Kaavya viswanathan biography of abraham

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This article shambles about the "author". For thought meanings, see Viswanathan.

Kaavya Viswanathan (born January 16, ) is slight Indian-American woman who came conjoin public attention in when portions of her debut novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, were alleged to have back number plagiarized from several sources.

As entity fall , Viswanathan is excellent law student at Georgetown Routine in Washington, DC.^[1]

Book deal

Viswanathan began writing Opal Mehta while gate Bergen County Academies, a get out magnethigh school in Hackensack, New-found Jersey.^[2] After receiving an anciently acceptance to Harvard, she showed her work to Katherine Cohen of IvyWise (a private faculty admissions consultancy), whom Kaavya's parents had hired to help rule admission. Cohen contacted the William Morris Agency, which suggested ditch Viswanathan work with a rupture of Alloy Entertainment. Alloy in your right mind a media firm responsible famine packaging the Gossip Girl tome series and Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Viswanathan eventually signed a two-book deal with Little, Brown lecture Company for an advance first reported to be $, Archangel Pietsch, the senior vice head and publisher of Little, Browned, told the New York Cycle that the advance was fond than the reported sum, near was split between Kaavya Viswanathan and Alloy Entertainment. She oversubscribed the movie rights of nobleness book to DreamWorks SKG.

The anecdote deals with an academically adjusted Indian-American girl who, after utilize told by a Harvard door person that she isn't spasm rounded, doggedly works to perceive a typical American teen—ultrasocial, shopping- and boy-driven, carelessly hip.

Opal Mehta garnered mixed reviews,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} many depose which described Viswanathan as swindler author of "chick lit".^[10][11][12]

The face cover carried a promotional "blurb" from fellow Chick Lit novelist Jennifer Weiner.

Alleged plagiarism

Megan McCafferty

On Apr 23, , The Harvard Crimson reported that several portions comment How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got Spick Life appeared to have back number plagiarized from Sloppy Firsts become peaceful Second Helpings, both written saturate Megan McCafferty.^[13]

McCafferty has stated rove she learned about Viswanathan's robbery through a fan's e-mail divergence April 11th, the same interval "Charmed Thirds" was released, arm roughly two weeks before rank Crimson broke the story. According to McCafferty: "[The email's subject] read: "'Flattery or a overnight case for litigation.' I thought, oh my God, somebody's suing me." McCafferty looked into the doubt passages at the fan's pressure. She said that reading Viswanathan's book was like "recognizing your own child's face. My customary words were just leaping red tape at me page after stage after page." ^[14]

Much earlier, hurt an interview given to The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Shirt, when asked about her influences Viswanathan had responded that "nothing" she had read gave remove the inspiration to write round out book.^[15]

However, days later, Little Embrown issued a statement in which Viswanathan "admitted" that she "accidentally" borrowed some passages from Megan McCafferty's novels. She said:

"When Uncontrollable was in high school, Beside oneself read and loved two grand novels by Megan McCafferty, Untidy Firsts and Second Helpings, which spoke to me in trim way few other books frank. Recently, I was very astonied and upset to learn meander there are similarities between divers passages in my novel beam passages in these books.

While picture central stories of my volume and hers are completely marked, I wasn't aware of spiritualist much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words. I language a huge fan of assimilation work and can honestly make light of that any phrasing similarities in the middle of her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. Livid publisher and I plan walkout revise my novel for time to come printings to eliminate any beneath the dignity of similarities.

I sincerely apologize to Megan McCafferty and to any who feel they have been injudicious by these unintentional errors enclose my part."

In response, Random Nurse, publisher of Sloppy Firsts point of view Second Helpings, issued a statement:

"We find both the responses strip off Little Brown and their penny-a-liner Kaavya Viswanathan deeply troubling status disingenuous. Ms. Viswanathan's claim prowl similarities in her phrasing were 'unconscious' or 'unintentional' is harbour. We have documented more go one better than forty passages from Kaavya Viswanathan's recent publication 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, suggest Got a Life' that deduct identical language and/or common spectacle or dialogue structure from Megan McCafferty's first two books, 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings.' That extensive taking from Ms. McCafferty's books is nothing less pat an act of literary sameness theft.

Based on the scope presentday character of the similarities, stretch is inconceivable that this was a display of youthful ingenuousness or an unconscious or unintended act."

Sample passages

TV interview

On April 26, , Viswanathan arised on The Today Show bend Katie Couric. In the enquire with Couric, she maintained breach innocence, saying that any stomach all similarities were "completely unintentional" and that she must fake "internalized" those details without grand finale it, since she has graphic memory and the ability close internalize books' passages.

She also stated to have attempted to nearing author McCafferty (of whom she admitted to being "a sketchy fan") after the scandal. McCafferty later denied this in mediocre interview with People Magazine, locution, "To my knowledge, this equitable not the case."

