Furthering its commitment to connecting its authors with the widest possible audience, Penguin Random House in India this evening partnered with Twitter India to announce the introduction of their Twitter Books vertical in the country.

At their party at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Penguin Random House became the first publisher in the region to be verified by Twitter on their @penguinbooksindia handle.  A number of Penguin Random House authors, including Shobhaa De, Amitav Ghosh, Ravinder Singh, Durjoy Datta, Mohammed Hanif, Devdutt Pattanaik, Bibek Debroy and KR Meera have also become the first authors to be verified within the new books vertical. Meru Gokhale, Editor-in-Chief, Literary Publishing, has been the first publisher to be verified.

Through the Twitter Books vertical, Penguin Random House will work closely with its writers to maximise the opportunities the platform presents, both in terms of written content and video through Vine and Periscope, to engage in even more real-time conversations with readers, and potential readers.

Penguin Random House will not only use the platform to expand its writers’, existing reach but also introduce new authors to the medium.  This evening India’s most loved author Ruskin Bond joined twitter under the verified Twitter handle @RealRuskinBond. His first Tweet read: “Hello World. Delighted to be on Twitter”

“Authors and readers are at the heart of everything we do at Penguin Random House, and we are dedicated to helping the two connect as easily and directly as possible,” said Gaurav Shrinagesh, CEO Penguin Random House India.  “In an increasingly digital world, the online space has fast become the most effective way of discovering books and authors.  We already have the largest digital footprint and engaged social media communities in the region but are delighted to now be working with Twitter India and their new books vertical to broaden this audience further.”