Jay Parini, author portrait
© Oliver Parini

Jay Parini

Jay Parini is a poet, novelist, and biographer who teaches at Middlebury College. He has written eight novels, including The Damascus RoadBenjamin’s CrossingThe Apprentice LoverThe Passages of H.M., and The Last Station, the last made into an Academy Award–nominated film. His biographical subjects include John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, William Faulkner, and, most recently, Gore Vidal. His nonfiction works include Jesus: The Human Face of GodWhy Poetry Matters, and Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America.

Borges and Me
Benjamin's Crossing
The Damascus Road
Empire of Self
The Passages of H.M.
Promised Land
The Last Station

Books

Borges and Me
Benjamin's Crossing
The Damascus Road
Empire of Self
The Passages of H.M.
Promised Land
The Last Station

Books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Each May, we honor the stories, histories, and cultures of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Below is a selection of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators to share with your students this month and throughout the year. Find our full collection of titles for Higher Education here.

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NOW AVAILABLE: An Educator’s Guide to a Selection of John Steinbeck’s Nonfiction Works

From the Introduction: John Steinbeck wasn’t necessarily talking about being an adolescent when he wrote his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he received in 1962, but some things in that speech still resonate with my students. “Humanity has been passing through a gray and desolate time of confusion,” he said, alluding

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