How Kaavya Viswanathan Got Caught

By Dinitia Smith, NYT
Kaavya Viswanathan, the Harvard sophomore accused of plagiarizing parts of her recently published chick-lit novel, acknowledged yesterday that she had borrowed language from another writer's books, but called the copying "unintentional and unconscious."
The book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life," was recently published by Little, Brown to wide publicity.
On Sunday, The Harvard Crimson reported that Ms. Viswanathan, who received $500,000 as part of a deal for"Opal" and one other book, had seemingly plagiarized language from two novels by Megan McCafferty, an author of popular young-adult books.
In an e-mail message yesterday afternoon, Ms. Viswanathan, 19, said that in high school she had read the two books she is accused of borrowing from, "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," and that they "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, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life,' and passages in these books," she said.
Calling herself a "huge fan" of Ms.McCafferty's work, Ms. Viswanathan added, "I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words." She also apologized to Ms. McCafferty and said that future printings of the novel would be revised to "eliminate any inappropriate similarities."
Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little, Brown, said that Ms. Viswanathan planned to add an acknowledgment to Ms. McCafferty in future printings of the book.
In her e-mail message, Ms. Viswanathan said that"the central stories of my book and hers are completely different."
But Ms. McCafferty's books, published by Crown, a division of Random House, are, likeMs. Viswanathan's, about a young woman from New Jersey trying to get into an Ivy League college - in her case, Columbia. (Ms. Viswanathan's character has hersights set on Harvard.)
Like the heroine of "Opal," Ms. McCafferty's character, Jessica Darling, visits the campus, strives to earn good grades to get in andmakes a triumphant high school graduation speech. And the borrowings may bemore extensive than have previously been reported. The Crimson cited 13instances in which Ms. Viswanathan's book closely paralleled Ms. McCafferty'swork.
But there are at least 29 passages that are strikingly similar.
At onepoint in "Sloppy Firsts," Ms. McCafferty's heroine unexpectedly encounters herlove interest. Ms. McCafferty writes: "Though I used to see him sometimes atHope's house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other's existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh, (b) say something,or (c) ignore him and keep on walking. I chose a brilliant combo of (a) and (b). " 'Uh, yeah. Ha. Ha. Ha.'
"I turned around and saw that Marcus was smiling at me." Similarly, Ms. Viswanathan's heroine, Opal, bumps into her love interest, and the two of them spy on one of the school's popular girls.
Ms. Viswanathan writes: "Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other's existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about, or (b) what I was supposed to do about it. I stared at him. " 'Flat irons,' he said.
'At least seven flat irons for that hair.' " 'Ha, yeah. Uh, ha. Ha.' I looked at the floor and managed a pathetic combination of laughter and monosyllables, then remembered that the object of our mockery was his former best friend. "I looked up and saw that Sean was grinning."
In a profile published in The New York Times earlier this month, Ms.Viswanathan said that while she was in high school, her parents hired Katherine Cohen, founder of Ivy Wise, a private counseling service, to help with the college application process.
After reading some of Ms. Viswanathan's writing, Ms. Cohen put her in touch with the William Morris Agency, and Ms. Viswanathan eventually signed with Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, an agent there. Ms. Walsh said that she put Ms. Viswanathan in touch with a book packaging company, 17th Street Productions (now Alloy Entertainment), but that the plot and writing of "Opal"were "1,000 percent hers."
Alloy, which referred questions to Little, Brown, holds the copyright to "Opal" with Ms. Viswanathan. In the Times profile, Ms.Viswanathan said the idea for "Opal" came from her own experiences in high school "surrounded by the stereotype of high-pressure Asian and Indian families trying to get their children into Ivy League schools."
Tina Constable, a spokeswoman for Crown, said a reader had noticed the similarities between the books. That person, she said, "told Megan. Megan alerted us. We've alerted the Little, Brown legal department. We are waiting to hear from them."
It was unclear whether Harvard would take any action against Ms. Viswanathan.
"Our policies apply to work submitted to courses," said Robert Mitchell, the director of communications for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard.
"Nevertheless, we expect Harvard students to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty at all times."
Ms. Walsh, the agent, said: "Knowing what a fine person Kaavya is, I believe any similarities were unintentional. Teenagers tendto adopt each other's language."