📚 The damage is done

June 25, 2026View Online | Join All Access | Listen

️ It is a truth universally acknowledged that a classic book with a beloved adaptation must be in want of a remix. Jane Austen fans are in for a big fall, as a Pride and Prejudice series is due on Netflix (date TBA), and Sense and Sensibility hits the big screen on October 16. The trailer for the latter, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood, dropped this morning. Can she fill Emma Thompson’s dancing slippers?

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THE HEADLINE

Commonwealth Foundation clears writers accused of using AI

This one is a doozy. Three writers who were accused last month of using AI to create their Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize-winning pieces have been cleared.

Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation Razmi Farook said in a statement on the organization’s website: “We have spent the past month thoroughly investigating allegations of AI use.”

No AI tools were used in the investigation due to concerns “regarding artistic ownership and consent surrounding unpublished work.”

The investigation instead consisted of “detailed discussions” with all of the regional winners.

All five regional winners, not just the three who were accused of AI use, ”collaborated fully” in the review.

Asked to show their work, they provided “working drafts, time-stamped documents and notes.”

The verdict: “After a thorough consultation with our judges and careful consideration of all available information, we are satisfied that AI was not used to write the winning stories.”

But the damage is already done, as Granta has ended its partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and will no longer publish the winning stories in its literary magazine.

The winner of the 2026 Short Story Prize will be announced June 30, “alongside a film documenting the regional winners and the inspirations behind their work,” which should really be something given

️ Read the Commonwealth Foundation’s whole statement., RJS

READ WITH PRIDE

Smells like queer literary spirit

The fabled Greek storyteller Aesop is the inspiration behind the fragrance, skincare, and hair product company of the same name. While perfume may seem to have nothing to do with queer literature, for Aesop, it does.

In 2021, the company launched the Aesop Queer Library to celebrate Pride month.

Rather than changing their logo or incorporating rainbows into their marketing, they’ve partnered with local bookstores and organizations with pro-LGBTQIA+ philosophies to develop in-store takeovers and pop-up “Reading Room” libraries across the globe.

These libraries center books by queer authors, inviting guests to not only engage with those works in store but to also bring home a free copy for themselves.

This year’s Aesop Queer Library is teaming up with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The company has partnered with the ACLU for four years, noting their commitment to defending American rights, including and especially freedom of speech and expression.

The “Body of Work” theme for this year’s Queer Library aims to explore how “the queer body can challenge assumptions, give greater visibility to stories too often overlooked or ignored, and serve as an act of joyful resistance.”

Among the authors whose books will be featured are Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Torrey Peters, Seán Hewitt, Ocean Vuong, Brandon Taylor, Pedro Lemebel, Alejandro Varela, and Kristin Arnett.

Aesop has also partnered with Penguin Random House. According to Alyssa Taylor, Director of Brand Marketing for Penguin Random House, “By featuring a wide range of LGBTQIA2S+ voices across genres and formats, we hope to invite more readers into the fullness, complexity, joy, and resilience of the queer experience.”

You can visit the Aesop Queer Library’s pop-up reading rooms this weekend, June 26 through June 28, at stores in Los Angeles (Aesop Abbot Kinney and Silver Lake), New York (Park Slope), San Francisco (Fillmore), Miami (Design District), Austin (Domain NORTHSIDE), Houston (Montrose), Dallas (NorthPark), DC (Georgetown), Chicago (Lincoln Park), Hoboken, Portland (NW 23rd), Seattle (Capitol Hill), and Philadelphia (Walnut Street).

“Main Branch” locations, where most Aesop store products will be swapped out with books, will be in Los Angeles (Larchmont) and New York (Nolita).

If you’re in Chicago this weekend for the American Library Association Conference, Lincoln Park is only a short cab or L ride away.

The Aesop Queer Library has distributed over 115,000 LGBTQIA2S+ books globally since its launch., KJ

TOGETHER WITH BRAIN GAMES BY NICOLE ALFRINE

High-heat medical romance

In Nicole Alfrine’s Brain Games, a lifelong academic rivalry turns combustible when two top medical graduates match into the same competitive neurosurgery residency.

Delilah Harper is determined to become a neurosurgeon at a top hospital, but her biggest obstacle is Bradly Gallow, her arrogant, brilliant longtime rival. When they match into the same elite residency, their competition escalates into the “Brain Games,” a battle for the best cases and first major surgery. But as the stakes rise, so does the tension, turning rivalry into something neither can control.

Perfect for fans of Chicago Med and Scrubs, this standalone romance blends fast-paced hospital drama with sharp banter and emotional stakes.

ON THE SYLLABUS

One thing the new college kids will all have in common

Common Reads, sometimes called One Book, One College or All Campus Reads, has been a popular project for U.S. colleges and universities for the last decade.

They invite incoming students to all read the same book and spend the first weeks, or even the full first year, talking about it.

It’s both a smart way to prepare students for higher education and a way to build community among new students.

At some institutions, the books rotate every few years, allowing all levels of students to connect over the same book. At others, the books change annually. Many times, students are even treated to events that bring the book’s author to campus.

This summer’s Common Reads at universities across the country offer an interesting mix of fiction and nonfiction. Among the featured titles:

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay, Boston University

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Saddleback College

HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience by Ayesha Rascoe, Norfolk State University

Solito by Javier Zamora, California State Polytechnic University in Pomona

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke, Binghamton University

1984 by George Orwell, Metropolitan Community College (Kansas City)

A Map Is Only One Story edited by Nicole Chung and Mensah DeMary, Mount Holyoke

A few colleges and universities save their Common Reads for the school year itself. Among the picks from the fall of 2025 and spring of 2026:

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, University of California, Santa Barbara

Diaries of War by Nora Krug, Yavapai College

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, Slippery Rock University

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine at Vassar College

It’s important to think about these selections in the context of our current political moment.

