Blonde
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More
1923: The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors…
The Harper Prize Novel is introduced as a competition to discover unknown authors, and receives more than 700 submissions in its first year. The first winner, The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson, is later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1924). More
Virgin River
Debut title in the series that took Robyn Carr to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. More
To Kill a Mockingbird
Much-loved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, voted by librarians across America as the best novel of the twentieth century. More
Patricia MacLachlan
I read as a child to find out what I thought, what I wished for, and what scared me. More
The Dispossessed
The classic utopian science fiction; winner of the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Awards. More
Little House on the Prairie
Third book in the award-winning Little House series, which has sold more than 34 million copies. More
Julie of the Wolves
Newbery Medal–winning classic about a girl living among wolves. More
Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt regarding a new autobiographical book
Harper editor and chairman of the board Cass Canfield sent this letter, dated April 10, 1951, to Eleanor Roosevelt... More
Lauren Weisberger
A book that influenced me and why . . . Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume was incredibly influential to me as a child. More
How Harlequin Became Romance
When Richard H.G. Bonnycastle, a former Arctic explorer with the Hudson Bay Company, launched Harlequin Books in Winnipeg in 1948, he had little interest in building a publishing empire around romance novels. More
Cathy Marie Buchanan
I write because I’m compelled to create and writing is the act that best satisfies the itch. More
Ursula K. Le Guin
Dear HarperCollins: You ask me, “Why do you read? Why do you write?” Well, I mean, duh. More
Journey to Jo’burg
Groundbreaking book set in South Africa during the apartheid era and banned by its government. More
Kristan Higgins
A book that influenced me and why . . . Little House on the Prairie. More
Nikki Gemmell
Reading is a haven, a harbor, to shelter me from the toss of the world. More
B. A. Paris
I write because it’s something I love doing. More
Pallavi Aiyyar
I read to travel within and to range wide beyond my limited firsthand experiences. More
Michele A’Court
I read because I want to live more than one life. Books take us out of ourselves into a whole other world. More
Emma Freedman
Why I read: To escape the everyday in worlds that wildly creative people invite us into, and to expand the mind. More
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Christie’s first book to be published by William Collins; known for its startling reveal. More
Red Scarf Girl
Searing memoir set during the height of the Cultural Revolution in China. More
The Stone Diaries
Winner of the 1993 Governor General’s Award (Canada) and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. More
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Award-winning first book in the If You Give series, which has sold more than 15 million copies. More
Sara Pennypacker
I write because the really good stuff—how funny and beautiful the world is, even when it’s not; More
Donna Hay
I read Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer at twenty-three years old on the plane on my way to Paris, on the beginning of my first big overseas adventure. More
Jacqueline Winspear
I read because I love language, the way the joining of words and the rhythm of a story can make me laugh, cry, or take me out of my world or immerse me in the lives of others. More
