Uitgeverij Lannoo Groep is a Belgian publishing group, based in
Tielt
Tielt (; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Tielt proper and the villages of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle.
History
Some traces of Gallo-Roman occupation hav ...
, with assets in Belgium and the Netherlands. Its Belgian subsidiary is Uitgeverij Lannoo. Its Dutch subsidiary is LannooMeulenhoff. Over the years Lannoo evolved from Catholic and Flemish to an open, commercial publishing house.
Uitgeverij Lannoo
The publishing and printing company Lannoo was founded in 1909 by Joris Lannoo (1891–1971). Joris Lannoo was a member of the
Flemish Movement
The Flemish Movement (, ) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgium, Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemis ...
. The original company logo, featuring a sailing Viking neck, was designed by
Joe English and modernized over the years. After Joris Lannoo, Jan and Godfried Lannoo took over the management of the company. In 1991 the publisher company spun off Lannoo Printers (the printing company went bankrupt in 2018). The French-language ''Éditions Racine'' was founded in 1993. In 1994 Godfried Lannoo resigned as general manager to be replaced by his son Matthias Lannoo. In 1999 Lannoo acquired the Dutch publishing house ''Terra Zutphen'' and reorganized it into ''TerraLannoo''. In 2003 the company set up its own scientific publishing house in Leuven, ''LannooCampus''. In 2010, the company acquired the Dutch publishers ''Meulenhoff Boekerij'' and ''Unieboek Het Spectrum''. Since then, Lannoo publishes literature again, an activity that had almost fallen silent in the second half of the 20th century. In 2015, the publishing group acquired the Belgian publisher ''Academia Press''.
Uitgeverij Lannoo is a Belgian publishing company, based in
Tielt
Tielt (; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Tielt proper and the villages of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle.
History
Some traces of Gallo-Roman occupation hav ...
, with three subsidiaries:
* Distrimedia – since 1994 in charge of the distribution of own imprints and other companies, also in Tielt.
* Lannoo Graphics
* Lannoo Uitgeverij
LannooMeulenhoff
LannooMeulenhoff is a Dutch publishing company, based in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. It has subsidiaries: Meulenhoff Boekerij, Unieboek Het Spectrum, and TerraLannoo.
Meulenhoff Boekerij
Meulenhoff was founded in 1895 by
Johannes Marius Meulenhoff. Over the years, it built a reputation publishing literary works in original Dutch and in translation.
For many decades, the company was led by Laurens van Krevelen, who received the
Jan Hein Donner Award (a prestigious Dutch prize, awarded once every five years to notable persons in the publishing industry) in 2007. Meulenhoff was acquired by the books division of
PCM Uitgevers, then by Lannoo.
In 2001, Meulenhoff was rocked by the departure of long-time editor Tilly Hermans, for which the Dutch and other media blamed the corporate culture of then owner
PCM Uitgevers.
PCM, it was said, cared more for the bottom line than for the company's authors and editors, and was blamed for a "purge" that also led to the early retirement of van Krevelen. After more than thirty years with Meulenhoff Hermans founded Augustus, a smaller publishing house. Thirty authors followed her to the new publishing house, including
Rudy Kousbroek and
Adriaan van Dis). Others who left were
Maarten Biesheuvel
Maarten Biesheuvel (23 May 1939 in Schiedam – 30 July 2020 in Leiden) was a Dutch writer of short stories and novellas. He made his literary debut in 1972 with the short story collection ''In de bovenkooi''. He received the Ferdinand Bordewijk ...
and
Stefan Hertmans.
Authors published by Meulenhoff include:
Alicia Austin,
Maarten Biesheuvel
Maarten Biesheuvel (23 May 1939 in Schiedam – 30 July 2020 in Leiden) was a Dutch writer of short stories and novellas. He made his literary debut in 1972 with the short story collection ''In de bovenkooi''. He received the Ferdinand Bordewijk ...
.
