Full text
July 2, 2026 View Online | Join All Access | Listen
๐ Man, itโs a hot one. Stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, and donโt leave home without one of the best beach reads of all time .
Spread the word. Share this email with friends.
THE HEADLINE
Writer accused of AI use wins Commonwealth Prize
What a journey! Jamir Nazir, one of the three finalists for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize who were accused of using AI to create their work, has won the overall prize .
ICYMI :
Accusations began swirling online in May shortly after the Commonwealth Foundation announced the five regional winners who would go on to compete for the overall prize.
Readers, writers, and even an AI expert pointed to what they believed were โobvious markers of AI writingโ in the nominated stories.
Citing concerns about โeditorial integrity,โ Granta Magazine, which has published the winning stories for more than a decade, ended its partnership with the Prize.
But! The Commonwealth Foundation cleared Nazir and his fellow finalists last week after a month-long investigation that, notably, did not incorporate AI-detection software.
Nazir , who has not commented on the allegations, discusses his inspiration and writing process in a short film released by the Commonwealth Foundation.
Itโs just about impossible to prove a negative where AI is concerned.
The linguistic tics like em dashes and โnot X, but Yโ constructions that can indicate a work was AI-generated have their origins in the human-generated works large language models were trained on.
Showing your work with notes, drafts, and other documentation is about to become important for writers and could figure into future award selection processes.
๐ See for yourself. You can read Nazirโs winning story, โThe Serpent in the Grove,โ along with the other regional winners, at Granta. โ RJS
TRENDING
The It Books of July 2026
๐ฎ Gather round as we peer into our crystal ball and assess the biggest new books month.
The ideal It Book rings four bells:
๐ Zeitgeist โ Whatโs the buzz?
๐ Art โ Is it good?
๐ Acclaim โ Will it contend for awards and best-of lists?
๐ Sales โ Whereโs the money?
Julyโs contenders include a terrifying consideration of biological warfare, the conclusion of a crime trilogy from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and a charming and zany fish-out-of-water novel.
๐ง Listen as we play a knock-out round to determine the It Book of July.
TOGETHER WITH OUR QUEEREST SHELVES
Grow your TBR beyond Pride Month .
Our Queerest Shelves delivers a mix of new releases, themed best-of lists, and exclusive author interviews directly to your inbox. Whether you are looking for major new titles or niche indie gems, join thousands of fellow readers and subscribe to Our Queerest Shelves today.
LET ME UPGRADE YOU
Level-up your reading life
Book Riot All Access members get a pile of benefits, including unlimited reading on bookriot.com, recommendations for the Read Harder Challenge, and access to our Collections feature and the New Release Index to curate your TBR. Here are a few recent highlights:
๐งโ๐ณ 9 Must-Read Cookbooks to Liven Up Your Kitchen
๐ซ The Fantasy Backlist Titles at the Top of My TBR
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ Queer Chaos: Mystery & Thriller Edition
๐ญ Compelling and Engaging Nonfiction Comics
๐ฆธโโ๏ธ The Best New Graphic Novels for Kids Out This Year
๐ Unlock access for just $6/month.
AUDIOBOOKS
Libro.fmโs bestselling audiobook of June
Summer listening season is in full swing. Here are Juneโs top 5 best-selling audiobooks in fiction and non-fiction at independent bookstores, as reported by Libro.fm .
In fiction:
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Whistler by Ann Patchett
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
Land by Maggie OโFarrell
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
In nonfiction:
Regime Change by Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan
The Land and Its People by David Sedaris
Strangers by Belle Burden
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Famesick by Lena Dunham
I was also pleasantly surprised to see Communion by bell hooks hang on as the #9 best-selling nonfiction, as it was in May. โ JO
TOGETHER WITH AUDIOBOOKS.COM
Get your next three audiobooks completely free from Audiobooks.com .
Choose from over 500,000 titles, including Yesteryear , the viral debut novel everyone is talking about. Claim your three free audiobooks and start your 30-day trial today!
UNAFRAID OF KITSCH, UNAFRAID OF SEX
Short stories for perverts
photo credit: Ryan Pfluger
When I think about stories Iโd recommend for perverts, I think that they can, at their core, be about anything. That is, they donโt have to be sexual or transgressive, although they often are.
To me, they have to be audacious and fearless; they have to be self-assured and big-hearted. They are unconcerned with what you think. They are fearless in their pursuit of emotional truths, an energy which is, admittedly, highly erotic.
The New Narrative movement embodies a sort of perversity that I am fond of. In the introduction to the anthology Writers Who Love Too Much: New Narrative 1977-1997 edited by Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian, the editors write of the movement:
โIt would be a writing prompted not by fiat nor consensus, nor by the totalizing suggestions of the MFA โprogram era,โ but by community; it would be unafraid of experiment, unafraid of kitsch, unafraid of sex and gossip and political debate.โ
That is the energy that I am bringing to this recommendation list.
โAgatha Lettersโ by Camille Roy: As a prominent member of the New Narrative Movement, Roy is a must-read. โAgatha Letters,โ the first story in her latest, Honey Mine , opens with the question: โIs it all point of view? Pleasure, I meanโthe surprise in the dark. I suppose itโs different for everyone.โ And then it shifts to third-person POV: โTo Camille it felt empty and fresh, because she was.โ The story, which is experimental in nature, is erotic and insightful, tragic and unafraid. And I fuck with the POV shifts as they relate to distortion, truth, and how we craft stories about ourselves.
โOn the Boardwalkโ by Robert Glรผck
โBoyfriend #666 / The Satanistโ & โThis Day and Many Moreโ by Brontez Purnell
โMoon Over Denny-Blaineโ by Max Delsohn
๐ Find all of Mac Craneโs recommendations on Book Riot .
TOGETHER WITH CHECK YOUR SHELF
Calling all librarians (and other book nerds)!
Keeping up with the book world is a full-time job on top of your full-time job. Let Book Riotโs Check Your Shelf do the heavy lifting.
Get a curated weekly digest of industry news, diverse book lists, and collection development inspiration delivered straight to your inboxโfor free. Sign up for Check Your Shelf today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Wisลawa Szymborska, born July 2, 1923
Did you know? Poet Wisลawa Szymborska, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature, was a bestselling author in her native Poland, even as she only averaged about six published poems per year over her long career. Check out some of her poetry here .
CRITICAL LINKING
You are now free to roam about the internet
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ Find out why queer lit is booming.
๐บ๐ธ Make America read again. Start with these Great American Novels .
๐ง Engage your brain with these thought-provoking comics .
๐ Break all the rules with the author of yearโs biggest surprise hit .
๐ซ Browse all of Book Riotโs newsletters for recommendations and book news by genre.
END NOTES
Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Jeff OโNeal, and Danika Ellis. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.
Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here .
Got a tip, question, comment, or story idea? Drop us a line: thenewsletter@bookriot.com .
Comments
No comments yet โ be the first to weigh in ๐
No comments yet. Be the first!