A Monthly Update from Penguin Classics

Because what you read matters.   Subscribe to the Penguin Classics Newsletter here.   With summer’s end on the horizon and fall looming, we’re taking time to recharge with books that inspire us to keep moving forward. The compelling work of these classic authors continues to resonate with relevance and provide great reads through this summer

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Reading Guide for Black Panther

PENGUIN CLASSICS MARVEL COLLECTION DISCUSSION QUESTIONS BY QIANA J. WHITTED FOR BLACK PANTHER 1.   Readers travel to Wakanda for the first time with the Fantastic Four in 1966. How does the Black Panther’s explosive interactions with each member of the Fantastic Four in these early issues reveal his motivations and strengths as a super hero?  

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Reading Guide for Captain America

PENGUIN CLASSICS MARVEL COLLECTION DISCUSSION QUESTIONS BY BEN SAUNDERS FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA   1.   What do you know about the variety of American attitudes toward “the war in Europe” prior to Pearl Harbor? How does that context change how we might interpret the cover and stories from Captain America Comics #1, which appeared several months before the Pearl Harbor

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Reading Guide for The Amazing Spider-Man

PENGUIN CLASSICS MARVEL COLLECTION DISCUSSION QUESTIONS BY BEN SAUNDERS FOR THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN   1.   The most famous line in Spider-Man’s origin story is that “with great power there must also come great responsibility.” But is this a lesson Peter only needs to learn once—or do we see Stan Lee and Steve Ditko returning to this

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A Monthly Update from Penguin Classics: Marvel Edition

The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection is finally here! These specially curated comic book anthologies present the origin stories and seminal tales of key Marvel characters by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and other historic Marvel creators. The series serves as a testament to Marvel’s transformative impact on graphic fiction and icons and stories across popular culture.

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From Page to Screen: Watch the Movie Trailer for This Summer’s Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing, the #1 New York Times bestselling book by Delia Owens has been adapted into a major motion picture, coming to theaters nationwide on July 15.  For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found

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Dolen Perkins-Valdez on her new book, Take My Hand

“I believe that in order to heal, we must remember. Once we remember, we acknowledge. Once we acknowledge, we can take more significant action.”   Watch Dolen Perkins-Valdez discuss her inspiration for writing Take My Hand:   Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African

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One World Presents Its First Ideas In Action Workshop: Poetic Writing/Editing with Yanyi

Penguin Random House’s One World imprint is thrilled to announce the Ideas In Action Workshop: an inclusive space to give creatives direct access to our authors, as well as strengthen the trust, resource-sharing, and support between readers and writers. The first workshop will be a six-week virtual poetry manuscript class, taught by Yanyi, author of

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The Turning Point: 1851—A Year That Changed Charles Dickens and the World By Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst discusses his recently published book The Turning Point   Thomas Hardy described the year 1851 as a “precipice in Time”; the Times newspaper saw it as the century’s pivot, the moment when the “Old World” became the “New World.” It was a period that was as inventive in terms of language as it

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“Genie in a Bottle,” a poem by Ian Manuel, author of My Time Will Come

Ian Manuel, author of My Time Will Come, was sentenced to life without parole at 14 years old. His memoir is a paean to the capacity of the human will to transcend adversity through determination and art—in Manuel’s case, through his dedication to writing poetry. Here is his brand new poem, “Genie in a Bottle”:

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