Robert Kolker, author portrait
© © Jeff Zorabedian

Robert Kolker

ROBERT KOLKER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road, which was an Oprah's Book Club pick and was named a top book of literary journalism in the 21st century by GQ and a top non-fiction book of the century by Kirkus Reviews. Kolker is also the author of the bestseller Lost Girls, named one of The New York Times's 100 Notable Books and one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Books of 2013. Kolker is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and a recipient of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Hidden Valley Road

Books

Hidden Valley Road

Register for the 2026 Penguin Random House First-Year Experience® Conference Author Events!

Penguin Random House Author Events at the 45th Annual First-Year Experience® Conference February 15-18, 2026 Seattle, Washington Hyatt Regency Seattle Click Here to RSVP A complimentary meal and a limited number of books will be available to attendees. Each event will also be followed by an author signing. Interested in hosting one of these authors at

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What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2025-26

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 284 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2025-26. We will continue to update this

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2026 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2026! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about the environment, current events, history, public health, science, social justice, student success, and technology, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through

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