75 Years of Penguin Books: An International Multidisciplinary Conference

In 2010, Penguin Books will be 75 years old and Puffin Books will be 70 years old.  Organised by the AHRC Penguin Archive Project, the International Penguin Conference is occasioned by these two anniversaries of what is arguably the most distinctive and the most significant publishing house in the twentieth century and beyond.  The conference will take place at the University of Bristol on three days:  Tuesday 29 June - Thursday 1 July 2010.

Keynote speakers include:

Professor Sir David Cannadine, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Professor of Contemporary British History (until 2008), Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (1998-2003), Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research and Chair of its Appeal, Honorary Professor of the University of London, Distinguished Fellow of the School of Advanced Study, and Fellow of the British Academy.

Professor Simon Eliot, Professor of the History of the Book in the Institute of English Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, Deputy Director of the Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies, Visiting Professor of Book History at the Open University, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Member of the Council of the Bibliographical Society of London, and Director of the London Rare Books School.

Professor Kim Reynolds, Professor of Children’s Literature, University of Newcastle, and President of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature.

and

Professor Sir Christopher Ricks, William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities and Co-Director of the Editorial Institute, University of Boston, Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford (2004-2009), Immediate Past President of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics, recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award for significant contributions to the humanities, and Fellow of the British Academy.

The conference is organised by the AHRC-funded Penguin Archive Project and will seek to cover the diversity of Penguin’s publication history.  The Penguin Archive itself is held in the Special Collections of the University of Bristol Library and attracts the attention of researchers in many disciplines and fields at national and international level, including historians of the book, biographers, social and political historians, cultural analysts and literary researchers.