Penguin party for publisher's 90th birthday

Lovers of literature have been celebrating the birthday of publishing giant Penguin on a platform in Exeter, the place where it was thought up over 90 years ago.  

Today, book-loving commuters and travellers can purchase a novel from a Penguin Books Vending Machine which was installed at Exeter St Davids Station in 2023. 

It was at the station in 1934 that Sir Allen Lane was inspired to found Penguin Books after he couldn’t find a good book to read, following a visit to see Agatha Christie in South Devon. 

Penguin was born out of a principle that high quality, engaging, and reasonably priced books should be available to everyone, anywhere.  

To mark Penguin’s 90th Birthday (established in 1935), members of Exeter UNESCO City of Literature gathered at Exeter St Davids to celebrate alongside Great Western Railway, who are also marking 200 years since the birth of the modern railway. 

Also in attendance were Clare and Michael Morpurgo - daughter of Sir Allen Lane and celebrated children’s author respectively, who were also involved in choosing titles for the vending machine, including some of their favourites such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, as well as Michael’s own work published under Penguin The Puffin Keeper. 

Exeter UNESCO City of Literature’s Executive Director Anna Orchard commenced the Birthday celebrations by highlighting the lasting legacy of Sir Allen Lane in Exeter, and heralded the future of stories and storytelling in the region. Clare and Michael Morpurgo then took the time to honour Clare’s father Sir Allen Lane, important figures of Devon’s literary community, and the importance of access to books for children. 

The gathering ended with the cutting of a special Penguin Books Vending Machine shaped cake - complete with book covers that were featured in the real life machine - created by a local bakery, The Cakery. 

A selection of books from Penguin’s 90 year archive were hidden at the station as gifts for passengers travelling to-and-from Exeter Central, as well as to London Paddington - a fitting journey for a Penguin book as this was the very train Sir Allen Lane was waiting for all those years ago when inspiration struck to create the now iconic publishing house.