By David Laskin   After a long career successful in narrative nonfiction (The Children’s Blizzard, The Long Way Home, The Family), I decided a few years ago to jump the fence to fiction. My first novel, What Sammy Knew, is the story of a high school senior named Sammy Stein who, in the first months

We’re pleased to share videos from the 2022 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 Saturday Event Saturday, February 12, 2022 | 8:00 – 9:30 pm EST

Contributed by Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future “I’m a realist,” Ruth Gates was saying. “I cannot continue to hope that our planet is not going to change radically. It already is changed.” Gates, then the head of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology, had taken me out to

Dr. Paul Farmer, medical anthropologist, physician, and professor at Harvard Medical School, passed away on February 21, 2022, in Butaro, Rwanda. Dr. Farmer was the subject of Tracy Kidder’s 2003 book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. The book is an account of the difference

Salt in My Soul is Mallory Smith’s posthumously published memoir, the collected diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug—from age 15 to her death at the age of 25. Mallory’s story of resilience has resonated in classrooms across

Educated,  now available in paperback, is an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University. One of the most acclaimed books of our time, it has been taught in classrooms across the country and been selected for common

Contributed by Katharine K. Wilkinson, co-editor of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis “I was shaking as I read the opening essay because I felt so empowered,” one of my students shared at the start of the fall 2020 semester. I’d spent the previous nine months co-editing the bestselling

On Thursday, November 11th 2021, Penguin Random House Education hosted a special event for common reading. Moderated by Spenser Stevens, PRH Education Marketing Manager, the event featured:   Senator Mazie K. Hirono, author of Heart of Fire Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us Michael Sayman, author of App Kid Judith Heumann, author of Being Heumann

Contributed by Thomas Mullen, author of The Last Town on Earth: A Novel Authors are usually thrilled when our work is considered particularly resonant for today, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind. When I began writing The Last Town on Earth nearly two decades ago, I was intrigued by the setting of

The 1619 Project is The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning reframing of American history that placed slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. The project, which was initially launched in August of 2019, offered a revealing new origin story for the United States, one that helped explain not only the persistence of

Contributed by the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, a public theologian, senior minister at Middle Church, and the author of Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World I’m so excited for the journey your students are on! They’ve embarked on a path not only to an education

Bookshop.org, the ethical online marketplace which supports independent bookstores, has announced a ground-breaking partnership with Penguin Random House imprint One World ahead of the publication of The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story on November 16. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the team at The New York Times Magazine