Riverhead Books
Encyclopedia
Riverhead Books is a division of Penguin Group (USA).
Notable books and major bestsellers published by Riverhead include Journals
by Kurt Cobain
; The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
; The Color of Water
by James McBride
; Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and Aloft by Chang-rae Lee
; Fever Pitch
, High Fidelity
, About a Boy
, How To Be Good, Songbook, and A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
; The Beach
by Alex Garland
; Tipping the Velvet
, Fingersmith
, and The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
; Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction) by Junot Diaz
; CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
, In Persuasion Nation, and The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders
; The Kite Runner
and A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
; Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom
(finalist for the 1998 National Book Award
and National Book Critics Circle Award
); The Wu-Tang Manual
by the RZA
; Everything Bad is Good for You
and The Ghost Map
by Steven Johnson
; My Friend Leonard
by James Frey
; A Whole New Mind
by Daniel H. Pink
; Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry
; The Areas of My Expertise
by John Hodgman
(paperback); The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu; The Last Summer (of You and Me)
by Ann Brashares
; The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
; Me of Little Faith
by Lewis Black
; The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
(finalist for the 2008 National Book Award
); The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
; Rise of the Ogre
by the fictional band Gorillaz
; and Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
.
Riverhead was founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy (now President and Publisher of Penguin Group (USA)). Riverhead had an early focus on Buddhism and spirituality and literary fiction by young ethnic writers. In 2003, Julie Grau and Celina Spiegel, two of Riverhead's original editors, became co-publishers of Riverhead; they left the company in 2005 to form Spiegel & Grau, a division of Doubleday.
The current Publisher of Riverhead is Geoffrey Kloske
. According to the Penguin Group (USA) website, Becky Saletan is Editorial Director, Sarah McGrath and Jake Morrissey are Executive Editors, and Megan Lynch in Senior Editor of Riverhead Books.
Notable books and major bestsellers published by Riverhead include Journals
Journals (Cobain)
Journals is a collection of writings and drawings by Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana. Though the content is undated, it is arranged in an approximation of chronological order, starting with a letter Cobain wrote to Dale Crover in 1988, and ending with a rant about...
by Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
; The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
; The Color of Water
The Color of Water
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother is the autobiography of James McBride; it is also a tribute to his mother. The chapters alternate between James McBride's descriptions of his early life and first-person accounts of his mother Ruth's life, mostly taking place before her...
by James McBride
James McBride (writer)
James McBride is an American writer and musician whose compositions have been recorded by a variety of other musicians.-Early life:McBride's father, the late Rev. Andrew D...
; Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and Aloft by Chang-rae Lee
Chang-Rae Lee
Chang-rae Lee is a Korean American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Princeton University, where he has served as the director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing.-Early life:...
; Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life is the title of a 1992 autobiographical book by British author Nick Hornby. The book is the basis for two films: Fever Pitch was released in 1997, and Fever Pitch in 2005...
, High Fidelity
High Fidelity (novel)
High Fidelity is a 1995 British novel by Nick Hornby. It was adapted into a 2000 film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name.-Plot summary:...
, About a Boy
About a Boy
About a Boy is a 1998 novel by British writer Nick Hornby. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 2002.-Plot summary:The novel is about Will Freeman, a 36-year-old bachelor, and Marcus, an introverted, bullied 12-year-old who lives alone with his suicidal mother, Fiona...
, How To Be Good, Songbook, and A Long Way Down
A Long Way Down
A Long Way Down is a novel written by British author Nick Hornby, published in 2005. It is a dark comedy, playing off the themes of suicide, angst, depression and promiscuity....
by Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
; The Beach
The Beach (novel)
The Beach is a novel by Alex Garland about backpackers in Thailand. Influenced by such literary works as Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies, it describes the adventures of a young Englishman in search of and on a legendary, idyllic beach untouched by tourism.-Plot summary:In a cheap hostel on...
by Alex Garland
Alex Garland
Alexander Medawar "Alex" Garland is a British novelist and screenwriter.-Early life:Garland was born in London, England, the son of psychoanalyst Caroline and political cartoonist Nicholas Garland. His maternal grandparents were zoologist Peter Medawar and author Jean Medawar...
; Tipping the Velvet
Tipping the Velvet
Tipping the Velvet is an historical novel written by Sarah Waters published in 1998. Set in Victorian England during the 1890s, it tells a coming of age story about a young woman named Nan who falls in love with a male impersonator, follows her to London, and finds various ways to support herself...
, Fingersmith
Fingersmith
A fingersmith or finger smith is a person of extreme talent in any skill involving the use of hands. This term is most often used to refer to a talented pickpocket who has never been caught....
, and The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters is a British novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.-Childhood:Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1966....
; Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a best-selling novel written by Dominican author Junot Díaz. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New Jersey where Díaz was raised and deals explicitly with his ancestral homeland's experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo...
(winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Fiction) by Junot Diaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
; CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is a novella by short story writer George Saunders; it is 130 pages long. The novella was written at Syracuse University, New York, where Saunders is a creative writing professor.-Plot:...
, In Persuasion Nation, and The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders
George Saunders
George Saunders is a New York Times bestselling American writer of short stories, essays, novellas and children's books. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's and GQ, among other publications...