Higher education has been under siege by this administration from the beginning, and many schools have actively folded to demands, eliminating departments, courses, and programs that fall under the categories of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”). Any selection is political, and while many institutions have committed to selecting titles that showcase America’s diversity, others have made safe choices or eliminated such programs altogether., KJ

LGBTQ

Welcome to a golden age of queer romance

Leyla Erkan is an editor for Harlequin. Below, she discusses the evolution of queer romance in publishing and its growing impact beyond the genre.

We’re living through an incredible period where romance is more popular than ever. Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry has taken the world by storm, ushering in excitement for all sorts of stories featuring queer love.

Already, I’m seeing the impact as an editor. I’m receiving more queer romance submissions than ever before, in every subgenre. And the queer writers I already work with, some of whom have been publishing in the space for years, are also seeing an influx of new readers discovering their books. It’s a great sign for the future ahead, one that I’m proud to be a part of.

I’m not surprised that our genre is at the forefront. Romance is seldom given the credit it deserves as a serious and culturally important genre. Instead, we’re often stigmatized and dismissed.

But in reality, romance is an inherently radical genre, one that believes every character deserves a happily ever after no matter who they are. And since queerness is wrapped up in who we love, romance books provide a particularly powerful tool for affirming queer identities.

A book can be the first piece of art where queer people see themselves represented fully and joyfully, in all of love’s layers and complexities. Like the queer love stories that have come before them, Heated Rivalry’s Shane and Ilya join a storied history of queer media, one that has been building to this cultural moment for generations. With this larger stage comes a larger impact, one that ushers in new readers who might create their own stories.

It’s a very exciting time to be impacting the next generation of talent. I can’t wait to see the even bigger and brighter stories that come from our next class of writers. What will we dare to imagine is possible next?

TOGETHER WITH THRIFTBOOKS

Welcome to the Kids Book Fair at Thriftbooks!

Fill your shelves with stories kids will love for less. For a limited time, buy 4 or more Kids Deal Books and use promo code KIDSARECOOL at checkout to get each qualifying book for just $2.99.

There’s no limit to how many times you can use this offer, so stock up on favorites, discover new adventures, and keep young readers turning pages.

AUDIOBOOKS

Queer Reads for Pride at Libro.fm

LGBTQ+ pride is all year round, but this month, Libro.fm is sharing some of their favorite new queer reads. Here are a few highlights.

☀️ Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon, A grumpy/sunshine sapphic YA romance between a popular basketball player and an introverted skateboarder who reluctantly come together for a summer challenge.

️The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, In this YA locked-room thriller, a billionaire has developed a protocol he claims creates prodigies. When he’s mysteriously murdered, his five adopted children, all viciously trained in his methods, are immediate suspects.

️ That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall, A Hawaiian gothic + supernatural thriller about a native Hawaiian teen who goes to a luxury island resort to find her missing twin and uncovers a mystery about the resort’s shocking past.

SWORDS AND SPACESHIPS

Writing a romantasy set in the world of D&D

photo credit: Mike Tan

C. L. Polk is the author of Even Though I Knew the End and The Midnight Bargain, among many others. Their newest book is The Feywild Job, out June 30th from Random House Worlds. Below, they discuss what it was like to write a romantasy set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.

Sometimes you have wishes that you don’t really talk about because they are too outlandish. Writing a D&D story was mine. When I read the email asking me if I wanted to write a romantasy set in the Feywild, I learned what it was like to have a wish come true. I also had to figure out how to make game rules into the story I wanted to tell.

I knew I wanted a warlock with an Archfey patron. On paper, these warlocks can change how they look at will. They can make instant friends with a smile, so long as they exit the acquaintance within ten minutes. They can cast convenient little illusions all day long, but they can call down incredible power when the need strikes.

I thought, “How glamorous.” And then, “What’s the catch?”

And that’s when Saeldian showed up. They came to me as this stunning, mercurial them fatale who enjoys the power their Archfey patron gives them. Not only can they charm anyone they meet and change how they look to suit the moment, they can look right when it’s time to relax off the job. But Saeldian bargained for this power: in exchange, they could never lose themself to love. When they made that promise as a child, it was easy. So how could I test that, now that they can do so much?

And that’s when Kell showed up. The urchin they teamed up with, helped become a bard, and then betrayed. Kell never wanted to see Saeldian again. But to get back home to his adopted family in the Feywild, he has to work with the person he once trusted more than anyone else in Faerûn. He hates Saeldian. But he wants to understand one thing: Why did they leave him to die in Baldur’s Gate? Saeldian can’t tell him. But he’s determined to find out.

Inside the adventure of ex-friends and ex-partners getting back together for one last job is a story about loyalty, trust, and what happens when we hold on to something that hurts us.

TOGETHER WITH VIZ MEDIA

A breakthrough hit about the journey of love into adulthood

I’m No Angel is the book that broke Ai Yazawa, creator of Nana, a mainstream name.

Midori has had a crush on Akira ever since she saw him rescue an abandoned cat. She hopes to become closer to him now that they’re working together on the student council, but his heart may belong to someone else…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Eric Carle, born June 25, 1929

Did you know? The first version of the book that would become The Very Hungry Caterpillar was called A Week with Willi the Worm, but Carle’s editor, Ann Beneduce, thought a worm would make an unappealing protagonist and suggested a caterpillar.

CRITICAL LINKING

You are now free to roam about the internet

 Hone your library skills with the Check Your Shelf newsletter.

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 Mark your calendar for Barnes & Noble’s biggest books of fall.

️‍ Be gay, do crime with these chaotic queer mysteries and thrillers.

END NOTES

Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Kelly Jensen, Vanessa Diaz, and Danika Ellis. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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