Random House Authors Win Prestigious Literary Awards

After Random House UK colleagues celebrated an important literary prize this week when one of their authors won the Samuel Johnson Nonfiction Prize, their colleagues in the U.S. and Canada have now followed suit with equally prestigious awards.

The North American string of awards began on Tuesday at the Governor General's Literary Awards ceremony in Montreal, Canada, where authors from the same publishing group prevailed in three of the seven categories, including the two showcase disciplines "Fiction" and "Nonfiction." The award for the year’s best novel goes to Linda Spalding for "The Purchase" (McClelland & Stewart). The jury chose "Leonardo And The Last Supper" (Bond Street Books) by Ross King as the best nonfiction book. Susin Nielsen was honored in the "Children's Literature - Text" category for her children's book "The Reluctant Journal Of Henry K. Larsen" (Tundra Books).

“I am so pleased for these three great writers who we are all very proud to publish,” said Kristin Cochrane, Executive Publisher of the Group. “This is a tremendous achievement for our Group and I am joined in accepting this honor by Ellen Seligman, Publisher of McClelland & Stewart who edited Linda’s wonderful novel; Alison Morgan, Publisher of Tundra who has worked with Nielsen for many years; and Doubleday Canada Publishing Director Lynn Henry, along with our entire team.“

A day later, their U.S. colleagues had every reason to celebrate. Random House author Katherine Boo won the $10,000 “Nonfiction” National Book Award for “Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity.” Her book, which was published in hardcover and e-book by Random House and as a Random House Audio audiobook, narrates the life of an Indian family trying to improve its lot in a Mumbai slum. In accepting her award, Katherine Boo thanked “the ferocious women at Random House,” including her editor Kate Medina, publicist London King, and Gina Centrello, President and Publisher, Random House Publishing Group.