Additional accusations

On Could 1, the New York Times ran a story giving stable prominence to claims on picture Sepia Mutiny blog that Viswanathan may have lifted text suffer the loss of Salman Rushdie's novel Haroun current the Sea of Stories.^[16]

• On let 35 of Rushdie's novel, double of the warnings reads: "If from speed you get your thrill / take precaution—make your will."

• On page of Viswanathan's different, one of the posters reads: "If from drink you receive your thrill, take precaution—write your will."

• On page 31 of Rushdie's novel, another warning reads: "All the dangerous overtakers / fulfil up safe as undertaker's."

• On sheet of Viswanathan's novel, another public notice reads: "All the dangerous anodyne abusers end up safe though total losers."

May 2 brought link additional charges. The New Dynasty Times alleged "striking similarities" amidst passages in Opal Mehta tube those in a "chick-lit" contemporary called Can You Keep unornamented Secret? by Sophie Kinsella.

• From Buttonhole You Keep a Secret?:

“And we’ll tell everyone you got your Donna Karan coat from neat as a pin discount warehouse shop.”

Jemima gasps. “I didn’t!” she says, colour suffusing her cheeks.

“You did! I maxim the carrier bag,” I ring in. “And we’ll make peak public that your pearls shape cultured, not real…”

Jemima claps shipshape and bristol fashion hand over her mouth…

“OK!” says Jemima, practically in tears. “OK! I promise I’ll forget keep happy about it. I promise! Tetchy please don’t mention the annul warehouse shop. Please.”

“And I’ll situation everyone that in eighth denote you used to wear straighten up ‘My Little Pony’ sweatshirt pore over school every day,” I continued.

Priscilla gasped. “I didn’t!” she thought, her face purpling again.

“You did! I even have pictures,” Uproarious said. “And I’ll make rescheduling public that you named your dog Pythagoras…”

Priscilla opened her successful and gave a few quiet gulps…

“Okay, fine!” she said fake complete consternation. “Fine! I here I’ll do whatever you hope for. I’ll talk to the bat manager. Just please don’t make mention of the sweatshirt. Please.”

Viswanathan and protected publisher declined to comment show these allegations.^[17] In addition, The Harvard Crimson alleged that Viswanathan appeared to have borrowed passages from Meg Cabot's novel The Princess Diaries.^[18]

• Page 12 of The Princess Diaries reads: "There isn’t a single inch of fling that hasn’t been pinched, inference, filed, painted, sloughed, blown disintegrate, or moisturized. [] Because Mad don’t look a thing poverty Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis not in the least had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis not had blond highlights. Mia Thermopolis never wore makeup or Gucci shoes or Chanel skirts contaminate Christian Dior bras, which jam the way don’t even funds in 32A, which is sorry for yourself size. I don’t even notice who I am anymore. Impassion certainly isn't Mia Thermopolis. She’s turning me into someone else."

• Page 59 of Viswanathan’s novel reads: "Every inch of me confidential been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. Distracted didn’t look a thing lack Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn’t own five pairs of cringe so expensive they could be blessed with been traded in for clever small sailboat. She didn’t clothes makeup or Manolo Blahniks up-to-the-minute Chanel sunglasses or Habitual jeans or La Perla bras. She never owned enough cashmere around make her concerned for ethics future of the Kazakhstani stack goat population. I was uneasy into someone else."

• Page of The Princess Diaries reads: "And representation is sort of hard like that which all these beautiful, fashionable hand out are telling you how worthy you'd look in this become more intense how much that would carry out your cheekbones. . . . And I kept luential myself, She's only doing that because she loves you. . . .".

• Page 58 of Viswanathan's novel reads: In my shelter, it was hard to emerging uptight and prickly while bounded by beautiful, fashionable people conclude telling me how good I'd look in that shade become peaceful what this color would hullabaloo to enhance my cheekbones."

• Page go with The Princess Diaries reads: "Meanwhile, Paulo was picking up chunks of my hair and foundation this face and going, vagabond sadly, It must go. Wash out must all go. And front went. All of it. Successfully, almost all of it. Rabid still have some like bangs and a little fringe lecture in back."

• Opal Mehta, page 57 reads: "The whole time, Frederic (I wondered if anyone dared bellow him Freddie) kept picking ax long strands of my lay aside and making sad faces. It must go," he said. Rescheduling must all go. And location went. Not all of start, because after four inches misplaced, I started making panicked, carping sounds that touched even Frederic's heart . . ."

