The publicist of Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s memoir has said that publication of the book will go ahead next month despite allegations of plagiarism surrounding the academic.

Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Arday’s memoir entitled Great and Unfortunate Things, told UnHerd on Wednesday that “as it stands” the title will be released “in all formats” according to its scheduled date in late August.

The memoir charts Arday’s “remarkable achievement” of becoming the youngest Black professor in the University of Cambridge’s history after growing up with autism and remaining nonverbal throughout childhood. It was written alongside Eve Claxton, an editor and ghost-writer who has previously lectured on storytelling techniques that can aid writers in giving a “compelling arc” to their personal stories. Yet Arday, who was appointed to a Cambridge Professorial Chair in Sociology in 2023, has this week been embroiled in a scandal after being accused of plagiarizing the work of other academics in his publications.

While allegations of academic misconduct against Arday first emerged in 2023, they resurfaced after the recent publication of a Substack article by former Cambridge fellow Nathan Cofnas. The article presented side-by-side comparisons highlighting passages in Arday’s work that allegedly replicated the writing of other academics.

Cofnas details multiple sections of Arday’s PhD thesis which appear to have been copied verbatim or with “minor stylistic changes” from the work of Paula Zwozdiak-Myers, an Brunel University academic who published her doctoral thesis six years prior. Cofnas left Cambridge in 2025 after the university investigated an online post in which the researcher discussed a possible link between academic intelligence and race. He was cleared of all charges, but chose to leave the university regardless.

Arday’s work, which often centers on topics of race and inequality, has been praised by high-profile figures like former Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who labeled one of Arday’s publications on race as “striking and powerful”, as well as LBC presenter James O’Brien, who described Arday as a “remarkable and brilliant man” in his review of the academic’s upcoming memoir. Other reviews of the book describe it as a “story of resilience”, and praise Arday’s “efforts to overcome obstacles presented by his neurodivergence.”

Others have criticized Arday’s publications, including UnHerd writer Kathleen Stock, who described his academic output as “unambiguously mediocre” and his writing and speeches as “strikingly garbled”.

The University of Cambridge said it has investigated the claims of academic misconduct directed at Arday and found no wrongdoing, adding that he was the victim of a “vile campaign to undermine his credibility.” Arday himself responded to the allegations of misconduct put to him by emeritus professor at Plymouth Marjon University, Dave Harris, by telling Harris that any further communication would be considered “bullying and harassment.”