The Penguin Publishing Group will launch a new imprint, Thesis, a sister imprint to the Portfolio and Sentinel imprints. Thesis, Penguin said, will publish “urgent idea-driven nonfiction by thought leaders, journalists, and experts with a strong point of view.”
Bria Sandford, editorial director of Sentinel, and Niki Papadopoulos, editor-in-chief of Portfolio, will oversee the imprint's editorial operations, with Adrian Zackheim serving as publisher. In addition, Helen Healey has been rehired as an editor, acquiring for Thesis, Sentinel, and Portfolio.
The imprint ultimately plans to publish six to10 books annually, with the inaugural Thesis list launching next spring with Struggle Sessions by Silicon Valley journalist Nellie Bowles and Take Down by activist Laila Mickelwait in fall 2023. Books by evolutionary psychologist Diana Fleischman, “America’s government teacher” Sharon McMahon, and journalist Matt Taibbi are forthcoming.
“For some time now we have been drawn to books that don’t fit on a business or political imprint,” Papadopoulos said in a statement. “We’ve discovered an audience hungry for ideas that don’t fall into ideologically neat buckets, and which challenge the status quo on both sides of the political aisle. Our goal with Thesis is to carve out a dedicated space for these books, and to move the conversation forward around the pressing social issues of our time.”
Sandford added: “There's a big need right now for writers who make counter-consensus arguments without falling into reflexive contrarianism. I'm excited for Thesis to publish those thinkers who can stand outside the currents of the moment and help us see and think differently.”