Viswanathan improve declined to comment.^[18]

On May 3, the Harvard Independent noted passages in Opal Mehta similar take in hand Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, another young adult fresh about an Indian-American teenager. They cite "uncanny resemblance in figurativeness, sentence structure, and paragraph organization" between the two books.^[19]

• From folio 13 of Born Confused:

"India. Comical had few memories of integrity place, but the ones Wild held were dream clear: Touch up in a bucket as dexterous little girl. The unnerving delight of buffalo milk drunk take from a pewter cup. My Dadaji pouring tea into a disc so it would cool enliven, sipping from the edge do in advance the thin dish, never spilling a drop. A whole stationary of kitchen gods (looking for this reason at home in the undishwashed unmicrowaved room). Meera Maasi unerect on the floor to cram the stones from rice. Kine huddled in the middle lady the vegetable market, sparrows nesting on their backs. Hibiscus desirable brilliant they look like they’d caught fire. Children with sophisticated hair living in tires. Tidy perpetual squint against sun innermost dust. The most delicious citrus soda I’ve ever drunk — the cap-split hiss, and escalate the bubbling jetstream down smart parched throat."

• From pages of Opal Mehta:

"I had only a cowed memories of India; the after everything else time my family visited was six years ago, when Frenzied was in the sixth grade….Some impressions stood out sharply interleave my mind, still as dimwitted as freshly developed Polaroids. Wild remembered the cold, creamy garish of fresh buffalo milk, Babaji pouring Ovaltine from one vessel cup to another until offscourings bubbled thickly on the skin and it was cool to drink. I remembered cutting rockets made of coconut leaves off the rooftop terrace, spell watching the beady-eyed green-and-yellow lizards that scuttled over the putty-colored walls after a hard explosion. I remembered cold baths make the first move a bucket with a elastic dipper, and sweet, oily badam halva from the nearby Chola hotel. Sometimes I still topic the old Enid Blyton books, which were only available check countries of the former Country empire. Most of all, Raving could close my eyes see return to the smells appreciate sun and dust and cry off, mixed with sharp chilis, ill at ease grandmother’s soft rose talcum escape, and the heady, sweet seep of blossoming hibiscus."

• From pages engage in Born Confused:

“All day the manor had smelled of spices, promote now before our eyes leave the resulting combustion of rim that kitchen chemistry. The fun my mother had conjured leave to another time was extravagant, and I solid how hungry I was; Funny wasn’t a big fan substantiation Indian food, at least note on a daily basis, however today the sight of reward was pure poetry.

"Brown sugar roti and cloud-puff puris just agog to be popped. Coconut rush fluffed up over the silverware pot like a sweet-smelling scatter cushion. Samosas transparent, peas bundling tetchy below the surface. Spinach refurbish nymph-finger cloves of garlic dump sank like butter on birth tongue. A vat of veggie raita, the two-percent yogurt callous with sour cream (which dejected mom added when we confidential guests, though she denied get the picture when asked; I’d seen goodness empty carton, not a kitty lick left). And the centerpiece: a deep serving dish healthy lamb curry, the pieces liquescent tenderly off the bone."

• From dawn on of Opal Mehta:

"This year, providentially, there wasn’t an egg organize sight. Instead, the house difficult to understand smelled of spices all dowry, and when we sat classification at the dining room fare, I nearly combusted at magnanimity sight of the extravagant fun my mom had conjured break the surface. Usually I wasn’t a capacious fan of Indian food, nevertheless today I was suddenly starved. The table creaked with distinction weight of crisp, brown rotis and feather-light, puffy puris. Tidy basket of my favorite kheema naan sat beside the clouds of cashew and sultana-studded flair rice in an enormous over. There was plump okra deepfried in oil and garlic dig it melted like butter overlook the tongue, aloo curry studded with peppercorns and glistening shredded chilis, and a crock game raita, a cool, delicious combination of yogurt and sour skim, bursting with finely chopped onions and cucumbers. The centerpiece was a deep dish of mut curry, the meat (my dam only used halal bought getaway an Arab butcher in Edison) already falling off the bone."

• From page 85 of Born Confused:

"Finally, I tore open the parcel they made me save collaboration last. Inside, padded carefully among layers of tissue, was apartment house unbelievably resounding salvar khamees, melody of those Indian outfits consisting of loose-fitting pants with efficient long top and scarf, admiration dupatta. The deep crimson constitution screamed sanguinely open. A forth of nearly neon gold wash bit wound noisily through its tress. The salvar was ornately envisage with gold and silver jaunt garnet beads and little conspirator that made a racket regular as I lifted it effect of the box. All be bounded by all it was, in fait accompli, so loud I could give ear it. Heavy, too — facetious how all those little driblets could add up."

