Susan Petersen Kennedy Appoints Laureen Rowland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Laureen Rowland Appointed Publisher of New Penguin Group (USA) Imprint

New York, New York, April 29, 2003…Susan Petersen Kennedy, President of Penguin Group (USA), announced today the appointment of Laureen Rowland as publisher and founder of a new imprint at Penguin Group. The soon-to-be-named imprint will publish adult hardcover titles, with a focus on non-fiction subjects, and is expected to publish its debut list in Spring 2005. Ms. Rowland’s appointment is effective May 19th and she will report to Ms. Petersen Kennedy.

“I'm a student of human behavior,” said Ms. Rowland, “and what are writers, but chroniclers of that very thing? I like to publish books about what keeps readers up at night, what makes them tick, whether it concerns sex or money, wellness or relationships, and whether it takes the form of a gorgeously written narrative or an expert-driven perspective.”

Ms. Petersen Kennedy commented: “Laureen's entrepreneurial abilities and her passion for informing and improving the lives of people at home, at work and at play should bring an exciting list of authors and their work to the Penguin Group.”

“Having one’s own imprint is every editor’s dream, and I’m no exception,” said Ms. Rowland. “Launching this new enterprise at Penguin offers me the challenge of building another successful business from the ground up and the opportunity not only to discover and nurture talent, but to publish it as well.”

Ms. Rowland’s publishing career began at Simon & Schuster after which she moved to HarperCollins Publishers, rising to senior editor and publishing the surprise New York Times bestseller Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self by then-l7-year-old first-time author Sara Shandler. She is also known for conceiving, developing and publishing such national business bestsellers as Direct From Dell by Dell Computer founder and CEO Michael Dell, The End of Marketing As We Know It by former Coca-Cola chief marketing officer Sergio Zyman and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by marketing gurus Al Ries and Laura Ries. She joined the David Black Literary Agency in 1999, as an agent specializing in practical and narrative non-fiction. Her recent projects include The Anger Advantage by Deborah Cox, Ph.D., Sally Stabb, Ph.D., and Karin Bruckner, L.P.C.; How to Go to College Almost For Free and The Scholarship Scouting Report by scholarship expert Ben Kaplan; and Where They Lay: Searching for America’s Lost Soldiers by Earl V. Swift, thrice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

Noted Ms. Petersen Kennedy: “Laureen has a proven talent for identifying and developing a wide range of books. Her new imprint will be a perfect hardcover partner

Page 2 -- Laureen Rowland Appointed Publisher of New Penguin Group (USA) Imprint for our Plume trade paperbacks, as well as a great addition to our growing Penguin Group family.”

The new imprint is expected to ultimately publish 30 titles per year. Its paperback partner will be Plume Books, one of Penguin Group’s longstanding trade paperback imprints. Plume is the publisher of contemporary and prize-winning fiction and non-fiction (its novelists in trade paperback include Tracy Chevalier, Toni Morrison, and Diane Johnson; recent non-fiction bestsellers include Dave Pelzer’s A Man Named Dave, Greg Palast’s The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Wendy Northcutt’s Darwin Awards and the soon- to-be-published A Long Short War by Christopher Hitchens).

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library, Penguin, Philomel, Plume, Puffin, Riverhead Books and Viking, among others. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.

Contact Information:

Marilyn Ducksworth, Penguin Group (USA), (212) 366-2564 Dave Zimmer, Penguin Group (USA), (212) 366-2687