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For “Freedom of Expression Week” in May 2022 in Germany, we released a widely-shared video online featuring statements from our authors regarding the importance of freedom of expression. Authors Aslı Erdoğan, Hadija Haruna-Oelker, Wladimir Kaminer, Ute Krause, Salman Rushdie, and Michail Schischkin also shared their perspectives on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

In Canada, we are proud to take part in Turn the Page, a multi-day event run in partnership with First Book Canada and Jays Care, the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. In December 2021, volunteers, including PRH Canada staff, put over 100,000 new books in the hands of over 400 educators for their students.

To celebrate World Book Day in Spain on April 23, 2021, we donated more than 8,000 books for adults and children at 52 hospitals and 15 prisons throughout the country. More than 230 authors from around the world participated in the initiative by transferring the rights to their work so the large-scale donation was possible. 

In December 2021, we donated 5,200 books to kids in need in South Africa through the campaign #beyondthemillion from the organization Exclusive Books. For the campaign’s holiday Santa Shoebox initiative, each child received a personalized shoebox with embroidered face masks, clothing, monogrammed lunch boxes and water bottles, books, and a personal letter from their donors. 

In 2021, DK supported Family Friendly Spaces, an initiative from their longtime partner ICTI’s Ethical Toy Program. Family Friendly Spaces reunites domestic migrant workers in China with their children in the summer months, creating factory-based facilities which allow children to play in a safe and stimulating environment throughout the day while their parents work. There are many domestic migrant workers within DK’s supply chain in China, and the publisher has donated a Chinese-language book to every child participating in the program.

We believe the right to freedom of expression and the protection of writers against censorship and unjust persecution are indispensable to the development of society and culture. In honor of Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and highlighting the value of free and open access to information, we partnered  with the American Bookseller Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) to celebrate the theme of the week “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.” 

From the week of September 26 – October 2, we donated $15,000 to ABFEE. Penguin Random House stands with ABOFF’s mission of promoting and protecting the free exchange of ideas. The organization issues statements on significant free expression controversies, participates in legal cases involving First Amendment rights, collaborates with other groups with an interest in free speech, and provides education about the importance of free expression to booksellers, politicians, the press and the public.  

For Giving Tuesday in 2021, we partnered with our longtime friends at First Book to give the gift of reading by supporting the “Give a Million” campaign through providing a 200,000 book donation to First Book toward their million-book effort. This Giving Tuesday initiative helps support our shared values and mission to foster a universal passion for reading. 

In honor of the global publication of RENEGADES: Born in the USA, a collection of conversations between Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen, we made a financial donation to the Obama Foundation’s youth leadership programs, expanding upon our earlier donation of one million children’s books to First Book in the Obama family name. A portion of President Obama’s proceeds from RENEGADES will benefit youth leadership programs at the Obama Foundation.

We partnered with The Association for Rural and Small Libraries to launch a rolling grant program to recognize rural, small and tribal libraries that support underserved communities in the U.S. and U.S. territories. The program will award grants of up to $2,500 to libraries that demonstrate a true need. Penguin Random House and ARSL have worked together to ensure the application process is simple and straightforward to remove as many barriers to applying for a grant as possible. Grants are not limited to literacy and may be used for everything from library programming and books to resources like hotspots that help community members access important information. In-kind donations will also be considered.