Carolyn Forché is being awarded the American Book Award for In the Lateness of the World, a tenebrous book of crossings, of migrations across oceans and borders but also between the present and the past, life and death. The world here seems to be steadily vanishing, but in the moments before the uncertain end, an illumination

U.S. News & World Report, which publishes the most widely quoted annual set of rankings for American colleges and universities, recently shared their list of “10 Books to Read Before College.” Describing these books as “assigned texts [that] are regularly used in freshman-level classes and offer students a chance to come together to discuss a

Editor John Freeman reflects on his journey with the world of short stories in light of the upcoming release of The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story.  Click here  to see the full Table of Contents for The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story.   The Penguin Book of the Modern

  Left: Robin Broad; right: John Cavanagh   In the early 2000s, many people in El Salvador were at first excited by the prospect of jobs, progress, and prosperity that the Pacific Rim mining company promised. However, farmer Vidalina Morales, brothers Marcelo and Miguel Rivera, and others soon discovered that the river system supplying water

We are delighted to present our new First-Year reading catalogs for 2020! From award-winning fiction and memoir to new books about science, technology, history and current events, the titles presented in our college reading catalogs will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages, but also excited for the chance to discuss their reading

Seaweed is a sustainable, easy-to-produce ocean vegetable that has a positive impact on climate change and our environment. Why then is it not a staple ingredient used in American kitchens? In his recently published memoir, fisherman-turned-ocean farmer Bren Smith aims to change that through his tales of ocean-bound adventure and culinary re-imagination. In the following

Immigration Heritage Month serves as a reminder to  celebrate individual stories of immigration, and the shared diversity that makes up the United States. This year at the 38th annual conference on The First-Year Experience, author Abdi Nor Iftin shared his journey from war-torn Somalia to the United States—first by way of American movies, and years later

For the second year in a row, Common Reads has pulled together an extensive list of First-Year and Common Reading programs run by colleges and universities across the country.