Little, Brown Book Group is a UK

publishing company Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

created in 1992, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by

Hachette UK Hachette () is a French publisher. Founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, the company later became L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and Hachette Livre in France. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette ...

, a subsidiary of

Hachette Livre Hachette () is a French publisher. Founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, the company later became L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and Hachette Livre in France. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette ...

. It was acquired in 2006 from

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

of New York City, who then owned LBBG via the American publisher Little, Brown and Company. Little, Brown Book Group publishes across the following imprints: *Abacus *Atom *Blackfriars *Constable *Corsair *Fleet *Hachette Audio *Little, Brown *

Orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

*Piatkus *Robinson *

Sphere A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is th ...

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

Little, Brown has won the Publisher of the Year Award four times – in 1994, 2004, 2010 and 2014.

History

Little and Brown was established in Boston, Massachusetts, by Charles Little and James Brown in 1837; as

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

it was acquired by

Time Inc Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Il ...

in 1968. Little, Brown became part of the Time Warner Book Group when Time merged with

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

in 1989. Still based in Boston, the Time Warner subsidiary Litle, Brown purchase British publishers and imprints that became Little, Brown Book Group in 1992. (Little, Brown offices moved to New York City in 2001.)

Imprints

Macdonald and Futura Macdonald & Co was founded in 1938 and Futura was founded in 1973. The Macdonald Futura publishing company was sold to Little, Brown (of Boston but already a Time Warner subsidiary) in 1992 and the imprint changed to Little, Brown. The paperback imprint then became Warner, and in 2006

. Sphere

was founded in 1967 by the International Thomson Organisation, sold to Penguin in 1986, then sold to

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from ...

in 1989. In 1992 it was acquired by Little, Brown USA at which time the commercial paperback list was changed to Warner. In 2006 the name reverted to Sphere. Under its Sphere imprint, Little, Brown BG publishes commercial fiction and non-fiction, including crime novels, celebrity autobiographies, romantic comedies and humour. In 2005 the Sphere imprint was nominated for a British Book Award. Sphere fiction writers include household names such as Patricia Cornwell,

Mark Billingham Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

Val McDermid Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir. Biography ...

Jenny Colgan Jenny Colgan (born 14 September 1972, Prestwick, Ayrshire) is a Scottish writer of romantic comedy fiction and science-fiction. She has written for the ''Doctor Who'' line of stories. She writes under her own name and using the pseudonyms Jane ...

and

Dorothy Koomson Dorothy Koomson (born 1971 in London) is a contemporary English novelist, who is of Ghanaian descent. She has been described as "Britain's biggest selling black author of adult fiction". Biography Koomson has two degrees in Psychology and Journ ...

; rising stars such as Kate Furnivall, Boyd Morrison and Christopher Ransom; and international bestsellers

Mitch Albom Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and musician. His books have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Having achieved national recognition for sports writing in his early career, he turned to writing the ...

Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and philanthropist. He has published twenty-three novels and two non-fiction books, some of which have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers, with over 115 m ...

Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for young-adult readers. Two of his no ...

and

Nicholas Evans Nicholas Benbow Evans (26 July 1950 – 9 August 2022) was a British journalist, screenwriter, television and film producer and novelist. Biography Nicholas Benbow Evans was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, son of Anthony Evans, director of ...

among others. Sphere non-fiction titles include bestsellers Sharon Osbourne’s Extreme, ''Long Way Round'' by

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

and Charley Boorman, ''Ricky'' by

Ricky Tomlinson Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in '' Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in ''Cracker'' and Jim Royle in '' The Royle Family'', and playing the titular cha ...

, and'' A Brother’s Journey'' by Richard B. Pelzer (all No.1 bestsellers), ''

Scar Tissue Scar tissue may refer to: Medicine * Scar, an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after injury * Granulation tissue, a product of healing in major wounds Film and television * ''Scar Tissue'' (1975 film), or ''Wanted: Babysitter'' ...

'' by Anthony Kiedis, and '' Is it Just Me or is Everything Shit?'' by Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur.

