CULTURE: Thélyson Orélien, Are Ethnic Writers Only Being Demonised?
I was horrified when I read another news headline about another prominent Black writer being accused of using generative-AI to write novel. We’ve been down this road before. The gut-wrenching story about Jerry Falade broke in July 2026. I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore. I feel sorry for both writers who had their novels fed into Pangram without their consent. Surely, Pangram might regurgitate their work or store it.
(My chest hurts because a lot of innocent writers from a certain demographic will be vilified because of this scandal)
Press Release
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“The Académie Goncourt has decided to remove the title C'était ça ou mourir by Thélyson Orélien (published by Éditions Grasset) from its longlist. This decision follows the revelation of instances of plagiarism committed by the author over time, as well as consistent findings from credible researchers and journalists indicating that the work is, in all likelihood, largely the product of artificial intelligence. This decision is driven by a commitment to upholding the integrity of the Prix Goncourt and the Academy itself—an institution whose central role is to promote and honour literature written by human authors. We wish to send a clear message—particularly to participants in the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the Goncourt des Détenus, and the more than fifty international Choix Goncourt programs—affirming that we neither endorse nor sanction the creation of texts generated with the aid of AI in any form. The Academy will make no further comment and will release its second selection list on October 6, 2026."
Are Ethnic Writers Only Being Demonised? Being Black fans the flames of these scandals. We are perceived as underserving of the opportunities some of get. Take the case of Jason Arday for instance. Some on the Right championing the plagiarism investigations made their feelings clear: He Got To Cambridge Because of Wokeism.
Surely white writers must have been caught up in the AI witch hunt as well? We may never hear about them because their accounts lack the obvious sentimentality we attach to stories about Black creatives.
Can we even trust the results of Pangram or aother AI detector tools? I heard an animated Japanese professor shouting on a French channel: ‘It’s just a Black style of writing. They’re being penalised by these detector apps for their writing style.’
What the Dickens is a Black Style of Writing? Do You Know?
Okay. My French isn’t that good. Mais, J’ai bien compris. Did she mean to say if you're writing the descriptive (purple) prose of Sir Ben Okri or relying on Chimamanda’s love of literary devices, your writing would be flagged up? Lady, calmez vous. There’s no such phenomenon as ‘Black Writing,’ shouted back another panellist.
Or is there a preference by some contemporary African prose writers for pre and post modifiers (adjectives before and after a noun phrase) and a love for listing that we learnt from classic African literature? I don’t know about Afro-Caribbean literature enough to put people in a box.
|| Example 1: The Famished Road, 1991 COPYRIGHTED ||
THAT NIGHT I slept under a lorry. In the morning l wandered up and down the streets of the city. (Post modifying phrase) Houses were big, vehicles thundered everywhere, and people stared at me. (Rule of threes or listing) I became aware of my hunger when I came to a marketplace and saw the bean cakes, ripe fruits and dried fishes, and smelt the fried plantain. (Description) I went from stall to stall, staring at the traders. (Repetition) Many of them drove me away. But at a provision stall a man with a severe face regarded me… (Post modifying phrase + descriptive verb phrase)
Perhaps the Japanese professor had a point.
In my view, the writers I consider to be the top three ethnic writers (books pictured above) would always be safe. Know why?
Their authentic voice echoes through the pages of their books. They have works that came out after 2019 too - after that advent of ChatGPT. The commenter positions themself as a champion of the minority, but they are most likely not an informed reader/writer. A leading Afro Caribbean poet in the UK is Jason Allen-Paisant. I would recognise his work even if I rose from deep sleep. No fakery there.
Voilà, le verdict est rendu: We can’t prove the use of AI conclusively, but plagiarism is an unforgivable sin in the literary world.
Creative Writers and readers are less tolerant of the act of plagiarism than they are of suspected machine-assisted/generate writing. You must always acknowledge or reference your sources.
I read a remark made by an infuriated African novelist which was something along the lines of: anyone who thinks it is possible to write a whole novel with artificial intelligence, is stupid. However, journalists have shown that it is possible to generate a novel of up to 70, 000 words with AI novel writing tools. All a human need to do is prompt the AI (large language model) for voice, ask the LLM to add emotional depth and refine some sections. Hasn’t Stephen Marche tried it? (See Guardian article referenced)
Faced with such a competent tool, the honest, AI-shunning writer must fell so scared. There are now two camps of writers says Guillaume Allary, founder of the publisher Allary Editions. Any attempt to stop authors from using AI would equate to prevent them from using ordinary search engines. Mr. Allary says the definition of who an author is being reworked.
You may have witnessed firsthand what happens when purists like me try to oust those in the community passing off ChatGPT text as original writing. I got demonised and verbally abused by sections of the literary community in an African country, even with evidence to show the text was most likely plagiarised from other sources. Such is the mistrust of investigative writing that dares to show how a trusted poet has had a bit of help.
The main issue is secrecy. Some writers try to conceal their use of AI. This will lead to more scandals.
Reference List
Marche S. (2026) ‘I wrote a novel using AI. Writers must accept artificial intelligence – but we are as valuable as ever,’ published in The Guardian, Thursday 2nd April2026. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/02/artificial-intelligence-writers-powerful-language
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