Clare Mulroy
Clare Mulroy is a books reporter on the entertainment desk at USA TODAY, focused on how popular books, authors and reading communities shape contemporary culture. Her coverage treats reading as both entertainment and lived experience, combining author interviews, trend reporting and practical guidance that helps audiences navigate the modern book world.
Buzzy releases and author conversations
Mulroy’s core work centers on buzzy new releases and in-depth conversations with the authors behind them. She writes ranking features and preview lists that map out major publishing moments, including annual best-books roundups and seasonal “most anticipated” collections across genres. Her profiles and Q&As with high-profile and breakout writers - from Nicholas Sparks and Malala Yousafzai to Chloe Gong, Rick Riordan and Lucy Foley - focus on story concepts, creative process, adaptation news and the way their books intersect with current cultural debates.
These pieces often frame individual titles within a bigger narrative about why certain kinds of stories resonate now, giving equal weight to plot, character and reader response.
Reading culture, BookTok and fandom
A defining strand of Mulroy’s reporting is her attention to reading culture and the communities that form around books.
She covers the rise of BookTok and other social platforms as engines for literary tourism, documenting phenomena such as readers traveling on Percy Jackson–themed tours or visiting locations tied to their favorite stories. Her features examine new forms of communal reading, including silent book club–style events where people gather to read together without discussion, and explore why these formats appeal to modern audiences.
Mulroy also dives into genre-specific fandoms, unpacking the appeal of dark romance with its morally gray heroes and extreme plots, and connecting these trends to broader conversations about escapism, identity and online communities. Across these stories, she treats fans not as a backdrop but as central characters, paying close attention to how they organize, show up in real life and reshape the publishing landscape.
Guides and tools for readers
Service journalism for readers is another consistent thread in Mulroy’s work.
She produces practical guides on how to read more and stay engaged with books in the face of digital distraction, offering concrete strategies and creative approaches to fight “the end of reading.” Her coverage of book-tracking apps and organizational tools breaks down options for different types of readers, explaining how technology can support habit-building without overwhelming users. Recommendation features, including joyful and humorous book lists, are structured to help people match their mood or needs with specific titles, emphasizing accessibility, fun and emotional payoff rather than purely literary prestige.
These pieces position her as a utility writer for the reading community, someone who not only reports on the industry but also helps individuals make reading a sustainable part of daily life.
Genre deep dives, true crime and broader entertainment
Mulroy often uses genre deep dives to explore how books intersect with other corners of entertainment and culture. Her coverage of speculative and dystopian fiction, such as cyberpunk-inflected young adult series that grapple with virtual reality and emerging technologies, connects narrative world-building to real-world questions about AI, surveillance and digital immersion. She also ventures into true crime and historical mystery, including a detailed exploration of Jack the Ripper that reflects her interest in how real cases are framed, reinterpreted and consumed as storytelling. Beyond books, she has reported on celebrity relationships and music-adjacent entertainment, such as the turbulent marriage and eventual divorce of Jelly Roll and Bunnie Xo, approaching these stories with a narrative style that foregrounds timeline, emotional stakes and fan reaction. Taken together, this work shows her comfort moving between page, screen and celebrity culture while keeping story and audience at the center.
Presence across platforms
Mulroy’s books coverage extends beyond the page into audio and social formats tied to USA TODAY’s entertainment offering.
She appears on the outlet’s podcast to discuss topics like literary tourism and the ways readers invest time and money to immerse themselves in fictional worlds, reinforcing her role as a go-to voice on reading culture. On social platforms she shares new stories, highlights interviews and amplifies deep-dive features, offering glimpses into her reporting interests and the research paths behind them.
Her work is also syndicated to regional and partner publications, carrying her reporting on authors and books into local markets and broadening the reach of her beat. Across channels, the through-line is consistent: books as a living part of entertainment, anchored in the people who read, write and gather around them.
4 more entertainment journalists.
Aaron Couch
Aaron Couch connects fan-driven genre stories with the business of filmmaking at The Hollywood Reporter, where he is film editor and co-writer of the Heat Vision newsletter. He covers big-budget franchises, comic book properties, horror and genre cinema, studio deals, film development and the producers who shape them. His beat includes trailers, superhero films, franchise strategy, comic-to-film adaptations, production deals and the people behind repeatable genre hits. He has written about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man return, Sony acquiring Michelle Yeoh’s The Surgeon, adaptation interest in a Boston Globe article about lesbian bars, and horror producers Roy Lee and Steven Schneider. He reports on both fandom and industry mechanics, connecting trailers, creators and comics with careers, dealmaking, publicity cycles and franchise stewardship.
Adam Blevins
Adam Blevins tracks how major entertainment projects perform, stall, and evolve across theaters and streaming platforms. He is a senior author at Collider covering film, television, superhero and science-fiction franchises, and gaming-related screen projects. His core beat is box office results, streaming performance, release windows, budgets, production changes, cancellations, sequels, and franchise durability. He has written exclusives involving Avengers: Doomsday, The Penguin, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Earlier, he wrote gaming features at Screen Rant and became a senior editor at Agents of Fandom, where he interviewed talent connected to Marvel Studios, House of the Dragon, and Planet of the Apes. He also visited the set of The Chosen. His reporting is high-volume, direct, and data-driven, using metrics, release details, interviews, and production context to explain commercial prospects and fan interest.
Adele Ankers-Range
Adele Ankers-Range is a senior writer at MovieWeb who tracks streaming thrillers, book-to-screen adaptations, and industry announcements through the fan conversations around them. Writing professionally since 2015, she has also contributed to IGN, Sideshow Collectibles, Screen Rant, and other genre-focused brands. Her beat covers new and upcoming film and television titles, especially thrillers, high-concept genre releases, literary franchises, and projects moving from development to release. She reports on teaser reveals, casting, release dates, CinemaCon announcements, platform strategy, and early critical response. Her coverage often uses reception metrics such as Rotten Tomatoes scores to show how a release is landing. She returns to adaptations as they develop, following announcements, talent attachments, marketing, and final release details. Her work is fast, news-driven, concise, and attentive to fan theories, speculation, and the reasons a project matters.
Adrianna Freedman
Adrianna Freedman turns fan-driven TV and streaming moments into fast, service-focused entertainment stories for Good Housekeeping. She covers network dramas, procedurals, Hallmark titles, streaming releases and book-to-screen projects, including renewals, premiere dates, cast news, release timing, platforms and pricing. Her work centers on how developments affect committed viewers. She also reports on daytime hosts and celebrities, covering health updates, family milestones, career changes, social posts and fan response without gossip or speculation. Freedman conducts interviews and writes features on subjects such as personal books, career milestones and awards. She has written for or across Hearst titles including ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and Town & Country, as well as Prevention and Oprah Daily. Her coverage of television, movies, music and celebrity pop culture uses clear language, concise explainers and direct, headline-driven angles.