Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
subjects including history, biography,
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
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 ...
and sold by
Faber & Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...
, and is part of the Independent Alliance.
History
In 2002 the company acquired the HarperCollins UK business list. The list now includes works by Robert Greene, Ryan Holiday, and Shoshana Zuboff.
In 2003 the company published ''
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
''Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation'' is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 4's '' Cutting a Dash'' programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punct ...
'' by
Lynne Truss
Lynne Truss (born 31 May 1955) is an English author, journalist, novelist, and radio broadcaster and dramatist. She is arguably best known for her championing of correctness and aesthetics in the English language, which is the subject of her ...
which was the bestselling
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
title for 30 weeks and the Book of the Year at the
British Book Awards
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by '' The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...
2004, at which the company also won the Small Publisher of the Year award.
In January 2007 Profile Books acquired
Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...
, bringing together two small publishers in London. In 2008 Profile set up an ethical imprint GreenProfile under the direction of Mark Ellingham, the founder of Rough Guides.
In 2012, Profile launched a new list with Wellcome Collection, designed to showcase writing about medicine, the body, and the human condition. Authors on the list include
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
...
,
Atul Gawande
Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departme ...
and Gavin Francis.
In October 2012 Profile acquired Birmingham-based independent
Tindal Street Press
Tindal Street Press was a Birmingham-based independent publisher of contemporary literary fiction, with a particular focus on writers born, or living, in Birmingham and the West Midlands. According to its website, it was "a publicly funded organi ...
.
Since 2014 Profile has published a boutique list of Tuskar Rock, editorially selected by
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín (, approximately ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.
His first novel, '' The South'', was published in 1990. '' The Blackwater Lightship'' was shortlis ...
Chris Kraus (American writer)
Chris Kraus (born 1955) is an American writer and filmmaker. She is the author of ''I Love Dick''.
Biography
Christine Kraus was born in The Bronx, New York City, and spent her childhood in Milford, Connecticut, and New Zealand. Kraus complete ...
.
In 2017 the first books were published in the new Pursuit Books imprint, a list showcasing writing on cycling.
Notable publications
Authors include
Anjana Ahuja
Anjana Ahuja ( अंजना आहूजा ) is a British Indian science journalist and a former columnist for ''The Times''. She is now a contributing writer at the ''Financial Times''. She also contributes to ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Pros ...
,
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...
,
Susan Hill
Dame Susan Hill, Lady Wells, (born 5 February 1942) is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include ''The Woman in Black'', '' The Mist in the Mirror'', and '' I'm the King of the Castle'', for which she received t ...
,
Ian Stewart (mathematician)
Ian Nicholas Stewart (born 24 September 1945) is a British mathematician and a popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, England.
Education and early life
Stewart was bo ...
Sandi Toksvig
Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...
Margaret MacMillan
Margaret Olwen MacMillan, (born 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryerson Univer ...
,
David Harvey
David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...
Francesca Simon
Francesca Isabella Simon (born 23 February, 1955) is an American-born British author who resides in North London. She is most famous for writing the '' Horrid Henry'' series of children's books.
She is the daughter of screenwriter and playwrigh ...
.
The company publishes all of
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
Mastery
A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...
'' (2012)
*''The Laws of Human Nature'' (2018)
Timothy Brook
Timothy James Brook ( Chinese name: 卜正民; born January 6, 1951) is a Canadian historian, sinologist, and writer specializing in the study of China (sinology). He holds the Republic of China Chair, Department of History, University of British C ...
Richard Wrangham
Richard Walter Wrangham (born 1948) is an English anthropologist and primatologist; he is Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. His research and writing have involved ape behavior, human evolution, violence, and cooking.
...
Simon Garfield
Simon Frank Garfield (born 19 March 1960) is a British journalist and non-fiction author.
Biography
Garfield was born in London in 1960.Just My Type'' (2010)
Susan Hill
Dame Susan Hill, Lady Wells, (born 5 February 1942) is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include ''The Woman in Black'', '' The Mist in the Mirror'', and '' I'm the King of the Castle'', for which she received t ...
Tracy Kidder
John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his '' The Soul of a New Machine'' (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation. He has recei ...
*''
Mountains Beyond Mountains
''Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World'' (2003) is a non-fiction, biographical work by American writer Tracy Kidder. The book traces the life of physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer with par ...
Nella Last
Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was an English homemaker, housewife who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. She wrote a diary for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of t ...
*''
Nella Last
Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was an English homemaker, housewife who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. She wrote a diary for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of t ...
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...
*''The Lady in the Van'' (1999)
*''Four Stories'' (2006)
*'' The Uncommon Reader (2007)
*''A Life Like Other People's'' (2009)
*''Smut'' (2011)
*''Keeping On Keeping On'' 2017
Simon Jenkins
*''A Short History of England'' (2011)
*''England's 100 Best Views'' (2013)
Jonathan Dimbleby
*''Destiny in the Desert'' (2012)
David Harvey
David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...
*''The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism'' (2011)
*''Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism'' (2014)
James Ward
*'' Adventures in Stationery'' (2014)
Atul Gawande
Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departme ...
*''Being Mortal''
Shaun Bythell (of
Wigtown
Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. ...
bookshop
*''The Diary of a Bookseller''
Eugenia Cheng
*''How to Bake Pi''
*''Beyond Infinity''
Prizes
*''Anquetil, Alone'' by Paul Fournel was shortlisted in two categories in the Sports Book Awards 2018
*''Being Mortal'' by
Atul Gawande
Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departme ...
was longlisted for the
Baillie Gifford Prize
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...
Samuel Johnson Prize
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...
in 2010
* ''
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
''Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation'' is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 4's '' Cutting a Dash'' programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punct ...
'' was Book of the Year at
Specsavers National Book Awards
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...
2004
*''Frugal Innovation'' by Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu won the CMI Management Book of the Year Award 2016
* '' Just My Type'' won Best British Book at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2011
*''Moneyland'' by Oliver Bullough was
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
Business Book of the Year 2018
* ''
Mountains Beyond Mountains
''Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World'' (2003) is a non-fiction, biographical work by American writer Tracy Kidder. The book traces the life of physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer with par ...
'' won a BMA Medical Book Award
* ''
Nella Last
Nella Last (née Nellie Lord; 4 October 1889 – 22 June 1968) was an English homemaker, housewife who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. She wrote a diary for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939 until 1966 making it one of t ...
in the 1950s'' was shortlisted for the Portico Prize in 2012
*''Railways'' was Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2015
* '' The Small Hand'' won a Best Jacket / Cover Design award at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2011
* '' Vermeer's Hat'' won the
Mark Lynton History Prize The Mark Lynton History Prize is an annual award in the amount of $10,000 given to a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression". The prize is one of three awards given as p ...
Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award
''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the ''Financial Times''. It aims to find the book that has 'the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern ...
in 2012
Profile Books has won the "Independent Publisher of the Year" awards three times. In 2017 '' The Essex Serpent'' (published in the
Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...
imprint) was named the Fiction Book of the Year, the Book of the Year, and won Publicity Campaign of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.