Little, Brown

Little, Brown is the literary hardback imprint that feeds into Abacus paperbacks. It publishes across a wide range of areas, including fiction, history, memoir, science and travel. Soon after its 1992 establishment Little, Brown published Iain Banks's ''

The Crow Road ''The Crow Road'' is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1992. Plot introduction The novel describes Prentice McHoan's preoccupation with death, sex, his relationship with his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, a mis ...

'' – and all of Banks’ fiction is now published by Abacus (with his SF in

). In 2012, Little, Brown acquired and published '' Harry Potter'' author

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

's first novel for adults, ''

The Casual Vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a 2012 novel written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. A paperback edition was released on 23 July 2013. It was Rowling's first publication since ...

'' and, in 2013, Rowling's foray into crime fiction, ''

The Cuckoo's Calling ''The Cuckoo's Calling'' is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the first novel in the '' Cormoran Strike'' series of detective novels and was followed by ''The Silkworm'' in 2014, ...

'' published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Robert Galbraith. Little, Brown/Abacus have published many great American writers, including

Donna Tartt Donna Louise Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American novelist and essayist. Early life Tartt was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta, the elder of two daughters. She was raised in the nearby town of Grenada. Her fa ...

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris (; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay " Santaland Diaries.” He published his first c ...

Candace Bushnell Candace Bushnell (born December 1, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and television producer. She wrote a column for ''The New York Observer'' (1994–96) that was adapted into the bestselling ''Sex and the City'' anthology. The book was ...

and

Anita Shreve Anita Hale Shreve (1946 – March 29, 2018) was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, '' Past the Island, Drifting'' (published in 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Early years a ...

. Little, Brown non-fiction authors include historians

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...

Juliet Barker Juliet R. V. Barker FRSL (born 1958) is an English historian, specialising in the Middle Ages and literary biography. She is the author of a number of well-regarded works on the Brontës, William Wordsworth, and medieval tournaments. From 198 ...

, Eric Hobsbawm, Thomas Pakenham and writers as diverse as

Tim Harford Timothy Douglas Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economic journalist who lives in Oxford. Harford is the author of four economics books and writes his long-running ''Financial Times'' column, " The Undercover Economist", syndi ...

, Professor Steve Jones,

Will Hutton William Nicolas Hutton (born 21 May 1950) is a British journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for ''The Observer'', co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chair ...

and

Evan Davis Evan Harold Davis (born 8 April 1962) is an English economist, journalist, and presenter for the BBC. He has presented ''Dragons' Den'' since 2005. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this ...

Abacus

Abacus was founded in 1973 as part of Sphere. In the early days it was strictly a non-fiction list with something of an ecological flavour, producing classics such as E.F. Schumacher's ''

Small Is Beautiful ''Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered'' is a collection of essays published in 1973 by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The title "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumach ...

'' and T.C. McLuhan's ''Touch the Earth''.

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...

’s series of masterworks, including ''

If This Is a Man ''If This Is a Man'' ( it, Se questo è un uomo ; United States title: ''Survival in Auschwitz'') is a memoir by Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi, first published in 1947. It describes his arrest as a member of the Italian anti-fascist resis ...

'', ''The Periodic Table and Moments of Reprieve,'' was soon added and a tradition of bestselling high-quality memoir was established: Nelson Mandela’s ''

Long Walk to Freedom ''Long Walk to Freedom'' is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel and first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, educatio ...

'';

’s ''Palimpsest and Point to Point Navigation''; and historian William Woodruff’s double No. 1 bestsellers ''The Road to Nab End'' and ''Beyond Nab End.'' Abacus was one of the first publishers of behavioural economics with the groundbreaking

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little ...

book ''

The Tipping Point ''The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference'' is the debut book by Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little, Brown in 2000. Gladwell defines a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling po ...

'', followed by the bestselling

'' Undercover Economist'' series. In 2009 Abacus published

Gillian Tett Gillian Tett (born 10 July 1967) is a British author and journalist at the ''Financial Times'', where she is chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US. She has written about the financial instruments that were part of the cause of the ...

