University of Georgia Press Yanks Prize, Grinds Books Into Dust

The University of Georgia Press has rescinded its Flannery O’Connor Award and recalled all copies of The Bear Bryant Funeral Train after determining that author Brad Vice had copied substantial portions of the short story “Tuscaloosa Knights” from Carl Carmer’s Stars Fell On Alabama  and failed to acknowledge the use of Carmer’s work. A staffer at the Tuscaloosa Public Library alerted the Press to the possibility after reading Vice’s book and then pulling Carmer’s book from the shelf. The Press decided to destroy all copies it could find. Here’s a story from the Clarion-Ledger, the local paper. But Vice has his defenders. See here, here, and here.