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Poet accused of plagiarism pulls out of Forward shortlist

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A Forward prize contender who has been accused of plagiarism has withdrawn his poem from the Forward shortlist,  the organisers have said. CJ Allen has pulled his poem 'Explaining the plot of Blade Runner to my mother who has Alzheimer’s' from the Forward Prizes shortlist for best single poem, following accusations from fellow Nottingham poet Matthew Welton that he has plagiarised work in the past. In an email to the Forward Arts Foundation, Allen said: “I accept that I did plagiarise certain poems (although it was genuinely not my intention to deceive), and I am withdrawing from the competition because of the intolerable strain of the recent, negative publicity surrounding this. However, I continue to maintain that the poem submitted to the Forward prizes is original.”

Jeanette Winterson, chairman of the 2013 Forward Prizes judging panel, says: “We thought the poem had depth, wit, truth and elegance. Maybe CJ Allen is a shyster, maybe not.. Our job wasn’t to pass judgment on people or process, but to find good poems.”

Susannah Herbert, director of the Forward Arts Foundation, said: “The Forward Arts Foundation celebrates excellence and deplores plagiarism. CJ Allen maintains that the poem submittted to the 2013 Forward Prizes judges is his original work, but he also admits he has plagiarised in the past. The poem Explaining the plot of Blade Runner to my mother who has Alzheimer’s has now been removed from the shortlist of best single poems and will not be considered at the final judging meeting at on October 1, nor will it be performed at the Forward Prizes award ceremony at the Southbank Centre that evening."

A member of the judging panel, Sheenagh Pugh, later said during a discussion of the issue on Facebook that CJ Allen's poem "was not a unanimous choice for the shortlist. Just for the record." Allen's shortlisted poem was placed third in the 2012 Troubadour poetry competition.

The row, which first erupted two weeks ago with the publication of Matthew Welton's blog outlining his accusations, had threatened to cast a shadow over the Forwards, which have been given a makeover with actors reading poems at a public prizegiving.

It is the third case of plagiarism to emerge in England this year. Since the latest row concerning CJ Allen two more cases have emerged in Australia.  

Organisers say the Forward Book of Poetry 2014 will be reprinted without CJ Allen's poem and short biog in it, but only after the first printing has sold out. This goes on sale on 3 October. It could become a collector's item.  

 

Background: Forward prize contender in plagiarism row 

Countdown to Forward prizes glitz 

◄ Grand performances as TS Eliot tour drops in at Oldham library

Alice Oswald wins £25,000 Warwick prize for Memorial ►

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Greg Freeman

Sun 22nd Sep 2013 23:44

It isn't apparent at the moment that the poem shortlisted for the Forward prize was plagiarised, Freda, and indeed CJ Allen maintains it wasn't. The allegations relate to other poems. But those accusations and plagiarisms have cast a shadow, and I am sure the organisers are relieved that CJ Allen has done the decent thing, at least as far as the Forward shortlist is concerned. I also find it somewhat interesting that the judges thought so highly of it, when it had only been placed third in the Troubadour contest. As one of the other judges, Sheenagh Pugh, has pointed out, it wasn't on everyone's shortlist.

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Freda Davis

Sun 22nd Sep 2013 23:20

Jeanette Winterson, chairman of the 2013 Forward Prizes judging panel, says: “We thought the poem had depth, wit, truth and elegance. Maybe CJ Allen is a shyster, maybe not.. Our job wasn’t to pass judgment on people or process, but to find good poems.”
This is a bit of a cop out to my mind. It is not difficult to do a search on phrases of a poem and discover if it has been published online by someone else. In the previous discussion of plagiarism some people found a lot of examples by doing a search. Harder I admit if the poem has only been paper-published by someone else but I think it would not be difficult for any competition manager to do a search at least of a shortlisted group of poems.
I don't think it is the responsibility of the judges, but they should expect it to be looked into.

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