Late Canadian poet laureate Pierre DesRuisseaux accused of plagiarism
MONTREAL — One of Canada’s former poet laureates is being accused of plagiarizing the works of illustrious English-language authors in a book that has since been taken off the shelves.
U.K.-based poetry sleuth Ira Lightman went public in The Guardian newspaper over the weekend about his investigation into Pierre DesRuisseaux, who died in January 2016 at age 70.
Lightman said DesRuisseaux’s “Tranches de vie,” a book of French-language poetry published in 2013, lifted works from various authors, including Maya Angelou, Dylan Thomas, Louis MacNiece and even late rap artist Tupac Shakur.
According to Lightman, Ontario poet Kathy Figueroa initially noticed the slight in May 2016 when the current laureate, George Elliott Clarke, was invited to show poems by previous laureates and shared one by DesRuisseaux which bore resemblance to Angelou’s “Still I Rise.”