Changes at Little Tiger Group as Truong made group publishing director

The Little Tiger Group is bringing all of its imprints—Little Tiger, Caterpillar, Stripes and 360 Degrees—under the Little Tiger brand, with Thomas Truong promoted to the role of group publishing director.

Going forwards, all books published by the group will carry the Little Tiger logo, as opposed to individual imprint logos. Meanwhile all creative teams will report to Truong, including Little Tiger picture book publisher Jude Evans.

Truong first joined Little Tiger in 2003 as a designer. He has been publisher of Caterpillar since 2014 and in 2016 he launched 360 Degrees, specialised in illustrated factual titles, predicting then that the industry was "upping its game" when it comes to non-fiction. In 2018 Truong added Stripes to his portfolio of imprints.

Among Truong’s publishing successes are Britta Teckentrup’s peep-through nature books, Tree, Bee, Moon and Sea, which have achieved global sales in excess of 750,000. He also was behind the development of the company’s My First touch-and-feel sound books, including the bestselling Noisy Farm (1.5 million copies sold). Truong published last year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize Illustrated Book winner, The Girls, as well as anthologies A Change Is Gonna Come and Proud, acclaimed for their efforts to improve inclusivity in books for young people.

Little Tiger Group was an independent publisher until April 2019 when it was acquired by Penguin Random House. Co-founder Monty Bhatia remains c.e.o. of Little Tiger Group, reporting to Barbara Marcus, president and publisher, Random House Children’s Books.

Bhatia said: "Thomas is the very best kind of publisher, first and foremost he is an artist with great creative vision which is at the heart of everything he does, but his ability to translate this artistry to countless bestselling books is what has made him so integral to our commercial success over the years. Thomas gets right to the heart of what our customers are looking for and inspires our brilliant creative teams to deliver market-leading books. I am looking forward immensely to seeing Thomas apply both his creativity and commerciality across the group as he takes on this vital strategic role, which I know will lead us to grow and thrive even further."

Truong said: "I couldn’t be more thrilled to be embarking on this new adventure with my publishing family at Little Tiger. The Bhatias have given me both the freedom and support to try new things and always test the limits of what a book can be and do, and since our acquisition by Penguin Random House, Barbara has encouraged and empowered me to take on greater responsibility. I always think our best books are ahead of us so it’s an absolute privilege to be given this opportunity to work with the talented designers and editors we have working in every corner of the company to take our publishing to the next level."

Marcus added: "Since meeting Tom and watching him develop within the creative milieu of Little Tiger, I have been so impressed with his talent, his leadership and camaraderie with the entire team. Tom is a force that will help lead Little Tiger to future success. I am so pleased that Monty has recognized him in this way and I look forward to even more wonderful projects from the team led by Tom."