2000: Gao Xingjian becomes the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature…
Gao Xingjian becomes the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature after HarperCollins Australia publishes his novel Soul Mountain. More
Angus & Robertson in Australia
Ten thousand miles from his homeland, Scotsman David Mackenzie Angus paid £50 to open a small bookshop on Market Street in Sydney, Australia. More
1941: Avon Books is established…
Avon Books is established by New York businessman Joseph Meyers in association with Edna B. Williams. Now renowned for widely popularizing the historical romance category, the publisher originally begins with a focus on paperback reprints. More
1891: Harper & Brothers purchases rights to Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes…
Enabled by the 1891 International Copyright Treaty, Harper & Brothers purchases the rights to Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. More
Amistad
HarperCollins’s Amistad Press is the oldest imprint devoted to titles for the African American market at any major New York publishing house. More
1992: John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is published…
John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is published and becomes one of the bestselling nonfiction books of the 1990s, launching an era of gender and relationship dialogue. More
1926: William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book…
William Morrow is founded and publishes its first book, On to Oregon! by Honoré Morrow. More
1923: The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors…
The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors, and receives more than 700 submissions in its first year. The first winner, The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson, is later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1924). More
1853: William Collins introduces new steam presses
William Collins introduces new steam presses, allowing Collins and Sons to publish Shakespeare and The Pilgrim’s Progress in affordable editions available to the masses. More
I Can Read!
Inspired by an occasion in which she attempted to find an appropriate book for a young boy who had just learned to read, Boston librarian Virginia Haviland telephoned her friend Ursula Nordstrom, the head of children’s publishing at Harper & Brothers. More
The History of HarperCollins Children’s Books in the U.S.
The Department of Books for Boys and Girls at Harper was established in the U.S. in 1926. More
Social Change: Thomas Nast, Illustrator
Illustrator Thomas Nast first made his name documenting the Civil War in all its gruesome reality, but he is best known for developing the political cartoon form and our modern depictions of Santa Claus. More
Telegram regarding the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude
In this Western Union telegram dated September 14, 1967, from Cass Canfield Jr. (an editor at Harper) to Carmen Balcells (the agent of Gabriel García Márquez)... More
1931: Pat and Bernard Zondervan start a religious publishing firm…
Pat and Bernard Zondervan start a religious publishing firm out of their mother’s farmhouse. More
Geronimo Johnson
I write to unread what has been written about me in error and with malice. More
Ursula Nordstrom
When Anne Carroll Moore, the powerful and opinionated superintendent of children’s work at the New York Public Library, asked Harper & Brothers editor Ursula Nordstrom why she felt qualified to produce children’s books, Nordstrom said only this: “Well, I am a former child, and I haven’t forgotten a thing.” More
1850: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine launches
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine launches in June, serializing Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, as well as then unknown authors Herman Melville and Mark Twain. More
The Transformation of Harlequin
By the 1990s, Harlequin had become synonymous with romance novels, grown the category into a score of successful subgenre lines, opened offices around the world, and seen its books made available in more than 100 countries and 30 languages. More
Employees in the Collins Canada mailroom, circa 1940s
Collins Canada employees working in the general office during the 1940s More
1860: Harper & Brothers enters into the crime fiction genre
Harper & Brothers pay Wilkie Collins £750 for The Woman in White, which heralds the firm's entry into the crime fiction genre. More
2014: HarperCollins acquires Harlequin Enterprises…
HarperCollins acquires Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar. More
Canada’s White Circle Pocket Editions
In response to global paper shortages during World War II, Canada began manufacturing books for international markets in 1941. More
1888: Collins opens its first branch in Auckland, New Zealand
Collins opens its first branch in Auckland, New Zealand. More
1958: Collins publishes the first English translation of Doctor Zhivago…
Collins publishes the first English translation of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. More
1999: William Morrow, Avon, Ecco Press, Amistad and 4th Estate are acquired…
HarperCollins acquires William Morrow, mass market romance imprint Avon, independent publisher Ecco Press, and Amistad Press, the pre-eminent publisher of African-American authors. A year later Collins acquires independent press 4th Estate. More
Publishing Firsts: The NIV and NKJV Bible
In 1965, members from the Christian Reformed Church and a broad spectrum of evangelical churches, denominations, and organizations came together to discuss the creation of a new contemporary translation of the Bible. More
Gordon Korman
I read to be astounded by other writers’ ideas. More
