Penguin Group (USA) has announced it will launch Penguin Praise, a Christian publishing program. Penguin Praise will publish books by “top-tier Christian authors,” such as Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, T.D. Jakes and Don Piper, through multiple Penguin imprints in the Christian and general markets, a company statement said.

Distribution and sale of Penguin Praise titles in the Christian market will be handled by Strang Communications and the Noble sales group. In May 2005, Strang and Penguin Group (USA) entered into an exclusive agreement for the distribution and sale of selected Penguin Group (USA) books into the Christian retail market. The agreement is one of the first of its kind between a general-market publisher and a Christian-market publishing house.

Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group (USA), made the Penguin Praise announcement and said the deal will “substantially add to what we have already accomplished with many of our award-winning, best-selling Christian authors.”

Kennedy said Joel Fotinos, who until now has served as Penguin Group's director of religious publishing, will be the publisher of Penguin Praise, and Denise Silvestro, a Berkley executive editor, will be the publishing program's executive editor.

Fotinos said the program will become “the gateway through which we can continue to increase our (Christian market) presence in many exciting and unique ways. We are also sending a signal to our CBA accounts that their titles are being published through a full-service publishing program that has 100% reach into the (Christian) markets, as well as the ABA markets.”

He added: “The program allows us to determine, on a book-by-book basis, where to best position our authors and their books, while having the option to publish titles under the Praise logo or under an imprint's primary logo.”

Penguin Praise will publish a new series by “Left Behind” authors LaHaye and Jenkins titled “The Jesus Chronicles,” four books depicting Jesus Christ as told by the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The series' first book, John's Story: The Last Eyewitness, will be published by Putnam/Praise in November. Putnam/Praise will also be releasing The New York Times best-selling author T.D. Jakes' Mama Made the Difference this month and Promises From God for Parents (Berkley/Praise) in August.

Putnam/Praise also is the sole trade licensee and exclusive trade publisher of the American Bible Society's Contemporary English Version (CEV) edition of the Bible, and will publish several upcoming editions, starting with Seek Find: The Bible for All People, this fall.

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