Jill Bialosky Accused Of Plagiarism

Jill Bialosky,

a prolific poet and a Senior Editor at W.W. Norton & Company Jill Bialosky, who was honored by the “Poetry Society of America” on May 20, 2014, for her extensive contribution to the field of poetry, has been accused of plagiarizing several passages from Wikipedia and the websites of the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation in her new memoir, “Poetry Will Save Your Life”.

Jill Bialosky is the author of a New York Times best-selling memoir, A History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life. Her poems have appeared in journals such as “The Paris Review”, “American Poetry Review”, “The Kenyon Review”, “The New Yorker”, and “The Atlantic Monthly” apart from publishing other established poets as Rita Dove, Adrienne Rich, Marie Howe and many more.

But William Logan, a critic at the “Tourniquet Review” has claimed that the author has lifted many passages of the book from the obvious three sites generally at the top of Google searches and further states that he had found another parallel passage in one of Helen Vendler’s books; in his review of the author’s new memoir, posted online on Wednesday.

The author has defended herself stating: “William Logan has extracted a few ancillary and limited phrases from my 222-page memoir that inadvertently include fragments of prior common biographical sources and tropes after a multiyear writing process. This should not distract from the thesis of this book, which derives from my own life, my experiences and observations. I will, of course, correct any errors that are found in future editions of the book.”
John Glusman, the editor in chief at W.W. Norton & Company revealed his verdict on the subject: “Jill Bialosky is a trusted, longtime colleague and editor who has always done an outstanding job with her list of trade books at Norton,” and “For more than two decades, she has acquired and edited works by some of our most esteemed literary authors.”

In a statement on Thursday, Simon & Schuster, the parent company of Atria Books, which published Ms. Bialosky’s memoir, said: “Jill Bialosky is a highly regarded editor and author who, in ‘Poetry Will Save Your Life,’ has written a unique and critically acclaimed memoir. We stand by the book and are ready to work with the author to make any necessary corrections for future editions of the book.”

William Logan wrote in an email on Wednesday: “My rule is, check basic facts when finishing a review, Take nothing on trust” and has flagged a total of eight instances in his review of the memoir.

Chris Harrick, a vice president at Turnitin, an academic integrity company that helps educators detect plagiarism, reviewed some of the passages of Ms. Bialosky’s work that Mr. Logan flagged, and called the writing “problematic” and “certainly unoriginal.”