Author.java

@Entity
public class Author {

	…

	@ManyToMany(mappedBy=”authors”, cascade = CascadeType.PERSIST)
	private List<Book> books = new ArrayList<Book>();

	…
}

PersistAuthorAndBooks.java

EntityManager em = emf.createEntityManager();
em.getTransaction().begin();

Author a = new Author();
a.setFirstName(“John”);
a.setLastName(“Doe”);

Book b1 = new Book();
b1.setTitle(“John’s first book”);
a.getBooks().add(b1);

Book b2 = new Book();
b2.setTitle(“John’s second book”);
a.getBooks().add(b2);

em.persist(a);

em.getTransaction().commit();
em.close();

PersistAuthorAndBooks.log

15:44:28,140 DEBUG [org.hibernate.SQL] – insert into Author (firstName, lastName, version, id) values (?, ?, ?, ?)
15:44:28,147 DEBUG [org.hibernate.SQL] – insert into Book (publisherid, publishingDate, title, version, id) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
15:44:28,150 DEBUG [org.hibernate.SQL] – insert into Book (publisherid, publishingDate, title, version, id) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)