Black Lives Matter

At Penguin Random House, we believe in and strive to create an environment of belonging and respect for all. We as individuals and as the collective leadership of this company recognize the urgent need to forge a path toward positive change. Black Lives Matter. Black Stories Matter and Black Voices Matter—and as publishers, we commit to using the powers of our creativity and ingenuity to lift those voices up in the world.

A list of anti-racist books and resources can be found here.

Employee-Driven Action to Combat Climate Change

Our employees across the territories are leading teams, such as the Sustainability Subcommittee in the United States and the Environment Team in Australia/New Zealand, to make grassroots efforts to combat climate change. In the United States, the Sustainability Subcommittee is an employee-led group of engaged colleagues who are dedicated to positively affecting the environment. In tandem with our corporate efforts, through awareness campaigns and events, the Subcommittee aims to have a positive impact in our communities and the environment where we work and live.

United Fight Against Climate Change

Our Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial team in Miami kicked off its first year of corporate volunteering in 2019 with hands-on activities at main community organizations, including Miami-Dade County parks. Our employees planted 200 native plants at a county park to attract butterflies and other important pollinators, and also decorated a rainwater barrel with characters from our most popular children’s books to capture rainwater to irrigate the plants.

To further our efforts in the fight against climate change, the team in Miami collaborated to pack and sort donations for United Miami Way of Miami-Dade following the destruction Hurricane Dorian inflicted on the Bahamas.

Publishing a Digital Cookbook to Aid America’s Restaurants

In an effort to support America’s restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, we published Family Meal: Recipes from Our Community, a digital-only cookbook benefiting America’s restaurant workers. All proceeds from Family Meal support the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. It is one humble attempt to do our part to support the places and people that make our cities special.

The book’s publication coincided with #GivingTuesdayNow, which took place for the first time on May 5 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. This global day of unity inspired us to join forces to support those in need during this global crisis. So we united the best way we know how—by bringing together authors from across Penguin Random House to serve up something truly special. Our family of more than 50 chefs and home cooks have opened their kitchens to share a look at the food they’re cooking at home right now—food that comforts, sustains, and helps them feel connected to the world outside.

PRH Partners with STC & Zulily to Make Summer Fair

Together with Brightly, our website dedicated to helping parents, caregivers, and educators find books and reading tips for every age and stage of a child’s life, we joined with our long-standing partner Save the Children to support its annual reading campaign—Read a Story, Change Their Story. The 100 Days of Reading campaign aims to combat the summer slide—which will be further exacerbated because of the unprecedented school closures due to COVID-19—and the content that Brightly has provided, including reading lists and educational activities, will greatly support kids and families in need.

For the fifth year, we supported Make Summer Fair, Save the Children’s Summer Reading Campaign. The campaign was created to foster continuous learning over the summer months and to ensure that children in rural America, many of whom have limited access to books, have the opportunity to keep reading. To further increase our impact, we teamed up with Zulily, the online retailer, to help provide books to children in need across the nation with a  “Buy 1, Give 1” campaign.

Supporting Black-Owned Bookstores

In honor of Juneteenth in 2020, we donated 100% of net proceeds from our website that day to a fund that will support Black-owned bookstores. We are partnering with Bookshop.org, an online retailer, to manage the fund for these bookstores. The process will parallel Bookshop.org’s existing program for sharing profits with independent bookstores. In addition to the Juneteenth donation, we made three additional contributions in June, July, and August, with disbursement to bookstores expected to begin in September.

Our contributions were split equally among all participating bookstores, and can be used to support any activity that promotes books and reading in the local community, such as school programming, author event technology costs, and basic monthly operating costs.

This program supports Black-owned independent bookstores with brick-and-mortar storefronts that are open or have a history of their storefront being open to the public for 20 hours a week or more, in a U.S. location. To find out more about how to participate, please email partnerships@bookshop.org.

Company-Wide Read to Facilitate Discussions and Change

As part of our long-term Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Action plan, we introduced our first-ever company-wide read, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and will facilitate discussions across our company on this important topic. Employees are encouraged to share their ideas and perspectives openly with one another, fostering learning, understanding, and belonging.