Quebec publisher cuts ties with author after finding evidence of AI use

MONTREAL — Quebec publisher Les Éditions du Boréal has severed ties with author Thélyson Orélien after finding evidence it says indicates he used artificial intelligence to write his award-nominated debut novel.

The publishing house announced the decision on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026.

The publisher said it found evidence, through an analysis of some documents' metadata, that Orélien used AI to write his book.

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The novel, “C’était ça ou mourir” (“It was either that or dying”), had been a critical and commercial success, topping bestseller lists and earning nominations for prestigious French literary awards.

Boréal said it will not reprint the book or publish more books by Orélien.

“We still do not know to what extent AI was used in the creation of ‘C’était ça ou mourir,’ and we will likely never have a definitive answer,” it wrote.

The decision marks a dramatic reversal for the publisher, which had stood by the author for weeks as allegations about the book's origins mounted.

On Sept. 21, the X account “Balance ton Claude” alleged that, according to Pangram software, excerpts of Orélien’s novel had been written “almost entirely by artificial intelligence.”

The next day, Orélien and his publisher issued a joint statement denying the use of AI. The author said his writing style comes from Haiti's literary tradition, “where poetry, images, repetitions and rhythm carry a living speech.”

Separate plagiarism allegations emerged on Sept. 23, when La Presse published an article outlining passages in articles attributed to Orélien and published between 2012 and 2014 that were near-identical to previously published work by other authors.

Boréal suspended promotional activities for the novel on Sept. 24, citing the author's well-being. Yadude Books reported in September that the Salon du livre de l’Estrie book fair also removed Orélien as a guest of honour after learning of the plagiarism claims.

The Académie Goncourt removed “C’était ça ou mourir” from consideration for the Prix Goncourt on Sept. 25, citing analyses it considered credible and the separate plagiarism allegations.

On Oct. 13, Orélien admitted in a statement that he plagiarized some of his earlier work and apologized for making what he described as unacceptable mistakes in his youth.

“Admiration does not give you the right to take, to claim as your own texts that are not yours,” he wrote.

However, he continued to deny using AI to write his debut novel, saying no sentence was generated by a machine. He said he used AI tools for research, such as to look up foreign-language expressions.

“What I am going through is cruel,” he wrote. “By attributing a text, one that is mine...to a machine, they have not only called into question my status as a writer but also my humanity.”

Boréal condemned the plagiarism on Oct. 14 but said it stood by the author amid the AI allegations and would keep the book on shelves, stating it had no evidence beyond the author’s word.

“The publisher’s role is not to demand proof from authors, but to stand by them, and that is what we are doing,” the publishing house said at the time.

On Oct. 17, Boréal confirmed Orélien had dropped his efforts to compile evidence he did not use AI to write his novel.

“That decision is his to make, and we accept it, although we certainly would have preferred to be able to provide definitive answers to the allegations of AI use against him,” co-director Renaud Roussel wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

Roussel said then that the publisher’s position had not changed and a new printing was expected the following week.

The novel, published in Quebec on March 9, 2026, tells the story of a Haitian man forced to flee his country and make a perilous journey to Quebec. Orélien has said the story is based on his own experience leaving Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

It was published in France a few weeks after its Quebec release and was set to be translated into over 20 languages, according to French publisher Éditions Grasset.

The book was among 16 nominees for the Prix Goncourt and won France’s Prix du Roman Fnac, an award chosen by a jury of 400 booksellers and 400 readers, on Sept. 21.

With files from The Canadian Press, Penticton Herald and Narcity