diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 78c2654..f048ce9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ This package provides an implementation for the `@aws-appsync/utils` package tha
 
 ## Changelog:
 
+- v0.1.8: `util.authType()` now reports `Lambda Authorization` for the identity of a Lambda-authorized Event API request, which carries what the authorizer returned as `handlerContext` rather than the `resolverContext` a GraphQL API uses
 - v0.1.7: complete the `@aws-appsync/utils/dynamodb` module with `query`, `sync`, the batch and transact helpers, the set helpers, `operations.remove` and `operations.updateListItem`, and the arguments the existing helpers dropped (`filter`, `projection`, `condition`, `consistentRead`, `_version` and the rest); add `util.transform.toSubscriptionFilter`; `util.dynamodb.fromS3ObjectJson` now parses instead of throwing
 - v0.1.6: add `util.authType()`, derived from the identity of the request; a host installs the request through the new `setResolverContext` export. `util.transform.toDynamoDBFilterExpression` and `toDynamoDBConditionExpression` now cover every operator, including `between`, `in`, `size` and `attributeType`, and nested `and`/`or`/`not`; `util.dynamodb.toDynamoDB` accepts `null`
 - v0.1.5: add `rds` `beginsWith`, `between` and `size` conditions, table aliases and `sql` template `where` clauses; invalid input now raises AWS's validation error instead of a raw `TypeError`, and the wildcard conditions require a string
diff --git a/__tests__/authType.test.js b/__tests__/authType.test.js
index beefd2a..4445101 100644
--- a/__tests__/authType.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/authType.test.js
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ const COGNITO_CLAIMS = {
 
 const LAMBDA_IDENTITY = { resolverContext: { userId: "alice", role: "admin" } };
 
+// the same authorizer output on an Event API, which names the key `handlerContext`
+const EVENT_LAMBDA_IDENTITY = { handlerContext: { userId: "alice", invocation: "inv-1" } };
+
 const IAM_IDENTITY = {
   accountId: "123456789012",
   cognitoIdentityPoolId: null,
@@ -134,6 +137,31 @@ describe("util.authType", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  // NOT compared against AWS by this suite, unlike the blocks above: `EvaluateCode` validates its
+  // mock context against the GraphQL identity keys and rejects one carrying `handlerContext` ("The
+  // following properties in your mock context object failed validation: ctx.identity"), so
+  // `checkResolverValid` cannot reach this shape even with `TEST_TARGET=AWS_CLOUD`. The expected
+  // values were instead read off responses recorded from a real Lambda-authorized Event API on
+  // AWS, where `ctx.identity` is `{handlerContext: {...}}` and `util.authType()` is `Lambda
+  // Authorization`.
+  describe("the identity of an Event API request", () => {
+    afterEach(() => setResolverContext(null));
+
+    const authTypeForEventIdentity = (identity) => {
+      setResolverContext({ identity });
+      return util.authType();
+    };
+
+    test("an identity carrying a handler context comes from a Lambda authorizer", () => {
+      expect(authTypeForEventIdentity(EVENT_LAMBDA_IDENTITY)).toBe("Lambda Authorization");
+    });
+
+    // an authorizer that returns no context at all leaves the key holding an empty object
+    test("an identity whose handler context is empty comes from a Lambda authorizer", () => {
+      expect(authTypeForEventIdentity({ handlerContext: {} })).toBe("Lambda Authorization");
+    });
+  });
+
   // NOT compared against AWS: `setResolverContext` is the seam a host uses to hand the request to
   // the utils, so these pin our own contract with the runtime rather than any AWS behaviour. They
   // also show that the module a test imports is the module the resolver code imports.
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 1b857fb..b1bd489 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -166,10 +166,12 @@ const IDENTITY_SCHEMAS = [
     required: ["sub", "issuer", "claims"],
   },
   {
-    // `resolverContext` is what the authorizer returned, and an authorizer may return nothing at
-    // all, so an identity with no keys whatsoever is a Lambda identity to AWS
+    // Both keys carry what the authorizer returned: a GraphQL API puts it under `resolverContext`
+    // and an Event API under `handlerContext`. An authorizer may return nothing at all, which
+    // leaves the key holding an empty object or the identity holding no keys whatsoever, so an
+    // empty identity is a Lambda identity to AWS rather than an absent one.
     authType: AUTH_TYPE_LAMBDA,
-    keys: ["resolverContext"],
+    keys: ["resolverContext", "handlerContext"],
     required: [],
   },
 ];
@@ -181,6 +183,11 @@ const IDENTITY_SCHEMAS = [
 // pool identity and not an OIDC one. The modes are mutually exclusive under those two rules, so
 // the order below only makes the outcome deterministic. Anything unmatched, an absent identity
 // included, is an API key request, which is the mode that populates no identity at all.
+//
+// The Event API identity, `{handlerContext}`, is the one shape not recorded that way:
+// `EvaluateCode` validates its mock context against the GraphQL identity keys alone and rejects
+// `handlerContext` before the resolver runs. It was read off the responses of a real
+// Lambda-authorized Event API instead.
 function authTypeFromIdentity(identity) {
   if (identity === null || typeof identity !== "object" || Array.isArray(identity)) {
     return AUTH_TYPE_API_KEY;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5fb5f71..a47b5bb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "@localstack/appsync-utils",
-    "version": "0.1.7",
+    "version": "0.1.8",
     "description": "Implementation of the AppSync utils helpers",
     "type": "module",
     "main": "index.js",