The Kaavya Controversy: What Went Down and When

As many of you may have read on our site or seen in the news, our book of the month, *How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, has been pulled from bookstores nationwide due to suspicions of plagiarism*. Because of this, we will not be able to continue with our subscriber giveaway, however, this controversy has brought up many interesting discussions and comments _(thanks to you!)_ and we will continue to follow this developing story. And keep checking the site for a new reader giveaway very soon! Meanwhile, we created a timeline to get you up to speed on the very latest. *Here are the facts:*

19-year-old Kaavya Viswanathan publishes her first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life. She received a two-book deal from Little, Brown and Co. when she was seventeen with an advance of almost half a million dollars. Dreamworks options the book for a future movie.

Kaavya speaks to UChic’s, Exec Editor, Stacy about her favorite writers, her experience at Harvard and “why she was inspired to write the book”://www.universitychic.com/taxonomy/term/58 .

Fans of author, Megan McCafferty, read Kaavya’s book and notice similarities to two of McCafferty’s works: Sloppy Firsts, published in 2001 and Seconds Helpings, published in 2003. Soon after, the Harvard Crimson publishes *a side-by-side comparison of passages* from the books.

Kaavya releases a statement saying she had unintentionally internalized McCafferty work and that she was sorry.McCafferty’s publisher rejects Kaavya’s apology. They say they have documented more than 40 similar passages between the books. Little, Brown and Co. releases a statement defending Kaavya.

The plan is to keep the first 100,000 copies in circulation, but start work immediately on a revised edition sans similarities.

Kaavya is interviewed by Katie Couric on the “Today Show”://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12521477/ and apologizes for unintentionally borrowing some of McCafferty’s material.

Dreamworks drops the movie project. Little, Brown and Co. requests that all books be pulled from bookstores and returned.

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