’s award-winning work on the financial crisis, ''Fool’s Gold.'' Abacus fiction publishing began with

Jane Gardam Jane Mary Gardam (born 11 July 1928) is an English writer of children's and adult fiction. She also writes reviews for ''The Spectator'' and ''The Telegraph'', and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon, and Yorkshire. She has won nu ...

. Gardam has twice won the Whitbread Novel Award, part of an excellent Whitbread record that includes Joan Brady’s Book of the Year for ''Theory of War'', Beryl Bainbridge’s Novel Award for '' Every Man for Himself'' and Christopher Wilson’s shortlisting for ''The Ballad of Lee Cotton''.

Valerie Martin Valerie Martin (née Metcalf; born March 14, 1948) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her novel ''Property'' (2003) won the Orange Prize for Fiction. In 2012, ''The Observer'' named ''Property'' as one of "The 10 best historical n ...

won the

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

for ''Property'', and in 2009

Simon Mawer Simon Mawer ( ; born 1948, England) is a British author who lives in Italy. Life and work Born in 1948 and was educated at Millfield School in Somerset and at Brasenose College, Oxford, Mawer took a degree in Zoology and has worked as a biology ...

’s ''The Glass Room'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Abacus publishes some original paperback fiction and non-fiction including

José Carlos Somoza José Carlos Somoza Ortega (born 13 November 1959) is a Spanish author. He was born in Havana, Cuba. In 1960 his family moved to Spain after being exiled for political reasons. His family proved to be in difficult financial situation after havi ...

(whose '' Athenian Murders'' won the CWA Gold Dagger), Guillermo Martínez, Charlie Connelly and Michele Giuttari.

Orbit

is an international imprint that specialises in

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and fantasy books. It was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, its parent company was bought by

Little, Brown & Co Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, at that stage part of the Time Warner Book Group. In 1997, Orbit acquired the Legend imprint from

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. In summer 2006, it was announced that Orbit would expand internationally, with the establishment of Orbit imprints in the United States and Australia. Orbit Publishing Director Tim Holman relocated to New York to establish Orbit US as an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA. In June 2007, Orbit announced the appointment of Bernadette Foley as publisher for Orbit Australia, an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia. Some of the authors published by Orbit include the following:

Brent Weeks Brent Weeks (born March 7, 1977) is an American fantasy writer. His debut novel, ''The Way of Shadows'', was a The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' best seller in April 2009. Each of the five books in his Lightbringer Series m ...

R. Scott Bakker Richard Scott Bakker (born February 2, 1967, Simcoe, Ontario) is a Canadian fantasy author and frequent lecturer in the South Western Ontario university community. He grew up on a tobacco farm in the Simcoe area. In 1986 he attended the Univers ...

Terry Brooks Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 ''New York Times'' bestsellers during his writing career, and ha ...

Jim Butcher Jim Butcher (born October 26, 1971) is an American author., He has written the contemporary fantasy ''The Dresden Files'', ''Codex Alera'', and '' Cinder Spires'' book series. Personal life Butcher was born in Independence, Missouri, in 1971. H ...

Jacqueline Carey Jacqueline A. Carey (born October 9, 1964)"Jacqueline Carey – Summary Bib ...

Gail Carriger Gail Carriger is the pen name of Tofa Borregaard, an author of steampunk fiction and an American archaeologist. She was born in Bolinas, an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, and attended high school at Marin Academy. She ...

, Michael Cobley, Maggie Furey,

Drew Karpyshyn Drew Karpyshyn (born July 28, 1971) is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist. He served as a senior writer for BioWare's ''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (video game), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' and ...

Karen Miller Karen Miller is an Australian writer. She is best known for ''The Innocent Mage'', the first book in her duology ''Kingmaker, Kingbreaker''. Biography Miller was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and moved to Australia at the age of t ...

, Christopher Moore,

KJ Parker Thomas Charles Louis Holt (born 13 September 1961) is a British novelist. In addition to fiction published under his own name, he writes fantasy under the pseudonym K. J. Parker. Biography Holt was born in London, the son of novelist Hazel H ...

