Harvard Teenage Author tenders Apology for Piracy

America’s teenage hottest author has been accused by U.S. publisher Random House on Tuesday of "literary identity theft" in the debut novel that turned the teenage author into a literary sensation.

Kaavya Viswanathan, 19, accused of plagiarizing material for her sensational debut novel- ’How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life’, faces close legal scrutiny and an internal investigation by her publisher yesterday after she admitted using phrases and ideas from another author she had read in high school.
The teenage author said in a statement issued by her publisher, "When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel... and passages in these books."
An Indian student, in her second year at Harvard University, who made a dream debut as an author, has promised to change her novel in future editions after rationalizing and regretfully acknowledging that she had borrowed material from an author she deeply admired, but the similarities are all accidental and unintentional.
Contrary to this, on Sunday, the Harvard Crimson- the breakfast daily of Harvard College, quoted seven passages that closely exhibit similarity to the style and language of the novels of Megan McCafferty, a former editor at Cosmopolitan. McCafferty’s agent Joanna Pulcini also confirmed at least 45 passages in Viswanathan’s book are similar to McCafferty’s books ’Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings.’
Viswanathan’s debut novel, published in March by Little, Brown and Company, was the first of a two-book deal reportedly worth US 0,000. She was just 17 when she signed her contract with Little, Brown, and became the youngest author signed by the publisher in decades. DreamWorks has already gained the movie rights to her first book.
Viswanathan apologized to McCafferty and to the others too "who feel they have been misled by these unintentional errors on my part".
She explained, "While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn’t aware of how much I may have internalized McCafferty’s words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious."
Viswanathan’s novel depicts story of Opal; a hard-driving teen from New Jersey who earns straight A’s in high school but gets rejected from Harvard because she forgot to have a social life. Her father thinks of a plan code-named HOWGAL- ’How Opal Will Get A Life’ to get her past the admissions office.
Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch without blaming Viswanathan said "Every word in that book was written by her, for better or for worse." The debut book had a first printing of 100,000 copies. He said that although the new editions would have to be revised but the current edition will not be withdrawn from stores.
However, Steve Ross- the vice president and publisher of Crown, which is a division of Random House dismissed the apologies made by the author and stated, "We find both the responses of Little, Brown and their author . . . deeply troubling and disingenuous," he added, "Based on the scope and character of the similarities, it is inconceivable that this was a display of youthful innocence or an unconscious or unintentional act.