Paul Holmes: An author's greatest sin Herald on Sunday,
Sunday Nov 08, 2009
By Paul Holmes

Witi Ihimaera has admitted to plagiarism.
Photo / Brett Phibbs

The great author Witi Ihimaera has admitted to plagiarism. There is probably no greater sin an author can commit. The world comes down heavily on plagiarism. It is cheating. It is theft of intellectual property.
What's more, Ihimaera is a professor of English. He is also a Distinguished Creative Fellow in Maori Literature at the University of Auckland. Ouch! What titles these university types give themselves. Ihimaera's new book, The Torwenna Sea is a 528 page novel. 0.4 per cent of it is plagiarised. I make that about two pages. It is not the crime of the century, but you do not do it.
So Ihimaera being caught thieving other people's work is one thing and it is shocking enough. What is curious is the attitude of the university. The Dean of Arts, Jan Crosthwaite, says the university has investigated "and is satisfied there was no deliberate wrong doing".
Excuse me? How do you plagiarise in a way that is not deliberate? How do you plagiarise by accident? If you have plagiarised, presumably you had the other author's work next to you as you typed, knowing you were using another person's sentences. How do you do that unconsciously?
Read the rest of the Paul Holmes piece at The Herald online.
Footnote:
The Bookman is very sad about this turn of events but will not comment until I hear or read a full response from the beleagured author himself.