Viking Press is an American publishing company as of 2011[update] owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim. The firm's name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the ideas of exploration and enterprise implied by the word "Viking".
The house has been home to many prominent authors of fiction, non-fiction, and play scripts. Five Viking authors have been awarded Nobel Prizes for Literature and one received the Nobel Peace Prize; Viking books have also won numerous Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and other important literary prizes.
As of 2011[update] Viking published approximately 100 books a year. It is notable for publishing both successful commercial fiction and acclaimed literary fiction and non-fiction. Viking's literary paperbacks are published by Penguin Books, while its commercial paperbacks are published by Signet Books or Putnam Books. Viking's current president is Clare Ferraro.
The Viking Children's Book department was established in 1933; its founding editor was May Massee. Viking Kestrel was one of its imprints. Its books have won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, and include such books as The Twenty-One Balloons, written and illustrated by William Pene du Bois, (1947, Newbery medal winner for 1948), Corduroy, Make Way for Ducklings, The Stinky Cheese Man By Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith 1993, The Outsiders, Pippi Longstocking, and The Story of Ferdinand. Its paperbacks are published by Puffin Books, which includes the Speak and Firebird imprints. Viking Children's current president and publisher is Regina Hayes.**
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