; The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007....
and A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. The book focuses on the tumultuous lives of two Afghan women and how their lives cross each other, spanning from the 1960s to 2003...
by Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini , is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician of ethnic Tajik origin. He is a citizen of the United States where he has lived since he was fifteen years old. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide....
; Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
(finalist for the 1998 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
and National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
); The Wu-Tang Manual
The Wu-Tang Manual
The Wu-Tang Manual is a guide to the Wu-Tang Clan written by prominent member and principal producer, RZA. The manual explains Wu-Tang terms, Wu-Tang members, merchandise, movies and inspirations.-Book's Content:...
by the RZA
RZA
Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...
; Everything Bad is Good for You
Everything Bad is Good for You
Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter is a non-fiction book written by Steven Berlin Johnson. Published in 2005, it is based upon Johnson's theory that popular culture – in particular television shows and video games – has grown more complex and...
and The Ghost Map
The Ghost Map
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World is a book by Steven Berlin Johnson in which he describes the most intense outbreak of cholera in Victorian London - and what it means to us today, from the way we understand...
by Steven Johnson
Steven Berlin Johnson
Steven Berlin Johnson is an American popular science author.-Education:Steven Johnson attended the prestigious St. Albans School as a youth. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brown University, where he studied semiotics, a part of Brown's modern culture and media department...
; My Friend Leonard
My Friend Leonard
My Friend Leonard is a memoir written by James Frey. Continuing where A Million Little Pieces left off, the book centers on the father-son relationship Frey and his friend from Hazelden, Leonard, shared. My Friend Leonard was published in June 2005 by Riverhead, and became a bestseller. Amazon.com...
by James Frey
James Frey
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
; A Whole New Mind
A Whole New Mind
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future is a book by Daniel H. Pink, author of Free Agent Nation. A Whole New Mind posits that the future of global business belongs to the right-brainers.-Key concepts:...
by Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink is an American author and journalist. From 1995 to 1997, he worked for Vice President Al Gore in the capacity of chief speechwriter, and before that as an aide to Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.- Personal history :...
; Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
; The Areas of My Expertise
The Areas of My Expertise
The Areas of My Expertise is a satirical almanac by John Hodgman. It is written in the form of absurd historical stories, complex charts and graphs, and fake newspaper columns. Among its sections are a list of 700 different hobo names and complete descriptions of "all 51" US states...
by John Hodgman
John Hodgman
John Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in...
(paperback); The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu; The Last Summer (of You and Me)
The Last Summer (of You and Me)
The Last Summer is a novel by Ann Brashares. Her first novel for adults, and her first outside of her acclaimed Traveling Pants series, was released on June 6, 2007 by Riverhead Books.-Plot:...
by Ann Brashares
Ann Brashares
Ann Brashares is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series of books....
; The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
Meg Wolitzer
Meg Wolitzer is an American writer, born on Long Island, New York. She is the daughter of novelist Hilma Wolitzer.She studied creative writing at Smith College and graduated from Brown University in 1981. She wrote her first novel, Sleepwalking, a story of three college girls obsessed with...
; Me of Little Faith
Me of Little Faith
Me of Little Faith is the second book from comedian Lewis Black. It was released on June 3, 2008 in hardcover by Riverhead Books, and on audiobook from Penguin Audio....
by Lewis Black
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
; The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American fiction writer. He is the winner of a MacArthur Foundation grant. He has written four acclaimed books: Love and Obstacles: Stories , The Lazarus Project: A Novel , which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle...
(finalist for the 2008 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
); The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Sarah Vowell
Sarah Jane Vowell is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written five nonfiction books on American history and culture, and was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio...
; Rise of the Ogre
Rise of the Ogre
Rise of the Ogre is an autobiography about the virtual band Gorillaz. Ostensibly written by the four band-members in collaboration with Gorillaz musician and official scribe Cass Browne, the book is 304 pages long and is extensively illustrated. It was released in the UK on 26 October 2006 by...
by the fictional band Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
; and Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Jean Kwok
Jean Kwok is a contemporary Chinese American writer and the author of the national bestseller Girl in Translation.-Biography:Jean Kwok was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Brooklyn, New York when she was five years old. While living in a roach-infested apartment without central heating, she...
.
Riverhead was founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy (now President and Publisher of Penguin Group (USA)). Riverhead had an early focus on Buddhism and spirituality and literary fiction by young ethnic writers. In 2003, Julie Grau and Celina Spiegel, two of Riverhead's original editors, became co-publishers of Riverhead; they left the company in 2005 to form Spiegel & Grau, a division of Doubleday.
The current Publisher of Riverhead is Geoffrey Kloske
Geoffrey Kloske
Geoffrey Kloske is the vice president and publisher of Riverhead Books in New York; this is a division of Penguin Group. He served as vice president and executive editor of Simon & Schuster from 1998-2006. He also worked as an editor at Little, Brown and Company from 1992-1996...
. According to the Penguin Group (USA) website, Becky Saletan is Editorial Director, Sarah McGrath and Jake Morrissey are Executive Editors, and Megan Lynch in Senior Editor of Riverhead Books.