Penguin Random House is taking meaningful steps to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Australians through our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), a formal commitment to respect and connect with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, developed in partnership with Reconciliation Australia.  

In 2024 we completed our Reflect RAP—the first of four stages—focused on internal education, external relationship-building, and the exploration of Penguin Random House’s potential for positive impact. In 2025 we began our Innovate RAP, working closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and Reconciliation Australia to develop an action plan that will advance our reconciliation commitments. 

As Penguin Random House, we hold a collective belief that a diverse range of voices needs to be elevated and heard. Externally, we are committed to using our platform to amplify an even broader range of voices aligning even further with our mission to “create books for everyone.” Internally, we are working to build an inclusive and psychologically safe work environment for all employees.

We are guided by five core pillars that shape our DEI efforts across the business.

Leadership Investment:Hold leaders accountable for implementing PRH’s DEI vision, setting goals, achieving results, and being role models.

Diversity & Representation: Ensure that PRH attracts, sources, and recruits candidates who will help achieve our mission to “create books for everyone” responsibly and with authenticity.

Professional Development: Integrate DEI principles into talent development and retention efforts.

Psychological Safety & Belonging: Create a psychologically safe, inclusive environment through comprehensive Learning & Development programs and concise DEI communication.

Content & Marketplace: Demonstrate a measurable companywide increase in content we’re acquiring, publishing, and promoting from the widest range of contributors with the ultimate goal of publishing books that reflect the world we live in.

While these pillars have advanced our progress in establishing more inclusive business practices, there is still much more important work to do. Together with our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Councils, Employee Resource Groups, and leadership teams, we will continue our ongoing and evolving plan for action to achieve our aspiration of creating an inclusive corporate environment and publishing community.

CANADA (2024)

To remove barriers of entry to the publishing industry, our award-winning design team at Penguin Random House Canada (PRHC) launched two initiatives aimed at up-and-coming artists and designers: the PRHC Design Award and the PRHC Portfolio Review for Emerging Creatives.  

The PRHC Design Award provides the opportunity for one selected winner to receive mentorship from PRHC’s in-house design team, consisting of six hour-long sessions over a period of six months.  

The PRHC Portfolio Review for Emerging Creatives invites selected participants to a session where emerging artists and designers can receive feedback on their portfolios from our award-winning design team.

MEXICO CITY (2024)

Penguin Random House held “Pride in Your Writings,” a forum for inclusive representation in literature, on March 23. Organized by our Mexico office’s LGBTQ+ subcommittee, the event featured Penguin Random House authors and several drag storytellers. Speakers addressed a variety of topics, including the following: the experiences of authors with diverse realities, ways to support LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, representation of the LGBTQ+ community in narratives, lesbian stories beyond stereotypes, and queer stories more broadly.

TORONTO, CANADA (2024)

Penguin Random House’s sponsorship of Word on the Street, a Toronto-based literary festival, helped provide necessary support to festival attendees in the form of barrier-free access, ASL interpreters, and live captioning of events. In conjunction with this sponsorship, we authored an interview with local booksellers on the importance of accessibility at book events and in publishing at large, in an effort to inspire continuing conversations around accessibility across the industry. 

U.S. (2024)

In collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, Penguin Random House presented our Creative Writing Award winners with a week of professional development programming, offering practical knowledge and insight into the book world. Our six $10,000 scholarship recipients gained direct access to publishing professionals through a series of virtual events designed and hosted by the Penguin Random House Corporate Communications Team. 

Since 1993, this program has awarded more than $2.9 million to public high school students for original poetry, memoir/personal essay, fiction/drama, and spoken word compositions. To learn more about the Creative Writing Awards, click here.

FRANKFURT (2024)

Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe was the main sponsor of the first reception of the Queer Media Society at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair. 

Rebecca Prager, Head of Corporate Communications at Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, spoke at the reception on behalf of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe and be.queer, the network for LGBTIQ employees and allies at Bertelsmann, emphasizing the importance of the network for togetherness and mutual support as well as for visibility and awareness in the workplace.

NEW YORK, NY (2024)

Surpassing our 2023 total, Penguin Random House raised $2,777 for Share Lunch Fight Hunger in 2024, enough to help feed over 6,450 kids in NYC for one day. In a time of great need, with 1 in 4 children facing food insecurity, City Harvest raised enough through this year’s campaign to feed more than 11,000 NYC kids and their families for the entire summer. Learn more about Share Lunch Fight Hunger here. 

Dinner on the House is an annual employee volunteer experience designed to serve those who may need a helping hand during the holiday season. For the past thirteen years, Penguin Random House volunteers have joined City Harvest at their Food Rescue Center to help repack food items into family-sized portions for distribution to New Yorkers in need. 

SARASOTA, FL (2023)

In 2023, Penguin Random House donated over 150 LGBTQ+ books across eleven divisions for a student-led Pride event at the New College of Florida. The school has been in the news recently as a site where partisan politics and educational freedom are clashing in a way that’s not unrelated to the wave of book banning we’ve been seeing throughout the nation. As a result of the recent appointments by Gov. DeSantis to the New College Board of Trustees in support of his views, students have been restricted in the kinds of activities they can do with school funds—including DEI and LGBTQ events like Pride.