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NEW YORK, May 3, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Amid new allegations of plagiarism Little, Brown & Co. has canceled 19-year-old Kaavya Viswanathan's two-book contract.
Viswanathan acknowledged last month her popular novel, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," contained near-identical prose to that found in a book by Megan McCafferty, which Viswanathan said she unintentionally "internalized."
But Tuesday, new claims of plagiarism arose based on works by young-adult authors Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot.
That's when the publisher pulled the plug, the Boston Globe reported.
"Little, Brown & Co. will not be publishing a revised edition of 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,' nor will we publish the second book under contract," Senior Vice President and Publisher Michael Pietsch said in a one-sentence statement.
As well, the company recalled some 50,000 unsold copies of the novel, which was published April 4.
"Opal Mehta" had a first printing of 100,000 copies, and Viswanathan had received a two-novel contract worth $500,000 at age 17, a month after arriving at Harvard.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
