Glenn Thompson (publisher) facts for kids

Glenn Thompson (born September 24, 1940 – died September 7, 2001) was an American book publisher and activist. He was born in Harlem, New York. In 1968, he moved to England. There, he started a community bookshop called Centerprise in Hackney, East London. Later, in 1976, he helped create the Writers and Readers Cooperative. This group became famous for publishing the ...For Beginners series. These books were like graphic novels that explained complicated topics.

About Glenn Thompson

Glenn Thompson was born on September 24, 1940. His parents were Clara Belle and George Joseph Thompson. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Early Life and Self-Education

When Glenn was 13, his mother passed away. Soon after, his father left the family. Glenn and his younger brother, Dennis, were then cared for by the welfare department. They were sent to a children's shelter, but Glenn was soon moved to a different place, and the brothers were separated.

Glenn did not learn to read until he was 12 years old. He left school when he was almost 14. However, he loved to read and taught himself many things by reading a lot of books.

Traveling the World

When he was 20, Glenn got a job on a freighter. This job allowed him to travel to North Africa. For the next few years, he explored many places. He traveled around North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. He even worked for two years on an Israeli kibbutz, which is a type of community settlement.

Helping Communities with Books

In 1968, Glenn arrived in England. He used his life experiences to get a job as a social worker in Hackney, East London. In 1970, he started a community-focused bookshop. He did this with his first wife, Margaret Gosley.

They also created a publishing and social services group called Centerprise. This organization helped people until 2012. Centerprise's first book was a collection of poems by a 12-year-old boy named Vivian Usherwood. It was very popular and sold 18,000 copies!

Publishing for Everyone

Glenn Thompson worked for Penguin Education for a while. Then, in 1976, he co-founded the Writers and Readers Cooperative. He started this with his second wife, Sian Williams, and other friends. Their goal was to publish books by various authors.

The Cooperative also ran a bookshop in London until the mid-1980s. Their most successful project was the ...For Beginners series. These were documentary comic books that explained difficult topics. The first book was Cuba for Beginners. The series covered many subjects, from famous thinkers like Freud and Marx to popular figures like Elvis Presley and even DNA.

Later, there was a disagreement within the Cooperative. This led to the group breaking up in 1984.

A Vision for Harlem

After the Cooperative split, Glenn Thompson became the sole publisher in 1987. He moved back to his hometown of New York City. He wanted to protect the copyrights of his books. The U.S. part of his company was called Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc. and was based in Harlem.

Glenn's goal was to start a new "Harlem Renaissance" by creating an international publishing house there. He launched two new publishing lines:

• Harlem River Press, which published poetry for children.
• Black Butterfly Children's Books, which created books for kids in inner-city areas.

His London-based company, officially started in 1992, was called Writers and Readers Limited. For the rest of his life, Glenn traveled back and forth between New York City and London to manage his companies.

Death

Glenn Thompson passed away from cancer in London on September 7, 2001. He left behind three children and two grandchildren.

His Lasting Impact

In 2007, a group of investors brought back the For Beginners series. The new company, For Beginners, LLC, has reprinted many of the old books. They also plan to publish several new books each year, continuing Glenn Thompson's vision of making complex topics easy to understand.