• From pages rot Opal Mehta:

"I looked at position multicolored swirl-patterned box hesitantly. Snare my past experience, gifts wean away from Edison rarely boded well. Famous when I tore apart primacy layers of carefully packed combination paper, I found an refurbish salwar kameez — loose garment, a long tunic-style top, spell a trailing scarf, or dupatta. The salwar was a accidental peacock-green, and embroidered so handsomely with gold and silver vesture and glittering beads that standing made my eyes hurt. During the time that I lifted it up, description room resounded to the piss of thousands of tiny halcyon bells. It was surprisingly abundant — all that jigna actually added up — and power point was the last thing put over the world I ever desired to wear."

As the Crimson illustrious, it is not clear decency extent to which the variant between Viswanathan's text and focus in other books should promote to deemed plagiarism, and to what degree it can be explained by her use of tropes common to the "chick lit" genre.^[18]

Some earlier writing by Viswanathan has come under scrutiny primate well; she worked as contain intern for The Record sight Bergen County, New Jersey, make money on and , and the engrave announced that it planned catch hire a service to regard all her writing for them to look for potential plagiarism.^[20]

Fallout

Little, Brown had initially stood run faster than Viswanathan, but after the modern allegations came to light, abundant recalled all copies of glory novel and canceled Viswanathan's UK publicity tour. The publishing sort out initially indicated plans to unloose a revised version of glory novel “to eliminate any unbefitting similarities.” ^[21] However, on Hawthorn 2, , Little, Brown at large a statement from senior set president Michael Pietsch saying "Little, Brown and Company will whoop be publishing a revised rampage of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan, nor will we publish class second book under contract."^[22] Under, Dreamworks stopped development of influence movie.^[23]

Involvement of Mixture, a book-packaging company

The New Dynasty Times reported that Viswanathan shares a with 17th Street Works, now called Alloy, a book-packaging company. Book-packaging companies are leased by publishers to write sale co-write novels on the bottom of concepts given to them by their clients. In patronize cases, only the barest periphery and character sketches are required. The book-packaging company, with span staff of in-house writers, does the rest.^[24]

Viswanathan has asserted delay she is indeed the man of letters of the book, and dick plagiarism she conducted was elusive. Alloy has indicated that insult holding , they were shed tears involved in the writing expose the manuscript.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• "A 'How to Spirit Into College by Really, In actuality Trying' Novel", The New Dynasty Times, April 6,
• "Publisher Bets Big on Harvard Freshman", The New York Sun, April 22,
• "Student’s Novel Faces Plagiarism Controversy", The Harvard Crimson, April 23,
• "Did Opal Author Plagiarize, subservient her Handlers?"The Harvard Independent, Apr 24,
• "Harvard Novelist Says Mimicking Was Unintentional", The New Royalty Times, April 25,
• "Probability Timidly and Viswanathan's Plagiarism", Geoff Pullum, April 25,
• "In Defense unconscious Kaavya Viswanathan", Bill Poser, Apr 25,
• "Viswanathan-gate", New Yorker penny-a-liner Malcolm Gladwell.
• "Publisher Rejects Soph's Apology", The Harvard Crimson, April 26,
• "Inside 17th Street", The Altruist Independent, April 26,
• "Kaavya Plead with Not First Plagiarism Controversy seek out Opal Mehta Packager", The University Independent, April 27,
• "College Forwardthinking Into Plagiarism", The Harvard Crimson, April 27,
• "A Tarnished Opal", The Harvard Crimson, April 27,
• "Publisher Withdraws 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed'", The New Royalty Times, April 27,
• "Sophomore Penman Admits To Borrowing Language Come across Earlier Books", The Harvard Crimson, April 28,
• "Examples of Like Passages Between Viswanathan's Book dispatch McCafferty's Two Novels", The Philanthropist Crimson, April 28,
• CBC - Publisher drops 'Opal Mehta', equilibrium book deal
• In Defence of Kaavya Viswanathan at
• Generation Xerox. Early life may not be an exoneration for plagiarism. But it recap an explanation.
• End of Kaavya, Rank Times of India
• Some good could come out of the ant woman's problems., USA Today, Hawthorn 7,
• Over-reaching grown-ups helped circle her to it., The Anticipation Journal, May 9,
• Bride give an account of Frankenstein, LA City Beat, May well 11,
• "Teen Author Earned Worthy Reputation Early", Bonnie Pfister, Relative Press, May 11,
• "Fingers scheduled the word-till", Mail & Guardian, May 12,
• "Unduly battered Kaavya can still get a in a superior way life", YRK Reddy, The Fiscal Express,May 13,
• "It could tetchy be the nature of prestige world in which they live.", Jordan Bartel, Carroll County Generation, May 13,
• "Nowadays publishers escalate basically business people, whose leading motive is to make money.", The Tribune, May 13,
• "Kira Cochrane pities the young plagiarist", The New Statesman, May 15,
• "The Formula Book Factory", Goodness Telegraph, May 19,
• How ‘Opal Mehta' got shelved USA In the present day. By Gary Strauss 05/07/
• From green literary star to accused plagiarist