A Mystery Author’s Identity Revealed

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Who is Evelyn Clarke?

I apologize if you thought this was about Elena Ferrante. No, I’m talking about Evelyn Clarke, author of The Ending Writes Itself, a crime thriller that satirizes the publishing industry. The secret wasn’t lasting (the debut novel isn’t even out until next spring), but now we know the duo behind the book is VE Schwab (Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil) and Cat Clarke (Entangled). The reveal originated in an Instagram post from their publisher’s imprint, though some correctly guessed at Schwab’s connection to the book before it was confirmed. Longtime friends Schwab and Clarke sound happy enough that they can now freely talk about the once secret project and shared about their decision to pen a book together with Stylist. You can read that interview here.

A Sticky AI-Authored Situation

Another day, another story about the ethics of AI use. This one actually comes from The New York Times‘ Ethicist column, where people write in with their ethical dilemmas seeking answers from columnist Kwame Anthony Appiah. A local historical society volunteer wrote in about the group learning too late that a high school essayist they’d awarded a prize had used AI to write their submission. In this case, Appiah wrote back that AI has changed our relationship to writing, especially when we’re talking about younger generations, and it might be time to rethink the way we assess skill and make sure boundaries about AI use are explicitly stated.

My National Book Awards Longlist Predictions

Last week, the National Book Awards rolled out the longlists for the five awards categories. I haven’t read all of the books up for the prestigious award this year, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make mostly unfounded predictions about the winners! So here are my quick, off-the-cuff guesses for the winner in each category:

A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by María Dolores Águila (Young People’s Literature): This book about a 12-year-old boy living in a U.S. rife with anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican propaganda reminds us of historical precedents to our current moment. We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (Translated Literature): Han Kang has won a Nobel Prize in Literature and an International Booker Award, but has never been recognized by the NBA! Kang’s newest, described as “both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering,” has been hugely popular among readers and critics this year, proving she’s still got it. The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith (Poetry): I’m out of my depth in this category, but I’m going with Smith because she’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and this book collects the work of what sounds like a profoundly talented and prolific poet. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Nonfiction): Honestly, I’m choosing this because it’s my favorite nonfiction of 2025 so far. El Akkad wrote a deeply moving book that speaks to a huge and disastrous moment in global and humanitarian history when he wrote this book about the genocide happening now in Gaza. The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy (Fiction): Sometimes a book just screams “winner,” and Flournoy’s newest is one of those books. I’m personally excited to read this novel following the decades-long friendship of five Black women that sounds captivating, deep, and timely.

Those are my predictions and you can find the full longlists here.

20 Years of Twilight

I will never wrap my head around the fact that Twilight published two decades ago. If you continue to stan sparkly vampires and the love triangle of all love triangles, celebrate the YA sensation’s anniversary with some autumnal and bookish Twilight-inspired goodies.