Publisher cancels Harvard student's revised novel
BOSTON (Reuters) - The publisher of a Harvard University student's debut novel took the book off the market on Wednesday and canceled the contract on a second amid mounting allegations that she copied other authors' work.
The announcement comes less than one week after Little, Brown and Company asked booksellers to begin returning the newly published novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," to the publisher so that Kaavya Viswanathan could rework certain passages.
The publisher had planned to republish the book, but it will not do that now.
"Little, Brown and Co. will not publish a revised edition of Kaavya Viswanathan's 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life' nor will it publish a second book, Michael Pietsch, Little, Brown's senior vice president and publisher, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The 19-year old Indian-born Harvard sophomore admitted that she unintentionally imitated passages from Megan McCafferty's "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," which she read in high school.
Harvard's student newspaper on Tuesday reported that "Opal Mehta" also contained similarities to Meg Cabot's 2000 novel "The Princess Diaries" while the New York Times reported additional similarities between Viswanathan's book and work by Sophie Kinsella.
The book was the first in a two-book deal worth $500,000 signed when Viswanathan was just 17. The movie rights were acquired by DreamWorks studio.
Harvard University spokesman Bob Mitchell said that Viswanathan is still an actively enrolled student at the school. According to Harvard's student handbook, students who submit work that is not their own and is not properly credited will be subject to disciplinary action, Mitchell said.
I really wonder if she did this on purpose , and figured they would not notices
BOSTON (Reuters) - The publisher of a Harvard University student's debut novel took the book off the market on Wednesday and canceled the contract on a second amid mounting allegations that she copied other authors' work.
The announcement comes less than one week after Little, Brown and Company asked booksellers to begin returning the newly published novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," to the publisher so that Kaavya Viswanathan could rework certain passages.
The publisher had planned to republish the book, but it will not do that now.
"Little, Brown and Co. will not publish a revised edition of Kaavya Viswanathan's 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life' nor will it publish a second book, Michael Pietsch, Little, Brown's senior vice president and publisher, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The 19-year old Indian-born Harvard sophomore admitted that she unintentionally imitated passages from Megan McCafferty's "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," which she read in high school.
Harvard's student newspaper on Tuesday reported that "Opal Mehta" also contained similarities to Meg Cabot's 2000 novel "The Princess Diaries" while the New York Times reported additional similarities between Viswanathan's book and work by Sophie Kinsella.
The book was the first in a two-book deal worth $500,000 signed when Viswanathan was just 17. The movie rights were acquired by DreamWorks studio.
Harvard University spokesman Bob Mitchell said that Viswanathan is still an actively enrolled student at the school. According to Harvard's student handbook, students who submit work that is not their own and is not properly credited will be subject to disciplinary action, Mitchell said.
I really wonder if she did this on purpose , and figured they would not notices
