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Kalina Silverman

Kalina Silverman is the creator of Big Talk (@MakeBigTalk). She graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and received a prestigious Fulbright award to pursue cross-cultural communications research in Singapore. She serves as a U.S. Fulbright ambassador, in addition to her work as an author, video journalist, speaker, and artist. Her storytelling has raised millions for social impact campaigns, inspiring people all over the world. Big Talk has been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, Time, People, PBS, and more. When she’s not making Big Talk, Kalina loves to surf, practice martial arts, paint, write and play music, and adventure outdoors.
Big Talk

Books

Big Talk

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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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 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

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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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