Publisher Profile: Lerner Publishing Group
The CBC asks Lindsay Matvick, Publicity Director, questions about the publisher.
How did your publishing house start out?
In 1959, Harry Lerner launched his initial children’s publishing venture with a series called, Medical Books for Children. Harry’s original plan was to sell the books to doctor’s offices and through bookstores, department stores, and hospital gift shops. But he soon noticed that most orders came from public libraries, and they requested “library bindings” that would ensure the books lasted through heavy library circulation. Harry adjusted his plans and began producing informational books for children, strengthening connections with school and public library markets.
Lerner Publishing Group is now one of North America’s largest independent book publishers for children and young adults. Harry Lerner remains chairman of the company, and his oldest son, Adam Lerner, is the CEO and publisher.
What is your publishing house most known for?
From richly illustrated picture books and solid nonfiction resources to entertaining fiction and graphic novels, Lerner Publishing Group creates a wide variety of materials for children and young adults that educate, empower, and entertain readers. We publish under seventeen different imprints and divisions, each with a unique age and content focus. Our authors and illustrators have been honored with awards such as the Coretta Scott King Book Award, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper was named a Caldecott Honor Book, a Sibert Honor Book, and was the winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards for Author and Illustrator. Diverse books like Unspeakable are important at Lerner because we believe that all children should be able to find themselves in the pages of a book.
Where in the country is your house based? What do you love about being based there?
Lerner Publishing Group is proudly based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis has a vibrant publishing, writing, artist, and bookstore community, and we are proud to be part of it. We offer local scholarships such as the Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Scholarship, through Hamline University’s low-residency MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, the Lerner Publishing Media Lab at the University of Minnesota, and we are one of the founding members of the Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable.
What conventions and conferences does your publishing house usually attend?
We love to interact with librarians, educators, and bookstore staff face to face at conventions! What is better than talking about books? We traditionally attend ABA Children’s Institute, ABA regional shows, ALA, AASL, TLA, NCTE, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and regional library shows across the country.
How many employees does your house have?
Lerner has around 100 employees.
How many books does your house aim to publish per season/year?
Lerner aims to publish roughly 600 new books and series per year, plus we distribute books for more than 25 publishers through Lerner Publisher Services.
Which genres does your house prefer to publish?
We publish books for all types of readers. Our books include nonfiction series, picture books, middle grade and YA novels, YA nonfiction, graphic novels, and more!
Which formats does your house prefer to publish?
We publish library bound books, hardcovers, paperbacks, classroom sets, eBooks, interactive books, audio books, and databases such as Lerner Sports and Lerner Maker Lab.
What are some of your house’s publishing priorities over the next few years?
Lerner is dedicated to publishing books for all readers. We are committed to publishing a variety of books that readers can see themselves in, including stories and experiences spanning racial diversity, physical ability, mental health, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+, immigration status, and social class. We also publish a collection of our books in Spanish, Ojibwe, Hmong, and many other languages. With our recent acquisition of Gecko Press, we are also expanding our international publishing program with books in translation.
Which title has your house recently rallied behind?
We just published U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s new picture book And, Too, the Fox, with beautiful illustrations from Gaby D’Allesandro. Another fun project was taking the New York Times Bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass and adapting it for a younger audience. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith, and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.
Thank you, Lerner Publishing Group!
