On Monday, Sep. 15, author and editor Jenny Jackson spoke with Auburn students, faculty and community members as part of Auburn University's 2025 Common Book series. Held in the Melton Student Center, the event centered around Jackson's process of editing this year’s Common Book, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin, understanding the publishing industry and exploring gaming as an art form and opportunity for community.
Through the Auburn Common Book Program sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Common Book event series aims to bring the Auburn community together through literature every year. A different Common Book is chosen for each school year, and the program encourages students and faculty alike to pick up the book and read along.
Jeff Lamondia, chair of the Common Book Committee and the interviewer for the event, said the "incredibly special" program serves as an activity for people to get involved in and share together. He believes that these events bring the Auburn community together.
This year, Jenny Jackson, the speaker for the first Common Book event, is the vice president and executive editor for publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. Although she recently published her own novel "Pineapple Street" in 2023, Jackson began her career as an editor, editing many literary works, including the Common Book.
During her visit to Auburn, Jackson visited classes and book clubs, met students, engaged with people on campus and concluded her trip with the Common Book event. The event titled “From Draft to Print: Editing Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” invited attendees to listen to Jackson discuss her career, how the editorial process works, her experiences as an author and editing this year's Common Book.
After the event, attendees were invited to speak to Jackson, purchase a copy of her book and get it signed.
“The book publishing world seems, like, very high up,” said Lucy McManus, an attendee and freshman majoring in speech, language and hearing sciences. “It seems just very interesting and very cool that someone worked so closely with the book was able to just come and talk to us about it and give a very personal experience and view on everything that occurred behind the scenes.”
After time away from visiting students, Jackson was excited to share her creative process with others.
“I haven’t had the chance to talk to students in such a long time,” Jackson said. "We had a really fun book club discussion of the book. It was fascinating.”
Jackson was excited about the students she spoke to when she visited classes, especially the ones who asked her questions about the more technical and business aspects of publishing and editing. She also noted the nuanced thoughts and perspectives of students about the book’s characters, as well as the faces from those classes that she recognized in the crowd at the Common Book event.
“There’s no question that books unite us,” Jackson said. “There is something magical that happens when we read the same book.”
In Jackson's opinion, both books and games help create and sustain community.
“You’re making an act of vulnerability,” she said.
The next Common Book event "Community in Gaming: An Evening with Matthew Mercer" will be held on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Gogue Performing Arts Center. At the second event in the series, Matthew Mercer, voice actor and dungeon master for the Dungeons & Dragons web series "Critical Role," will speak about his career, games and community in gaming.
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