We’re pleased to share videos from the 2026 First-Year Experience® Conference. Whether you weren’t able to join us at the conference or would simply like to hear the talks again, please take a moment to view the clips below.   Penguin Random House Author Breakfast Monday, February 17th, 7:15 – 8:45 am PST   This

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 291 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

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

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   Sasha Bonét, author of The Waterbearers is a powerful new voice, telling the American story through three generations of Black mothers.   Sasha Bonét is a writer and cultural critic based in New

From Annie Jacobsen, the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario, a book on a subject that has long orbited her reporting: biological warfare.   Chapter One Recombinant DNA One day in 1971, inside a laboratory at Stanford University in California, an American biochemist named Paul Berg conducted an experiment that would forever change the

Raised deep in the hollers of the Appalachian Mountains, Emilee Hackney knew little beyond the ridgelines and coalfields of southwest Virginia. At fourteen, Emilee meets Sam, who offers her a glimpse at a promising future together. As they begin attending services at Deliverance Christian Church, Emilee is thrust into the radical realm of Pentecostalism. Emilee

Drawing on more than a decade of experience building the global Make Big Talk movement, Kalina Silverman examines how meaningful conversation can help address loneliness, strengthen relationships, and foster a greater sense of belonging. Combining research, personal stories, and practical conversation prompts, Big Talk offers an accessible framework for cultivating empathy, trust, and authentic connection