Steve Coogan was born and raised in Manchester in the 1960s, the fourth of six children. From an early age he entertained his family with impressions and was often told he should ‘be on the telly’. He is now an award winning film actor, writer and producer. In this extract from his new memoir, Easily Distracted, Steve looks back at his early experiments with comedy.
We agree wholeheartedly with Jane Austen – so in celebration of this year’s Books are My Bag campaign, which kicks off this Saturday 10th October, some of our most discerning Penguins have shared their favourite independent bookshops.
A little announcement…
It’s our birthday!
Find out how we’re celebrating this summer.
Former Communications Director for the Labour Party, journalist, and author of Winners, Alastair Campbell, unpicks the characteristics that elevate the great to the exceptional ahead of the UK General Election, exclusively for Think Smarter.
On Tuesday 14 April, Penguin will be commemorating the 70th anniversary of Anne Frank’s death alongside the Anne Frank Trust UK.
The long-awaited memoir by one of the music world’s most iconic and influential performers and songwriters, Elvis Costello, will publish in Autumn 2015.
Fun fact: Valentine’s Day is all about birds in books.The first recorded association between St. Valentine’s Day and romantic love is found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls – according to Chaucer, February the 14th is the day on which birds choose their mates.
We don’t want to read too much into this connection but in homage to the great poet, we’ve been doing some literary matchmaking of our own. We’ve dreamed up the perfect Penguin present pairings for the special someone in your life – and not a chocolate or a red rose in sight…
As Publishing Director at Penguin Random House, Tony Lacey is well acquainted with the antics of aristocratic art dealer, Charlie Mortdecai. Tony reflects on the adaptation process that brought Kyril Bonfiglioli’s ‘cult’ crime character to the big screen.
Journalist and author John Crace reflects on how Britain’s MPs may be preparing for the 2015 general election exclusively for Think Smarter month.
Penguin Blog 
Nobel Lecture: On the Battle Lost
Praised for her “polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”, Svetlana Alexievich won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, and delivered her Nobel lecture on Monday at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. You can read the lecture in full here.