Kaavya Viswanathan’s story gets a new plot

Mumbai (Bombay), India: "Kaavya Viswanathan, the 19-year-old Harvard University undergraduate, has admitted that her highly publicised novel, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life', features material from another author’s work.

"But her acknowledgement, rather than relieving the US publishing industry of embarrassment, has made two distinguished companies square off against each other.

"Kaavya's publisher Little, Brown, and Random House, which commissioned Megan McCafferty's books from which Kaavya is said to have plagiarised, have been exchanging brusque communiqués through their counsels.

"Kaavya has said that her borrowings were 'accidental'. But her association with 17th Street Productions - a book development firm specialising in teen narratives, which helped her plan the plot - has pushed the issue from being a case of plagiarism to a scandal threatening to undermine US publishing."
DNA Mumbai

NRI teen novelist 'sorry' beyond words
McCafferty rejects Kaavya's apology

Tagged: usa, india, literature