, Brian Ruckley, Brandon Sanderson, Jeff Somers, Michael J. Sullivan,

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

, Joel Shepherd and

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

Virago

Nearly 40 years on from its beginnings around

Carmen Callil Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, (15 July 1938 – 17 October 2022) was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal ...

’s kitchen table in 1973,

has become one of the most successful British publishing imprints and the outstanding international publisher of books by women.

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

's well known cri de coeur from ''

A Room of One's Own ''A Room of One's Own'' is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf, first published in September 1929. The work is based on two lectures Woolf delivered in October 1928 at Newnham College and Girton College, women's colleges at the University of C ...

'', 'if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly as we think...' was truly realised in the 1970s. The rise of the Women's Liberation Movement was causing seismic shifts in the march of the world's events; women's creativity and political consciousness was soon to change the face of publishing and literature. Virago owes its inspiration to these times: ` An exciting new imprint for both sexes in a changing world’. Virago was conceived by Carmen Callil. From 1973 to 1975 it was run by an independently owned editorial imprint by Carmen Callil,

Ursula Owen Ursula Margaret Owen Hon FRSL (born 21 January 1937) is an English publisher, editor and campaigner for free expression. Early life She was born Ursula Margaret Sachs in Oxford, England, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer wh ...

and Harriet Spicer. In 1976 Virago became self-financing and independent with capital of just £1,500 and a loan of £10,000. In 1977, inspired by, among other things,

Sheila Rowbotham Sheila Rowbotham (born 27 February 1943) is a British socialist feminist theorist and historian. Early life Rowbotham was born on 27 February 1943 in Leeds (in present-day West Yorkshire), the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company a ...

's ''Hidden from History'', Virago began the Virago Reprint Library, which fed an eager new audience’s desire for women’s history. Then in 1978 the first of the Virago Modern Classics, ''Frost in May'' by

Antonia White Antonia White (born Eirene Adeline Botting; 31 March 1899 – 10 April 1980) was a British writer and translator, known primarily for ''Frost in May'', a semi-autobiographical novel set in a convent school. It was the first book reissued by Virag ...

, was published. It launched a list dedicated to the celebration of women writers and to the rediscovery and reprinting of their works, hugely guided by the influential ''A Literature of Their Own'' by

Elaine Showalter Elaine Showalter (born January 21, 1941) is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. She influenced feminist literary criticism in the United States academia, developing the concept and practice of gynocr ...

. Its aim remains to demonstrate the existence of a female literary tradition and to broaden the sometimes narrow definition of a classic. Published with new introductions by some of today’s best writers, the list encompasses such diverse writers as

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

Grace Paley Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet, teacher, and political activist. Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and Na ...

, Elizabeth von Arnim, Pat Barker, Edith Wharton, Mae West, Angela Carter, Willa Cather and Molly Keane. It has become one of Virago’s most famous hallmarks. ''"The Virago Modern Classics have reshaped literary history and enriched the reading of us all. No library is complete without them"'' Margaret Drabble In 1982 Virago became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Cape Group. In 1987 Callil, Lennie Goodings, Ursula Owen, Alexandra Pringle and Harriet Spicer put together a management buy-out from CVBC, then owned by

, USA. The buy-out was financed by Rothschild Ventures and Robert Gavron. Random House UK kept a 10 per cent stake in the company and continued to handle sales and distribution. In 1993 Rothschild Ventures sold its shares to the directors and Gavron, who thus became the largest single shareholder. In 1996 the directors sold the company to Little, Brown and Lennie Goodings remained as Virago’s Publisher. Virago has flourished under the Little, Brown umbrella to become, today, a brand name and in 2010, won The Bookseller’s Imprint of the Year Award. Lennie Goodings (publisher of Virago) won Editor of the Year. Virago’s contemporary fiction list includes award-winners and bestsellers including Margaret Atwood, Marilynne Robinson, Sarah Waters, Linda Grant (novelist), Linda Grant, Sarah Dunant, Gillian Slovo, Shirley Hazzard; from the Man Booker to the

for Fiction. Virago launched its non-fiction list with memoirs and biography – Vera Brittain’s ''Testament of Youth'' and Maya Angelou’s ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' – and continues with the bestselling ''The Bolter'' by Frances Osborne; Lyndall Gordon’s biography of Emily Dickinson, ''Lives Like Loaded Guns''; Shirley Williams’ autobiography; and Ingrid Betancourt’s memoir. Continuing to publish up-to-date, thought-provoking analysis, Virago has published Natasha Walter, Joanna Bourke, Naomi Wolf, Lisa Appignanesi and Åsne Seierstad’s ''The Bookseller of Kabul''.

