* News

Canadian poet laureate revealed to have plagiarised Maya Angelou, Tupac and
others

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   [tupac_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jp
   g?imwidth=450] The Canadian poet Pierre DesRuisseaux, who has been
   found to have plagiarised numerous poets, including Tupac Shakur

     * Telegraph Reporters
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   Pierre DesRuisseaux, who died last year, served as the parliamentary
   poet laureate between 2009 and 2011, and has now been accused of
   plagiarising the work of up to 20 poets, among them world-famous names
   and unknown teenage girls who have posted their work online.

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   and unknown teenage girls who have posted their work online.

   The late poet Maya Angelou was among the authors plagiarised by
   DesRuisseaux
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   DesRuisseaux
   The late poet Maya Angelou was among the authors plagiarised
   by DesRuisseaux Credit:  Wayne Miller/Magnum/BBC

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   The duplicity was unearthed by poet and literary sleuth Ira Lightman, a
   member of a Facebook group called Plagiarism Alerts, whose mission
   involves tracking down plagiarism in the poetry world.

   Lightman was tipped off by a Canadian poet named Kathy Figueroa, who
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   But still, like dust, I'll rise."

   The legendary rapper Tupac Shakur had his personal poetry plagiarised
   by DesRuisseaux
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   by DesRuisseaux
   The legendary rapper Tupac Shakur had his personal poetry plagiarised
   by DesRuisseaux

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   Figueroa told Canada's CBC News that DesRuisseaux's widespread
   plagiarism came as a shock: "It was just mind-boggling, the audacity of
   someone to do something like that it. It was almost unbelievable."

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   someone to do something like that it. It was almost unbelievable."

   Upon the discovery of the plagiarism, DesRuisseaux's Montreal-based
   publishers Éditions du Noroît pulled the book from shelves, while
   claiming that only between 50 and 100 copies of the book had actually