Kaavya Viswanathan is the
author of “How
Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life”. She was born in Chennai,
India, the only child of Viswanathan Rajaraman, a neurosurgeon, and Mary
Jayanthi Sundaram, a gynecologist. Kaavya grew up in Scotland and Franklin
Lakes, New Jersey. In 2003, she was one of the recipients of the New Jersey
Governor’s Awards in Arts Education. This was also the year that she was placed
both 3rd and 4th in the Saturday Writers One-Page Poetry
Contest (with “Cotes-du-Nord” and “Letters from April” respectively). She won
first prize in the junior section of the 2003 Ananda Award for her poem
“Departure”, and also got first prize in the junior fiction section with her
short story “Six Love Songs”. In the following year, Kaavya Viswanathan was one
of the winners of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, winning a silver for
her personal essay “A Certain Slant of Light”. At her high school (the Academy
for the Advancement of Science and Technology, part of Bergen County Academy),
she had a near perfect 1560 on the SAT, and had a 4.16 grade point average. She
was also editor-in-chief of her high school online magazine. Kaavya
Viswanathan’s favourite author is Ian McEwan, and she
enjoys cooking gourmet food. When she’s back home in New Jersey, Kaavya
Viswanathan attends the Asian Indian Christian Church. In 2005, she was just 17
when she was informed by her literary agent that she had won an advance from
Little Brown & Company for approximately $500,000.00 for a 2 book deal. How
the deal happened is an interesting story: wanting Kaavya to get into Harvard,
her parents signed her up with Katherine Cohen’s company, Ivywise, which prepares
students for college admissions. Katherine asked Kaavya to bring in the novel
that she was writing, and she was so charmed by what she read, that she showed
Kaavya’s work to her agent at the William Morris agency. And so Kaavya
Viswanathan became the youngest author signed on by the William Morris Agency
since the company was first established over a hundred years ago. Kaavya
Viswanathan has also achieved her desire to attend Harvard. Dreamworks are
currently developing a movie of “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a
Life”. The novel is currently subject to an accusation of plagiarism, which has
led to the publishers, Little Brown & Co, instructing retailers to stop
selling it – for more details, see below.
Viswanathan’s
mild mea culpa leaves questions unanswered – “The Harvard Independent”
reports on the accusations that some parts of “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got
Wild, and Got a Life” were plagiarised from a couple of Megan McCafferty’s
novels, “Sloppy Firsts” and “Second Helpings”. The report goes on to relate
that 17th Street Productions, the book packaging company that
handled the novel, may have played a larger role in the book’s production than
previously reported. Rachel Pine takes these views further in Is
Kaavya Viswanathan an Innocent Bystander?, as does David Mehegan in Viswanathan
Book Deal Raises More Questions, but Sheelah Kolhatkar provides the best
look at this side of the story with Viswanathan-athon:
Plagiarizing Writer Fell in Weird Alloy. Plagiarism
and Punishment is Robert Zelnick’s view. In
Defense of Kaavya Viswanathan Bill Poser takes a more sympathetic look. Once
Touted Novel has uncertain future – Hillel Italie reports that the novel
will be revised. Following the announcement of the novel’s withdrawal,
McCafferty said that she was not seeking restitution, and that “I look forward
to getting back to work and moving on, and hope Ms. Viswanathan can too”.
However, this story does not look like it is going away, as Kaavya Viswanathan
has now been accused of plagiarising Sophie Kinsella’s “Can You Keep a
Secret?” There have also been reports of similarities to passages in Meg
Cabot’s “The Princess Diaries” and “Salman Rushdie’s children’s book “Haroun”.
Unfortunately, “The
Book Standard” has now reported that there will be no revised edition of
the novel, and that Little Brown & Co will not be publishing Kaavya
Viswanathan’s second novel. It is not known whether Kaavya Viswanathan will
have to return the $500,000.00 advance she received for both books. New
Jersey’s “Record” newspaper has also announced that it will be examining closely
the stories that Kaavya Viswanathan wrote when she was an intern for them from
2003-2004. “The Harvard Crimson” has a more positive take on the story in “Kaavya Viswanathan –
Master Sampler?” How
‘Opal Mehta’ got shelved – is a comprehensive overview of the story by
“USAToday”. From an
original story by… is Robert McCrum’s view. Scandal points to real
teenage story of mimicry – is Marina Budhos’ take on the story. She
mentions that similar passages were also found in the novel to Desai Hidier’s
“Born Confused”
“The Harvard Crimson”
– reports on an appearance that Kaavya Viswanathan made on NBC’s “Today” show
in the wake of the furore surrounding the plagiarism allegations
Most
Prestigious American Publisher $500,000 deal with NRI Harvard Freshman Author
– a report from nriinternet.com, with quotes from Kaavya Viswanathan
Viswanathan,
17, gets $500,000 advance for 2 novels, Cohen is mentor – has more details
about how Kaavya Viswanathan’s publishing deal came about
Show
Them You Care – reports on the strategies that Kaavya Viswanathan employed
to get into Harvard (pdf format)
Harry
Potter Novels a Reflection of Reality – an article Kaavya Viswanathan wrote
for “The New York Times”
Because
at least one person on this page will be justly famous by 2010 – includes
Kaavya Viswanathan
An unusual path to
the Ivy League – Trisha Ping’s Kaavya Viswanathan interview
Kaavya
Viswanathan Hears the Drums Echoing Tonight – a satire that nonetheless
reveals that Kaavya Viswanathan will be travelling to Africa to make an AIDS
documentary
First Look: Kaavya
isn’t quitting – a report that reveals that Kaavya will be staying on at
Harvard
New
book connects young novelists plagiarism scandal with the treats of offshore
outsourcing – gives details about Kay Stoner’s new book about Kaavya
Viswanathan: "Bring Me the Head of Opal Mehta: Of Art, Outourcing, Kaavya
Viswanathan, and the Narcissus Machine". As Kay Stoner, the author writes, “Kaavya's situation isn't
an isolated case in the publishing industry</a> - it's actually a symptom
of farther-reaching market conditions that are compromising the integrity of
local subcultures, including high tech. The machinery that put Kaavya and her
book in place, is the same sort of mechanism that puts unqualified offshore
technical help in place for American high tech businesses. The assumptions are
similar - that the hype about how great someone can perform is true, that they
can make valuable contributions to the whole, and that signing them on is good
business. But as we can see in Kaavya's case, and in many high tech development
situations - it's not always true. The Narcissus Machine that drives culture
creation is blind to the pitfalls, but in the end, it's the local cultures
which suffer, not the forces of globalization. Read more here.
http://www.kaystoner.com
