Jordan Salama, author portrait

Jordan Salama

Stranger in the Desert
Every Day The River Changes

Books

Stranger in the Desert
Every Day The River Changes

What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2026–27

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities across the country have announced their Common Reading books for the 2026–27 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 250 programs and their title selections, detailed below. We will continue to update this listing to provide the most comprehensive record of programs available anywhere

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2027 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2027! 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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Videos from the 2026 First-Year Experience® Conference are now available

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

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FROM THE PAGE: An excerpt from Jordan Salama’s Stranger in the Desert

Jordan Salama, author of Every Day the River Changes, is American, Syrian, Argentinian, and Iraqi Jewish. Inspired by his global genealogy and the family lore that he may have long-lost relatives in Argentina, Jordan goes in search of the “Lost Salamas,” traveling more than a thousand miles through the Argentine Andes.   “Kan ya makan .

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