has become a name synonymous with book publishing and boasts of a list of authors who has been honoured with all international and national awards.
The slogan ‘Keep Reading’ is part of the campaign by the book publishing company to promote the habit of reading among the new as well as old generations. “Our idea is to promote reading anywhere, anytime, and provide a variety of reading content across genres to reading enthusiasts,” said a release by the company.
To give the readers a nostalgic feeling, Penguin will come out with a list of 30 all- time classics it published over the last three decades and rated as the 30 best sellers during the period.
“This includes timeless classics like Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhavam as well as much-loved fiction like Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate, Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies and Jhumpa lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth among others,” said the release.
The anniversary festivities were launched during the recently concluded Jaipur literature Festival. Keep Tweeting, a pre-buzz contest launched by the publisher was an instant hit. “This was our effort to come out with India’s first-ever crowd sourced Twitter Book.
The contest, ran during the duration of the JlF, was launched by giving out the first line of the story and inviting users to keep adding on to the next lines till the story was complete,” said Megha Nath, manager, Penguin. She said the idea was to create the first ever short story with 30 lines to commemorate Penguin’s 30th anniversary in India.
According to Hemali Sodhi, senior vice president, the Keep Reading campaign would focus on the beauty and joy of reading. The release by the company said it publishes more than 250 titles every year and has a backlist of more than 3,000 titles.
The year-long festivities will see the publisher launching a whole new range of Penguin collectibles and quirky merchandise - bookends, tea coasters, magnets, passport holders, mugs, and bags among others. The publisher with three-decades experience in the Indian market is planning to make the 30th anniversary a celebration of reading, writing and tweeting making maximum use of the literature Festivals all over India.