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

In The Meaning of Your Life, social scientist and happiness expert Arthur Brooks examines why modern life can feel empty despite material progress and argues that cultural and technological shifts have made meaning harder to access. Drawing on science, philosophy, and faith traditions, Brooks outlines practical ways to cultivate purpose, deepen relationships, and orient one’s

Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has passed away at age 80. Tracy Kidder’s books covered subjects as wide-ranging as global public health, computer science, education, construction, and homelessness, but they were all united by his trademark research and dogged reporting that provided the foundations for stories of real people, passionately committed to their work. In

For Rick Smith ’68, former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, reading has always been more than an academic exercise; it’s a bridge between people, ideas, and generations, reflecting the core of an Albion liberal arts education. As the endowment of Albion College’s Endowed Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience (CRE) celebrates its 25th anniversary, we’re reminded of where

El Paso is an extraordinary, can’t-look-away reported history; it uses deep research and dozens of new interviews to blow away the myth of this place, where Mexico’s Juarez and America’s El Paso intertwine. It charts the history of El Paso through five families. From the Mexican Revolution and the Mexican Repatriation, to the shifting immigration laws

As the sponsor for the 2025-2026 Outstanding First Year Student Advocate Awards, we at Penguin Random House Education are proud to foster a universal passion for reading and to honor an extraordinary group of educators for their commitment to student learning. On February 17th, at the 2026 First-Year Experience® Conference in Seattle, WA, we honored

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   With style and straight talk, musician and changemaker Lachi flips disability and neurodivergence into an empowering identity, a cultural movement, and an innovation engine.    

Attensity! is a rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention, with the tools we need to reclaim our humanity, by a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard of the movement.   Chapter 1 Something is seriously wrong. It has to do with our ATTENTION, our essential ability to give our

Through magnetic storytelling and pop-culture deep dives, Lachi challenges mainstream views on disability and neurodivergence with humor and heart. Because visionaries with disabilities have always driven progress. The book features trailblazing figures like Senator Tammy Duckworth, Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte, Microsoft executive Jenny Lay-Flurrie, and so many more. Lachi even takes readers behind the

PRH Education/Common Reads presents: unCommon Authors unCommon Authors is a monthly video series highlighting exceptional and unique authors talking about their books.   Attensity! is a rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention, with the tools we need to reclaim our humanity, by a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard

A “powerful” (The Guardian) reflection on basketball, life, and home—from the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America.   Longlisted for the National Book Award Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award   5:00 You will surely forgive me if I begin

We’re all born playful. But when we grow up, we learn to suppress this critical, hardwired instinct and our lives become ruled by “getting things done.” As world-famous designer Cas Holman explains, this disconnection from our playful selves is hazardous to everything from our emotional wellbeing to our ability to problem solve and innovate. The