Penguin Random House launches cross‑publisher “Übergreifende Events” team

The Reader Times desk 19 October 2026 Based on BuchMarkt reporting

Imagined historical book-fair hall under a glass roof with stalls, banners and visitors; an illustration, not the reported event. — Editorial illustration for The Reader Times.

Penguin Random House has created a new “Übergreifende Events” unit to coordinate author programmes that span its nearly 50 imprints, with a focus on festivals and larger collaborations.

Team lead Astrid von Willmann, together with project managers Verena Otto and Franziska Mayer, will develop formats that bring authors from different Penguin Random House imprints onto the same stage.

The new unit provides a single point of contact for festivals, book‑shops, literary houses and other partners seeking cross‑publisher programmes, thematic series or larger cooperative events.

Known formats such as lit.Love and the 30‑Minute‑WG at the Frankfurt Book Fair will be continued and further developed under the team’s guidance.

Beyond maintaining existing series, the team will focus on conceiving and planning entirely new events, aiming to combine diverse topics, genres and authors across the group.

Penguin Random House’s roughly 50 individual imprints already organise more than 3,500 readings and events each year; the dedicated contacts for single‑author programmes will remain in place for authors and partners alike.