Ihimaera book still available in stores

Author Witi Ihimaera, who received an Arts Laureate award last month. Photo / Richard Robinson

A novel by Witi Ihimaera which plagiarises other authors remains available in bookstores despite an offer of a full refund from the publisher.

Last month it emerged passages from Professor Ihimaera's The Trowenna Sea contained passages written by other authors, without attribution.

Penguin, the book's publishers, offered a full refund for returned copies of the novel, and Professor Ihimaera said he would buy back the remaining warehouse stock.

A spokeswoman for Penguin said Professor Ihimaera had bought all the publisher's copies, however some books remained in shops.

She said retailers could still return the books for a full refund, but the company was not ordering a recall.

The Trowenna Sea remains on sale in a number of stores, including Borders Sylvia Park and Paper Plus Eastridge, in Orakei.

A spokeswoman for Paper Plus said the company would continue to stock the book if there was demand, and remove it from sale only if there was an official recall. She said there continued to be widespread interest in the book.

Borders regional sales manager David Hutchinson said books were usually removed only at the publisher's request.

Penguin plans a new edition of The Trowenna Sea next year, with a section explaining the background and giving full acknowledgment to the writers whose work has been used.