Oprah Relaunches Book Club With East Of Eden

Posted on June 20, 2003

Oprah has relaunched Oprah's Book Club after a fourteen month pause. Penguin Group (USA)'s East Of Eden by John Steinbeck is the first selection for the relaunch of Oprah's Book Club. Oprah Winfrey made the announcement on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wednesday, June 18th. Oprah told viewers that East of Eden, which she read last summer, inspired her to bring back her Book Club. Oprah's new pick was good news for Penguin Group, which has exclusive rights to John Steinbeck's novels.

Susan Petersen Kennedy, President of Penguin Group (USA), said, "When Oprah first broke the news that she was re-launching her Book Club with a focus on the classics, we were ecstatic. Penguin Group is committed to writers and readers. We felt this program would be good for books in general and especially the classics. We are grateful to Oprah for her passion for books and her unwavering commitment to literacy."

East of Eden was originally published by Penguin in 1952, became a national bestseller and is considered one of Steinbeck's masterpieces. An epic novel set between the Civil War and World War I that has been described as a modern retelling of the book of Genesis, East of Eden follows two families and how they affect each other's lives in the rich farmlands of the Salinas Valley in California. Oprah's Book Club will feature the East of Eden Centennial Edition, initially published by Penguin last year along with five other Steinbeck novels, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the writer's birth.

Penguin Group has good reason to be excited about Oprah's latest selection. In the past Oprah's picks have led to huge book sales. After she temporarily closed her book club, numerous other book clubs sprang up to fill the void including: Read This (Good Morning America's Book Club), Reading with Ripa (ABC), Today Show Book Club and USA Today Book Club.

Oprah also has big online plans for the book club. Readers can now join Oprah's Book Club from the Oprah.com website. There is no charge for registration. Oprah's goal is to have an online book club with 1 million readers. A message on the website from Oprah says, "The book club is back and I am on a mission. My mission is to make this the biggest book club in the world and get people reading again. Not just reading, but reading great books!"