Regions: LATIN AMERICA

Literature and Anti-Racism Education

To commemorate the abolition of slavery in Brazil, Companhia das Letras developed programming for educators that focuses on literature and anti-racist education. We seek to present urgent, critical content schools and educational institutions need to confront systemic racism. As part of the programming, Black multimedia specialists produced all the videos for educators’ training.

Joint Donation to Help Protect the Amazon

On Amazon Day in Brazil, we made a joint donation with our Brazilian publishing group, Companhia das Letras, to the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), which has worked for 25 years to defend the Amazon and Brazil’s rich socioenvironmental diversity. ISA works with Indigenous communities, quilombolas and extractivists, and historical partners to help protect Indigenous territories and develop sustainable economic alternatives to the exploitation of their lands. We believe that sustainability and environmental protection are a worldwide effort, and we are committed to our ongoing social impact efforts. To learn more about our joint donation, click here.

Sponsorship of Knowledge Olympics

Our Brazilian publishing group, Companhia das Letras, sponsored the Brazilian Sapientia–Olympics of the Future, along with Instituto Vertere, an institution for teacher education. A nationwide competition for students aged 16 to 18, Sapientia puts young people at the center of discussions about the transforming world, taking a transdisciplinary approach that encompasses the humanities, social sciences, and hard sciences. In the final stage of the competition, students develop a project related to one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals; the project should have real-life applications. To learn more about Sapientia, click here.

Employee Book Donations for Our Anniversary

Our fifth anniversary as Penguin Random House in July 2018 provided an unprecedented opportunity to unite around the globe to get more books into the hands of more readers. Through a special anniversary global book donation, we offered every Penguin Random House employee worldwide a selection of free books to donate to any philanthropic or nonprofit organization of their choice. Thousands of our employees joined the campaign, and we were able to provide more than 72,000 books to children and adults in need. Recipient organizations included schools, libraries, hospitals, rural development NGOs, and organizations that serve homeless and incarcerated individuals.

Readathon for International Book Day

To celebrate International Book Day, we hosted a Readathon that challenged people to read or listen to a book and log their minutes. For every 10 minutes of reading, we donated a book to Save the Children, for up to 300,000 minutes—or 30,000 book donations. We encouraged readers to share how they were participating in our Readathon using the hashtag #MaratónDeLectura and to challenge their family and friends to participate as well. To learn more about the campaign, click here.