Booksology If you want to dig deeper, click “See All Polls” to see the top 10 for individual figures, including Roxanne Gay, RF Quan, Stephen King, and Salman Rushdie. You can also submit your own suggestions to the follow-up list.
Are AI suspicions the new normal for literary awards?
Three of the five shortlisted works for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Award have been accused of being generated by AI. It started when an article came to our attention that had some hallmarks of AI writing and was flagged by (erroneous) AI detection software as 100% AI-generated. Now, two other shortlisted novels have also been accused of being partially written by AI. wired We see this as the new normal. It is difficult to know how to respond to such accusations. Text written by AI is a legitimate concern, especially when prize money is involved. However, it is also very difficult to determine with certainty whether AI is involved. Also, you don’t want to ruin a new writer’s career by using em dashes or parallel sentence structures.
Meanwhile, Olga Tokarczuk issued a statement regarding the use of AI. Specifically, she says, “None of my writing, including the novel that will be published in Polish this fall, has been written with the help of artificial intelligence, except when I use it as a tool to speed up preliminary research.” This controversy raised new questions. Many (most?) readers avoid books written by AI, but what counts as written by an AI? Are books edited by an AI acceptable? What if I want to use it for research? Tools like Grammarly are also AI, but does that matter to readers? I think this conversation is going to get even trickier.
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Barnes & Noble CEO says there’s “no problem” with purchasing books written by AI
Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in a recent interview that there is “no problem” with B&N stores selling books written by AI.
“Yes, actually, I have no problem selling any book, as long as it doesn’t pretend or pretend to be something it’s not. And the book has an essential quality that the customer, the reader, wants.
So as long as the AI-written books are not claiming to be AI-written and pretending to be something else or plagiarizing someone else, as long as it’s clearly stated and customers want to buy them, we’ll stock them. ”
I’m not surprised by the general sentiment, but I do wonder what the “intrinsic quality” is that all the books in the Barnes & Noble store have in common. And while it’s optimistic to imagine that books written by AI will have clear labels, the trend so far is that this is far from the case.
In theory, a company could make money by selling books written by AI, but I think that would be short-sighted. No one wants to scour the shelves of bookstores for AI books, and some, like AI-written mushroom identification guides, can be dangerous. While it’s probably impossible to guarantee that the books in your store aren’t being manipulated by AI, accepting books written by AI could have a negative impact on your in-store experience and your brand.
Alex Haley’s ‘ROOTS’ banned by Tennessee school district
At the other end of the book’s news is other news from Tennessee. This time it involves the groundbreaking book Roots by Alex Haley. roots The film follows Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped from Gambia as part of the transatlantic slave trade. The story follows six generations of Kinte’s descendants, all the way to Haley, who first learned about Kinte’s ancestors while living with her maternal grandparents in Tennessee. The book was so influential and culturally influential after it was published in 1976 that it inspired thousands of people to explore their heritage, and its characters became a permanent fixture in pop culture.
Now, Knox County Schools (KCS) has removed the book from its library as part of the state’s age-appropriate materials law, which was first passed in 2022. The law prohibits titles containing nudity, sexual abuse, sexual content, or excessive violence from being on school shelves. Interestingly, KCS’s book banning committee had previously voted not to ban the book after considering excerpts. However, the commission did not say what new information led to the current ban. Another interesting thing is that this book can still be taught in class. It cannot be placed on the library shelf. I feel like Tennessee has become a battleground for the civil rights movement in this country.
Queer horror books to hit shelves during Pride Month in 2026
With Pride Month fast approaching, it’s no surprise that so many new queer horror books are being released in June. If you’re looking for more bizarre horror stories to add to your TBR for Pride Month and beyond, here are four LGBTQ horror novels you should pick up. And good luck! The first book will be released at the beginning of June. Join All Access To read the full post.
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