Roberto Bolaño,
Stefan Hertmans,
Annemarie Kindt,
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
,
Carl Lundgren, E. L. de Marigny, Jaime Martijn,
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
,
and
Elie Wiesel
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates#1980, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel bibliogra ...
M=SF was a
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
novels series by Meulenhoff.
Imprints of Meulenhoff Boekerij include:
* ''Arena''
* ''Boekerij'' - novels
* ''Forum''
* ''Meulenhoff'' - literature
* ''Mynx''
Unieboek Het Spectrum
Het Spectrum was established in 1935 by book sellers P.H. Bogaard and A.H. Bloemsma. Its first location was a room above a bakery in de
Biltstraat in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
. Het Spectrum started as a
progressive-
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
publisher that aspired to supply good reading materials to the masses. Hence it published many pocket books. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, this formula continued as ''Prisma Pockets''. Among the pocket books were translated classics for the modest price of 1,25
guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...
. The Prisma dictionaries were also part of this line. Gradually the publishing company became one of the largest in the Netherlands. Dutch authors that have been published through the Het Spectrum imprints include
Godfried Bomans, Han van Bree, Hubrecht Duijker,
L. T. F. Gamut, Ben Tiggelaar, and
Janwillem van de Wetering. International authors include
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
Parker ros ...
,
Dr. Phil
Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), also known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author who is best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased ...
,
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher who is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Singer's work specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secu ...
,
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction.
Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...
, and
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
.
Unieboek was founded 1968 by Cornelis Anthonie Jacobus van Dishoeck (1921−1990), grandson and namesake of the publisher Cornelis Anthonie Jacobus van Dishoeck (1863−1931). The publisher included the imprints ''Van Holkema & Warendorf'', ''Van Goor'', ''Van Reemst'', and ''Lifestyle & Wellbeing''. Authors published by Unieboek and its subsidiaries include
Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer who is best known as the author of the young adult literature, young adult Dystopian fiction, dystopian book series ''The Hunger Games''. She is also the author ...
, Marion van de Coolwijk, Arend van Dam, Jaap ter Haar, Vivian den Hollander, Rik Hoogendoorn, Bouke Jagt, Jan van der Made, Tosca Menten, Mirjam Mous, Francine Oomen, Janneke Schotveld, Ben Tiggelaar (also at Het Spectrum),
Jacques Vriens,
Dolf de Vries, and Harm de Jonge.
In September 1999, Het Spectrum was acquired by PCM Uitgevers. PCM was acquired by
De Persgroep in 2003. Lannoo acquired Het Spectrum in 2010.
In 2018 Unieboek Het Spectrum operates from
Houten through the following imprints (specializations listed):
* ''Best of YA'' – novels
* ''Van Dishoeck'' – food & beverage books
* ''Van Holkema & Warendorf'' – fiction books for all ages, lifestyle
* ''Van Goor'' – children's books, juvenile books
* ''Mana'' – new age
* ''Prisma'' – langue books
* ''Van Reemst'' – travel guides in the series Capitool, Marco Polo, Nelles Gidsen and Dutch translations of
Rough Guides
Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized t ...
* ''Spectrum'' – nonfiction
* ''
Winkler Prins
The ''Winkler Prins'' is a Dutch-language encyclopedia, founded by the Dutch poet and clergyman Anthony Winkler Prins (1817–1908) and published by Elsevier. It has run through nine printed editions; the first, issued in 16 volumes from 187 ...
'' – encyclopedias
TerraLannoo
Uitgeverij TerraLannoo is in charge of sales and marketing in the Netherlands of publications by the Belgian publishers Terra, Lannoo, and Lannoo Campus.
It also manages the
Michelin
Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...
publications in the Netherlands.
References
External links
LannooLannoo: About us(in Dutch)
{{Authority control
Mass media in Amsterdam
Mass media in Utrecht (province)
Publishing companies of Belgium
Publishing companies of the Netherlands
Catholicism in Belgium
Companies based in West Flanders
Belgian companies established in 1906
Publishing companies established in 1906