Hello, I'm Rihanna Dillon and this is Ask Penguin, the podcast series from Penguin Books.

And this episode is a very special one because we have a birthday to celebrate.

2025 marks the year that Penguin Books turns 90.

And we at the Penguin podcast wanted to explore some of the

fascinating ways that Penguin has turned the UK into a nation of readers. So Penguin was founded

by Alan Lane, who started with a simple but at the time controversial idea that quality

literature should cost no more than a 10 pack of cigarettes. Despite

skepticism from publishers and booksellers, Alan Lane was proved right. Within a year,

three million penguins had made it to read as shelves. What an absolute hero. But that was really

just the beginning of Penguin's mission. Today, Penguin makes books for

everyone, because a book can change anyone. With me in the studio are two people who can both

speak to the power of reading in different ways. As regular listeners know, we like to tap into

the amazing, knowledgeable team behind the scenes

at Penguin. And we've wanted to get this particular person on the podcast for ages. And she

has always alluded to us until now. Zainab Jumma, welcome. Hello, you finally got me. I am so

thrilled that we've caught you in our little penguin net.

So Zanab, you're the head of brand at Penguin.

So can you explain a little bit about what that actually means?

So we've got lots of teams who make sure that we publish our books really well

and they reach all the right people they're supposed to reach.

And then right in the middle of it all is our Penguin brand team.

So my job is to look after the penguin. And that basically means making sure that the penguin is able to do what

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