Atom

Atom is the young adult imprint of Little, Brown Book Group. It was founded in 2002 within the science fiction and fantasy imprint of

but has since become an independent imprint focused on publishing mainstream and supernatural YA fiction. Atom is best known for publishing worldwide phenomenon Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (novel series), Twilight Saga and CJ Daugherty's ''Night School'' series. It is also the UK publisher of many bestselling teen series including P. C. Cast, P.C & Kristin Cast’s House of Night (series), House of Night, Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods (series), Blue Bloods, Scott Westerfeld’s ''Midnighters'' and Lisi Harrison’s ''Monster High''.

Piatkus Constable Robinson

Piatkus was founded in 1979 from the spare bedroom of Judy Piatkus’s home in Loughton, Essex, and was acquired by Little, Brown in 2007. Piatkus publishes fiction and lifestyle titles, and joined with Little, Brown to further widen their audience. Piatkus publishes a range of fiction and non-fiction. Its lifestyle list covers the areas of health; mind, body and spirit; self-help; business; personal development and all the topics that interest people in their daily lives. It includes international authorities such as Patrick Holford, the UK’s leading nutritionist; bestselling MBS authors Brian Weiss and Sylvia Browne; and bestselling business authors Seth Godin and David Allen (author), David Allen. Piatkus is also known for its wide variety of fiction, which includes romance, historical fiction, paranormal, supernatural and horror. The fiction list includes Nora Roberts and her alter-ego, J.D. Robb, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan and Julia Quinn, and new British authors such as Rosamund Lupton and Carolyn Jess-Cooke. In 2014, Little, Brown acquired independent publisher Constable and Robinson, and soon merged Piatkus with the Constable and Robinson imprints to form Piatkus Constable Robinson (PCR). Another Constable and Robinson imprint, Corsair (publishing company), Corsair, publishes literary fiction and non-fiction separately from PCR.

Fleet

In 2015, Ursula Doyle (formerly Associate Publisher of Virago) announced a new imprint, Fleet. Fleet's launch titles in 2016 included Charlotte Rogan's ''Now and Again'', Melissa Fleming's ''A Hope More Powerful than the Sea'', and the paperback edition of Virginia Baily's ''Early One Morning''. Its releases include ''Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism'' (2021) by Kathleen Stock, and ''Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?'' (2021) by Seamas O’Reilly.

Hachette Digital

Hachette Digital, formerly Hachette Audio, is the imprint responsible for publishing in electronic formats. The name changed in January 2008 to reflect the widening nature of digital operations. Audiobook publishing has historically been an area of great strength for Little, Brown: titles have been acclaimed for the quality of adaptation, readers and packaging. Increasingly, these are available completely unabridged. Hachette Digital has recorded over 400 audiobooks to date, and has published on CD and as music download, digital downloads; all titles are available to buy and download from online retailers such as Audible.com, Audible and iTunes. Hachette Digital has had an ebook publishing programme for more than eight years, but demand for ebooks is now higher than ever. There are ongoing plans for digitisation, across both front and backlist titles, and there are currently more than a thousand titles available as ebooks. Hachette Digital titles are available from the major UK ebook retailers, including the Amazon (store), Amazon’s Kindle store, Waterstones, WHSmith and Apple Computer, Apple’s iBookstore. Hachette Digital has a number of enhanced titles available as apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and other devices.

References

Bibliography

* Oliver, Bill (1986) Little, Brown and Company, in Peter Dzwonkonski, Ed. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography - Volume Forty-nine - American Literary Publishing Houses, 1638 - 1899 Part 1: A-M''. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company.
www.littlebrown.co.uk/about